It's such a sad state of affairs that history is being rewritten and even more horrifying is that older books are disappearing. Also alarming is the seeming inability in modern discourse to recognize that, for example, Marcus Aurelius could be both an insightful philosopher with valuable perspectives and at the very same time a brutal military leader. People are complex and cannot be reduced to a single sound byte to describe them. We can admire his philosophy, while accepting his brutality as part of the time he lived in without ignoring it but also not adopting it as something we'd like to continue in our own time. An unbiased as possible look into an undistorted mirror of history can go a long way to helping us understand ourselves without delusion. Seeing ourselves and our history in as accurate and clear a light as possible is what helps us to not repeat the horrors of the past. Thanks so much for discussing this today.
Thank You for a wonderful piece of writing. It's so sad that our connection to history and even our own ancestral past is being edited out of existence. If we don't recognise the mistakes of past generations how do we prevent their repetition. It's important to me to read and see facts not someone's version of events. I will enjoy exploring the sites you have recommended.
Great article Elissa. Thanks for your insight on this. It's a hard thing to do, sorting the seed from the chaff, and even harder when many history books themselves are intrinsically biased. How far down the rabbit hole do we go and how do we know when we've hit the bottom? Whose truth are we prioritising? History is filled with much conjecture and debate on 'the truth'.
Like you said, it's important to be critical and careful of sources but I often find myself paralysed in thought and in writing by all the different interpretations, theories, versions etc. Finding original works is wonderful and fascinating but human knowledge and perception has evolved and changed with new discoveries, often making original works obsolete. Ooof my head!
Regardless of my mental straining, collecting books is a fabulous occupation, regardless of whether we read every single thing. I saw a quote recently that summed it up perfectly... "I said this before, but I try not to think of it as a TBR pile but more like a wine cellar. You try & time the right combination of mood, energy & interest, so that you pick a book when you have the best chance of getting along with it. That's what the writer prefers too." No source ascribed.
Excellent post! Would you know some reliable and accessible source about old Slavic religion? Written materials are either non-existent or very biased, and there is lot of fantasizing online
Yes to old books: great post. There is something to holding and reading a book which the 'screen' ("to shield from punishment, protect from inconvenience or danger; to conceal," late 15c., from screen (n.). Meaning "sift by passing through a screen" is by 1660s; the meaning "examine systematically for suitability" is from 1943, a word from World War II" https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=screen) can never replicate but still provide many older rare out of print books at least enough to garner a sense of the contents & possibly lead to buying an original as I am sure now, with all the deepfakery & mindfukery taking place right now if those in positions of power that should not be there are willing to delete life, they are quite willing to burn books as much by altering digital copies of texts, maybe even altering messages we send to have content very different from that which we intended: anything seems possible. I am trusting my lived experience, that of those I speak to, and that which I read which is written with an unbiased open questioning approach as the system hates well aimed questions... one more for your list by the way: https://annas-archive.org/
Oh this rings so true. Thank you. I’ve many books in my library purchased over past many years, not all read yet. But there to browse, pick up and read whenever. I’ve found that for me and my path /practice then instinct helps. Yes read of other religions, faiths and history but I go by what feels right in my core. Again thank you
It's such a sad state of affairs that history is being rewritten and even more horrifying is that older books are disappearing. Also alarming is the seeming inability in modern discourse to recognize that, for example, Marcus Aurelius could be both an insightful philosopher with valuable perspectives and at the very same time a brutal military leader. People are complex and cannot be reduced to a single sound byte to describe them. We can admire his philosophy, while accepting his brutality as part of the time he lived in without ignoring it but also not adopting it as something we'd like to continue in our own time. An unbiased as possible look into an undistorted mirror of history can go a long way to helping us understand ourselves without delusion. Seeing ourselves and our history in as accurate and clear a light as possible is what helps us to not repeat the horrors of the past. Thanks so much for discussing this today.
Thank You for a wonderful piece of writing. It's so sad that our connection to history and even our own ancestral past is being edited out of existence. If we don't recognise the mistakes of past generations how do we prevent their repetition. It's important to me to read and see facts not someone's version of events. I will enjoy exploring the sites you have recommended.
Great article Elissa. Thanks for your insight on this. It's a hard thing to do, sorting the seed from the chaff, and even harder when many history books themselves are intrinsically biased. How far down the rabbit hole do we go and how do we know when we've hit the bottom? Whose truth are we prioritising? History is filled with much conjecture and debate on 'the truth'.
Like you said, it's important to be critical and careful of sources but I often find myself paralysed in thought and in writing by all the different interpretations, theories, versions etc. Finding original works is wonderful and fascinating but human knowledge and perception has evolved and changed with new discoveries, often making original works obsolete. Ooof my head!
Regardless of my mental straining, collecting books is a fabulous occupation, regardless of whether we read every single thing. I saw a quote recently that summed it up perfectly... "I said this before, but I try not to think of it as a TBR pile but more like a wine cellar. You try & time the right combination of mood, energy & interest, so that you pick a book when you have the best chance of getting along with it. That's what the writer prefers too." No source ascribed.
I write novels to preserve in a small way American history. It’s always in danger of being retold in ways that are nothing like reality
Excellent post! Would you know some reliable and accessible source about old Slavic religion? Written materials are either non-existent or very biased, and there is lot of fantasizing online
Yes to old books: great post. There is something to holding and reading a book which the 'screen' ("to shield from punishment, protect from inconvenience or danger; to conceal," late 15c., from screen (n.). Meaning "sift by passing through a screen" is by 1660s; the meaning "examine systematically for suitability" is from 1943, a word from World War II" https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=screen) can never replicate but still provide many older rare out of print books at least enough to garner a sense of the contents & possibly lead to buying an original as I am sure now, with all the deepfakery & mindfukery taking place right now if those in positions of power that should not be there are willing to delete life, they are quite willing to burn books as much by altering digital copies of texts, maybe even altering messages we send to have content very different from that which we intended: anything seems possible. I am trusting my lived experience, that of those I speak to, and that which I read which is written with an unbiased open questioning approach as the system hates well aimed questions... one more for your list by the way: https://annas-archive.org/
Oh this rings so true. Thank you. I’ve many books in my library purchased over past many years, not all read yet. But there to browse, pick up and read whenever. I’ve found that for me and my path /practice then instinct helps. Yes read of other religions, faiths and history but I go by what feels right in my core. Again thank you