At some point, every child in school asks the question, “Why do I have to study history?” And if the child doesn’t receive a good answer to the question, it may hang with him or her throughout life. Plenty of adults wonder the same thing. Long lists of dates and kings can numb the mind, especially if those facts aren’t connected to any overarching understanding of history’s importance. The study of history doesn’t cure diseases, raise skyscrapers, or build better cars (at least not directly). What use does it serve in the real world?
The study of history frees us from one of the cruelest tyrannies we experience: the tyranny of the present moment. Freedom from this tyranny provides a person an important framework for understanding the world and living in it with purpose, intentionality, and peace. A person with deep knowledge of the past possesses a firm rudder on the sea of life and can sail straight toward a destination without being blown about by winds of change or tossed around by waves of popular opinion.
The Present and the Past
What is the tyranny of the present? Historian Steve Weidenkopf described it this way: “Modern society is consumed with the immediate and rejects the past.” Those living under the tyranny of the present prioritize what is happening now, consigning everything else to the proverbial “dustbin.” Past events are either looked down upon, or not looked at at all.But, as Weidenkopf noted, this obsession with now “enslaves modern man in a construct of his own creation and prevents learning from the past and shaping the future.” Plunging into the stream of current events tends to wash away memory of the past along with any desire for self-reflection, which always references the past. Moreover, the news cycle often dominates our thoughts, tossing our emotions here and there like a cat playing with a mouse.
Technology and history have grown more at odds in recent decades. Miljan Zivkovic/Shutterstock
This hyperfocus on the present hurts our ability to know ourselves and the real state of the world. “The rejection of historical memory produces a lack of historical context, which culminates in a lack of perspective of human events,” Weidenkopf wrote. He continued, “Therefore, modern man is unable to properly comprehend contemporary happenings with a frame of historical reference.”
The consequences are serious. Weidenkopf outlined how this narrowing of perspective leads to all sorts of problematic behavior, such as rash judgements. Hastiness in assigning blame adds to “a negative discourse in which every word or action is interpreted in the most extreme manner, producing shrill sensational commentary that seeks to compel the attention of citizens enslaved by the tyranny of the present.” Anyone who has spent time on social media will recognize this kind of commentary and the extreme reactions it generates.
We need perspective and balance to counteract exaggerated narratives and ideologies. History helps provide them. The person well-rooted in historical knowledge isn’t be manipulated easily. That person stands on a mountain peak from which he can survey the valley of human events below, seeing each event in its proper size and relation to the others. On the valley floor, a particular public figure may look like a giant, or a particular event might appear apocalyptic. But when seen from the mountaintop, in relation to other people and events, these figures and happenings take on their proper size, and we can respond to them in a less extreme manner.
The history student is free from the confining anxieties or obsessions of those living in the tyranny of the present. The historically informed citizen can make a better estimation of ideologies, celebrities, political parties, events, wars, and the like. Such a citizen will better resist radicalization than his or her uninformed counterpart because the historically versed person can recognize the patterns of overreaction and extremism that have bubbled up throughout history. They can recognize better an event marked with real danger signs—as well as the one that isn’t an actual threat, even though others might be losing their heads over it. Mass hysteria won’t so easily infect such a person.
A statue of Paul Revere stands in front of Old North Church. With a well-founded education in history, a person can better discern between the urgent and the unimportant. Diego Grandi/Shutterstock
Following the light of truth requires an awareness of nuance. Reality is complex, and it often defies simple, black-and-white answers. As G.K. Chesterton wrote, “It is always simple to fall; there are an infinity of angles at which one falls, only one at which one stands.” Standing in the truth, then, requires the ability to make distinctions, accept nuance, and think in a balanced way. History aids us in that process by revealing the vast and complicated forces that shape the world and cause changes over time.
It also shows us what happens when a group of people begin to think too simplistically, begin to forget the intricacy of actual lived experiences, and act on reductionist renderings of the world. As history teacher Steve Heimler points out, it’s a classic tactic of a strongman dictator to spread a false, simplistic worldview, usually one that centers on an us-versus-them narrative. Unbalanced thought that lacks nuance, even if it contains some truth, leads to a warped—and dangerous—worldview. “We need people in this world who are capable of thinking in nuance and complexity, and it’s the study of history that will deliver such a posture of mind,” Heimler argues.
Finally, a grasp of history nurtures a spirit of humility. Again, perspective is at play here. The student of history sees the vast tapestry of the ages unfurl before him or her, and realizes, from that point of view, how brief the present really is. Generation succeeds generation. As Homer wrote in “The Iliad” over 2,000 years ago, “As for the leaves, the wind scattereth some upon the earth, but the forest, as it bourgeons, putteth forth others when the season of spring is come; even so men one generation springeth up and another passeth away.”
That perspective helps us to remember our smallness in comparison with the huge movement of history, the tectonic plates of time. This realization frees us from the tyranny of the “now” and the “self.” It nudges our gaze from the flash of current headlines to more permanent, stable things.
In his book “Historical Thinking and Other Unnatural Acts,” historian Sam Wineburg emphasized the connection between studying history and acquiring humility:
“For the narcissist sees the world–both the past and the present–in his own image. Mature historical understanding teaches us to do the opposite: to go beyond our own image, to go beyond our brief life, and to go beyond the fleeting moment in human history into which we have been born. History educates (‘leads outward’ in the Latin) in the deepest sense. Of the subjects in the secular curriculum, it is the best at teaching ... humility in the face of our limited ability to know, and awe in the face of the expanse of history.”
The person living in the prison of the present moment and the prison of their own selfish interests sees everything through that single perspective. But people with a profound knowledge of history begin to wipe away the dirt that clouds their vision and see themselves as part of a much larger whole. The very mystery of the past—the ways in which, despite our efforts to study and glean all we can from it—remains somewhat beyond our ken. That mystery helps to deepen our humility because we are forced to admit what we don’t know.
After all, this is why Socrates was considered wise: He admitted that he knew so little. History testifies to the wisdom of that realization.
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