Holistic History
So much of history is given to us as anecdotes and stories written by particular people at a given time and location, within a given culture of the time. Each of these become shards of insight and perception into another time that newer historians then piece together to construct a cogent, sometimes corroborated, sometimes not, narrative of what actually happened, and sometimes why, often renewed as more is learned. Usually the narratives are infused with cultural bias and can even become dogmatic and matter-of-fact in their presentation. They end up catalogued with labels like Our Oriental Heritage, The Birth of Democracy, The Age of Reason, or The Cradle of Western Civilization, and so on, with further subdivisions of time and place. Much is to be learned from these shards but much more is also left out.
Even recent history, which is highly documented, photographed and recorded is subject to re-contextualization, reinterpretation, propagandizing, ommision of facts, or simple misinterpretation. More shards than ever. True History is something only a God’s Eye view could have—an unvarnished record of what actually happened, without interpretation. While this is an admirable goal, it falls well out of reach for us mortals but we can at least try to see the bigger picture and to seek the Truth the best we can.
To say we stand on the shoulders of giants does a great disservice to the ordinary people, the unsung heroes, the forgotten cultures or tribes and Nature herself, all of which the giants stand on and were allowed to exist by. When we stop to celebrate a historical figure, no matter the importance, we often don’t include the folks who raised that person such as parents, siblings, teachers and friends. Even less often do we, nor can we, examine the full heritage, ancestry and conditions that led up to that figure’s existence. We usually give them all the credit for that very long chain of improbable events. That may be convenient, but it doesn’t mean we should deny the critical conditions that allowed any and all of us to become who we are.
We also don’t often examine anti-history, the things that might have been but for some trick of fate. How many great people, especially women, have been suppressed or blocked from fulfilling a greater destiny, or even worse, whose greatness was appropriated by other, mostly men, deceiving the future? How many opportunities to have a better world or more advanced understanding or capabilities were squandered? We may never know but we should still strive to understand the opportunity cost of such things.
Few things are as culturally painful as racism, yet race itself is not exactly well-understood and is likely to be yet another story we are told about ourselves that has little bearing on reality. Much about what we call race is superficial, literally involving some melanin molecules on the surface of our skin. If we had fur covering our skin we might have another thing to be racist about, but more likely would not see it as nearly as important, more of a fingerprint—a unique physical identifier or biomarker of sorts, like different colored dogs and cats. How we came to our ethnicities, our colorations, our cultures is the grand story and we must seek to see it in its entirety, not just the intermediary or end results, or more precisely, the result in progress.
History is alive and in progress every moment. It is never something that is entirely in the past. The NOW is the culmination of ALL that went before, not just a little isolated bit that just happened. Holistic History realizes this simple fact and embraces the Whole instead of the Parts. The parts are important and interesting, but the Whole represents a type of perfection like we find in Nature. A pine tree has a history and it is a perfect history, one that can be traced back though primordial muck and microbes and the existence of that single, fragrant pine tree is nothing less than a miracle, though few will realize this. Multiply this times a forest and everything else in our world and it should produce a inspiring sense of awe and wonder.
NOW is also the Future. We know a hell of a lot more about what we are and where we come from and all genetic roads lead back to Africa, some being longer and more twisted. In a very real sense, we are all African Migrants. In a cruel ironic twist, African Migrants eventually returned to Africa with weapons to secure slave labor of African Non-migrants, not even realizing they were in fact themselves of African descent. Much, earlier than that, all Africans were Ocean Migrants as the seas gave rise to early life that found its way onto the land of Pangea. Now in modern times, these Ocean Migrants have returned to wreck havoc on the Oceans with cruel fishing machines, toxins and all manner of insults to the very Nature that spawned them. That’s how the Earth would see it over the eons. We are all Ocean Migrants which themselves could easily have been Space Migrants carried on an asteroid or comet that fell to Earth billions of years ago, or many of them. We are the misguided and ignorant Earthlings regarding our own existence and history.
Holistic Historians will also realize that history is not a single thread of time that can be pulled out of the wider tapestry. It runs in parallel, not series. For example, though Native American culture arose unimpeded by Europeans, at that same time European culture was arising independently, not dissimilar in its tribalism. When the inevitable interaction between these cultures arrived, each confronted a different world view. This, in turn, synthesized a newer culture where our American government borrows from Iroquois principles, states, towns, streets, rivers, etc. are named by native words, Eagle symbols adopted, etc. Conversely, Native culture has greatly shifted to adopt Afro-Euro Migrant cultural things (eg. clothing, foods, transportation) yet has maintained threads to Native past. Recently, ecologically challenging times are gravitating us toward a more Earth-steward approach which was a Native specialty and points the way to a greener world so History also has temporal echoes.
No child should be taught that Greeks or Chinese or Indians or Africans gave rise to civilization. Civilization evolved, just as we have. No modern light-skinned person should feel any more pride in Greek or Roman or European civilization than any darker-skinned person, nor more shame for all of the inequities and cruelties of the past. They are all inextricably connected each to the other. Without eons of clever survival in the Savannah of Africa, no migration would have happened. Without brutal animal survival instincts, we would have perished. We would have gone extinct long ago. Long before the Greeks, cave-dwellers eked out a brutal, short life to pass on to the next generation a shot at survival, passing on traits and tricks. No cave-dwellers, no Greeks.
Everything should be seen as a whole whenever possible, through the lens of survival and evolution and a vast support network—the Web of Life. If we would teach History in this way, then no one should feel left out, no culture or persons are more important than others in the Whole. To achieve this we have to learn to use our Mind’s Eye to see things, including others, not just our physical eyes and ears. Using our Mind’s Eye, we can see through things and what appears opaque becomes clear. If you know that 99.999999999% of matter is empty space then you know your eyes are being tricked to see something that is in fact invisible and barely existent so you must take that into account and marvel at that. With our Mind’s Eye on History, we can see the Teachings of Confucius or Aristotle or King or a tribal shaman deep in the Amazon all share the same legacy and are all equally marvelous and connected.
As a useful exercise, one can practice Holistic History by examining anything. Take the Beatles. These Liverpool lads were deeply influenced by American rock ‘n roll, blues and jazz, which arose from disenfranchised, creative black cultural roots but was also transmitted over radio and via recording media without which they would have less chance to hear it so those inventors and their teachers were involved too. That only scratches the surface of interdependency! If you are a famous rapper or diva, each moment of your day is brought to you by people all over the world and throughout time. The materials in your shoes, the glass in your windows and cool shades, the bolts holding the seats in your limo, the microphone, amplifiers, computers and software, on and on. Try this exercise for yourself with any person, group or thing. Never forget the tapestry of connections that make each moment possible. At least, let it inspire us to greater achievements, appreciation and humility.
By teaching our children to nurture their innate sense of wonder and curiosity and to think holistically, we can make them happier and have a self-esteem that comes from being included in all the greatness (and non-greatness) that came before. If one’s recent ancestors were enslaved, remember their ancestors were kings and queens and relatives of such and likewise their earlier ancestors were survivors and fighters for all of humanity. We can teach our children to be thankful for each animal or plant they eat and that this is a deep connection to the Circle of Life that sustains us on Earth. By building better children we will need to repair fewer adults, to paraphrase Frederick Douglass.
Yes, take pride in accomplishments, for yourself, for your people, for your nation, for all people, but never let that pride cloud your understanding of what allowed those accomplishments to happen. By learning to overcome our animal instincts of territory and cultural pride, we can build an inclusive society that is hopefully more enlightened, loving and inspired. All we need to do is switch on our Mind’s Eye so we can get a glimpse of, or at least appreciate, the Whole.
