Digging for Gold: Why a Right Understanding of History Matters
Learning history is like being a treasure hunter in a vast field filled with undiscovered gems — the more you dig, the more you uncover.
Countless pieces of wisdom, truth, and warnings are waiting to be found when we take the time to understand what happened, why it happened, how we can follow in the steps of what worked, and how we can avoid the steps that didn't — ultimately building a better society on the lessons of the past.
I learned a very important lesson in my youth.
When I was in high school studying the history of the United States, I read that many of the influential Founding Fathers spent time studying the histories of Israel, Greece, Rome, and Persia — examining what those civilizations did right and what they did wrong as a way to navigate their present.
I remember thinking how weird it was that you could look back at people in the past who you never knew to learn how to navigate the present with people you do know for the benefit of people to come who you’ll never know.
For some reason - at that time - that resonated very deeply to me. To me it was an act of humility that looked to honor the past, so they could wisely navigate the present, out of love for people in the future.
Looking at great civilizations and learning from them in a way that shapes not only the present but future generations as well? I began to feel, very vaguely, how deep the connection runs: what we believe about the past directly shapes the reality we build in the present — which in turn is a reality that future generations will either benefit or suffer from, depending on how accurately we get it right now.
Rebuilding the Wall
Just to be clear: we are not experts in anything historical. This is a wall that has fallen to the last brick, and one we want to do our part in rebuilding — one stone at a time — as we seek to explore, understand, and build on the foundations laid in the past.
We will be focusing primarily on Western Civilization and the history surrounding it, in an effort to preserve the unique qualities that have brought us to where we are today. We want to better understand which aspects need to be preserved, which need to be changed, and which need to be left in history as we carve out a new path forward. We want to be careful to not simply disregard the past - but instead follow the wise paths that have been laid before us.
To understand history correctly is like discovering a chest of hidden treasure — treasure you get to spend in the present to make your society more prosperous and stable. But to misunderstand history, or worse, to manipulate it, is to dig through that same field and come up with fool's gold which will only leave us all worse off.
Our aim is simple: to search, to discover, and to sift what's real from what's fiction which will in turn allow us to build on better foundations.
The weight of a right understanding of history cannot be overstated — and we are excited to hit the issue head on.