Episode 19: Historical Context

It's easy to feel insignificant when you consider the fact that we are all just tiny specks moving around on a little blue planet orbiting a massive burning star that is dwarfed by many of the other planets. And to make it worse, our star is actually on the smaller end and it's floating around in a galaxy that is millions of times bigger than our little solar system.

And that galaxy is only one of a near infinite number. of galaxies. Compared to all of that, we are very small. Very, very, very small. Building on that fact, I'd also point out that our time on Earth is effectively nothing against the infinite expanse of time. I mean, I've been told that a fruit fly lives for just a few days.

And as insignificant as that feels, compared to our own lives, against the backdrop of all of time, our lifespans are negligible. infinitely smaller than that. In spite of this, we've got this remarkable ability to feel significant and to feel like we comprehend this world that we live in. See, perspective is this amazing thing.

To a mouse, a cat is a giant, but to an insect, a mouse And to a person, a cat is small. When you're 11, it feels like teenagers are the cool kids and they've got things figured out. And when you're 40, teenagers make you think that evolution is actually regressing. So I don't think we will ever truly comprehend our realities.

You know, maybe in a spiritual realm, comprehension will be given to us, but I'm pretty sure we are hopeless. If we expect to fully comprehend everything in our current state, that being said, we don't have to be as ignorant as we actually are. I had an experience at one point that really made me feel like my eyes were opened.

I came across this book. I was at the time, I think I was reading. Something, some historical book or some biography about the founding fathers and I read about this book, it mentioned some of the books that were in Thomas Jefferson's library, which was one of the big libraries of the time, at least one of the big private libraries of the time.

And I think it only consisted of like a room full of books for that period of time. That was, that was incredible wealth to have so many books. And so I read about this one book that was one of them that was in his collection, and I just wanted to know what influenced the minds of the people of that time period.

So I looked into it. And this book was called Polybius. It's a history written like a hundred or two hundred BC by this Greek historian that Somehow or another, voluntarily or as like a a consequence of war, ended up in the Roman Empire. And he wrote a history about the Roman Empire. So one of the reasons I got excited to read this is because most history books available to us in schools have been published in like the last 10 to 20 years.

And they're usually narrated by someone with a modern perspective. Now, this book was amazing. It was chock full of his bias and his opinions, but the best part about it was I got to experience the world through the mind of a man who lived over 2, 000 years ago. And the perspective he carried on the world was so mind bogglingly different than I imagined.

Imagine for a moment that politics were not divided by the issues that you're familiar with today. But rather, entirely different ideas. Next, imagine that you can actually believe that these people of the past were intelligent. See, there's this kind of modern bias to previous generations where I think we often look at people from even a hundred years ago and think, oh, I would never think something like that.

Well, they did. And likely so would you if you were raised in those times, in those situations, amongst those people. One of the most amazing discoveries, for me, when I read books from contemporary authors Is that you get to learn that these people are actually incredibly intelligent The idea that our modern sensibilities are evolved is absolute nonsense.

Our modern views are nothing more than another passing phase, just like the sensibilities of all generations prior were likewise phases of thought. Today, every now and then, I look for a history book or a biography that was written at a different time because, like I mentioned, it just doesn't make sense.

broadens our perspective ever so slightly. Even still, if you take all of human knowledge as far back as we've got recorded history, that's still just a blip in time. But at least it isn't the thousandth part of a blip, like our modern perspective is. If you can take the wisdom and knowledge of thousands of years versus the, the current trending worldviews of the time, you're just that much more the, the richer in perspective.

So back to that book, Polybius, I just wanted to talk about it because it really impacted my view of the world. The thing about that book that stunned my mind was how the very rules of life were so different. The definition of right and wrong was It's very much dictated by dominance. There was no real sense that the individual had much worth beyond that individual's contribution, so far as I could infer from this book.

In our modern day, there's a kind of right and wrong that's fairly accepted across the world, even in other cultures. And when Had I not had the opportunity to read this book from so long ago, I don't think I would have recognized this, but that loose definition of right and wrong that even other cultures seem to kind of adhere to is largely based on Christian ethics, which is largely because the Western world has, for the last several hundred years, been the dominant cultural influence.

And for all of my life, I thought right and wrong were kind of self evident, but reading this book helped me realize how much. Western society affected the way the rest of the world thought about it. And it especially shocked me how much Christianity changed the perception of right and wrong practically overnight.

Now Polybius doesn't talk about Christianity, I just know about it. But Polybius showed me, just through the way he, he approached topics, I was able to kind of see just a different world of right and wrong. Now the world reviles today against things like genocide and massacres, but in times gone by There really was nothing morally wrong.

With mass murder, rape, enslavement, and pillage of an enemy, as per the thinking of the time. That was the realm of war, and it was accepted. And if someone didn't rape, pillage, or murder or enslave you, after a defeat, then that was a great mercy. There were certainly rules around how you treated your own people.

But that certainly did not apply outside of your group, outside of your tribe. And don't get me wrong, I, I think a lot of different societies had different ideas about, you know, what was right and wrong in the realm of war. I mean, I know Attila the Hun literally, like, came in. murdered entire villages and stuff.

And I know the Romans tended to increase the size of their empire by adopting some of these places. And so in a lot of ways they were actually a little more merciful, but it was. Not a requirement by any means per their moral code so far as I can tell. But I think it's funny sometimes because I frequently hear people critiquing Christianity by citing the terrible things committed in the name of Christianity.

I can't help sometimes but feel like it's a little funny because the very concept of That massacres of people other than your own is a bad thing infers that there's some innate value to their souls, which is an entirely Christian way of thought. It's like somebody grabbing a pencil to write a note to another person in order to tell the other person that clearly pencils don't exist, because the other person happens to be using a pen.

When we're ignorant, we take things for granted, like the very definition of right and wrong. If we can just break out of boxed thinking that we've been given from our present day and time, the world can open up and you can start to get the tools to make a little more sense of it. I have a lot of very strong opinions on modern day problems, but I also now have the knowledge that the problems we have are often silly and trifling compared to so many more experienced throughout history.

It helps when you think the world is ending because you have context. I mean, there was literally a time, like 200 years ago, where you could expect roughly half of your children to die before they reached adulthood. I mean, that, maybe even like, like a hundred years ago it was just so much more a common experience.

I mean, tragedy still happens, but compared to the times back then, every family lost children. Sometimes I hear people talk about what's going to happen when, when China surpasses America in wealth and influence. And generally they express some worry. And I mean, frankly, I'm a little worried about that too, but I also know that power rises and power falls.

And sometimes the bad guys are in charge, and sometimes the good guys. And I'm comfortable with the fact that no matter what happens, I'm going to make the best of it. And I'm going to try to do right by those who count on me. And I'm going to try to live by my principles. And whether we want it or not, the world is going to keep on changing.

Yesterday, the world fought over clashing economic systems. And before that, they fought over access to trade. Before that, they fought over religion. Before that, they fought for riches. Today, we fight amongst ourselves. And tomorrow, we may fight together. For as much as I think I understand how the world operates, I recognize that the cogs that turn the universe are far larger than little old me can imagine.

So maybe let's step away from our intellectual pride and our prejudice against the past and recognize that we look at life through a window. It was custom made for our time and our circumstances. And as such, we're incapable of seeing the whole picture.