Selfish History

Life is divided into three terms-that which was, which is, and which will be. Let us learn from the past to profit by the present, and from the present to live better for the future.

-William Wordsworth

It isn’t a groundbreaking notion is it? At least not by now. 

Historians have long gleaned lessons from the past; it is in fact perhaps the ‘point’ of history. Much historical discourse acts as a conduit of sorts. We devise learnings from the trials and tribulations of the great cultures and empires before us, then transmit these wrapped in a neat scholarly package in the aim of bettering our future. 

It is conventional for the argumentative membrane of a book, journal, podcast, Indiana Jones film, or lecture to wrap around this idea that we must study the past for this betterment-  and rightly so. (It is conventional also to begin with a scene-setting quote from someone much cleverer than myself, a tradition I have here upheld thanks to Wordsworth.) 

In the same way that we exhume en masse the liquified remains of ancient algae to power our society, history often seeks to unearth the fossils of memory and pattern in order to fuel the progression of humankind. 

When tackling these big-ticket items such as tyrants and war, climate change and plague, the ensuing teachings are naturally somewhat wide-reaching and impersonal. Woven with a lace of dread and composed thanks to great suffering of the past, we see world governments burdened with the warning and weight that, should the call not be heeded, the most inevitable of adages will again ring solemnly true: history is doomed to repeat itself. 

All rather intense. Although herein lies the issue that, in part, underpins why I created Selfish History. While it is wise and vitally important to recommend we never again partition Africa, crash ocean liners into icebergs, or take a wrong turn when driving the Archduke Ferdinand to his next engagement (a mistake which Google Maps has or maybe hasn’t safeguarded from being repeated) these aren’t exactly on my to-do list at the moment. 

I am now going to assume that your personal goals are also not centred on circling back to the Great Depression or nurturing a return to one-man despotic rule (please find another blog if so). 

Of course, we should all be informed and care deeply for the big-ticket issues today. My point is we are not decision makers here; we simply do not hold the oar with which to plunge into the river, changing the course of humanity and preventing another destructive trip down the rapids of history. Many of us also seek betterment on a more intimate, personal, level- and this is altogether more achievable. 

We may, as almost everyone in time has done, wish to concentrate on our health (mental, financial, and physical), relationships, career, or connection with nature. Some may look for belonging or entertainment, others to live with virtue and to mould their legacy. However mundane or grandiose, history provides a swathe of anecdotes, stories and learnings- right and wrong- that address every topic the human condition can throw up. 

If given the opportunity, we would be desperate to converse with a wise sage who has experienced our worries, doubts, and foibles millions of times over. This individual would have the perfect action, fitting words, motivational story, or kindly warning that is scarily applicable to our seemingly unique personal situations. They may also spew out a torrent of misinformation and past failures but therein value still lies and, crucially, we therefore understand and perceive them as real.

To cut short my overindulgent metaphor, and put those who decoded it straight away out of their misery, this sage is history personified. Although it takes inference, discussion, hard work, and perpetual questioning to extract answers, it answers all the same. 

Selfish History takes a personal line of questioning as we seek to converse with history in the aim of improving our own little worlds. While we will visit the mountainous names and locales of the past to address our topics, we will also peer under the smallest pebbles and squeeze into the narrowest crannies for insights from those who came before. 

Melding history, philosophy and (I know) self-help, my intention is for you to come away satisfied that you got what you came here for out of the three, while being pleasantly surprised that the others were actually rather interesting. A bit like playing an everyone’s-a-winner game of rock paper scissors. 

In short, Selfish History offers an introspective survey of the past to look at your biggest issues. Each series tackles a key area of our lives, consulting a select few of the billions of people from the past who have sought to find their own answers to the consequences of life becoming so irritatingly complex. 

Let’s selfishly ask history: ‘sure, but what does it mean for me?’