As I was reading a chapter called The War of Gods and Demons in the book, The Everlasting Man, a curious thought came to my mind; perhaps it is not a profound thought, but at least I find it interesting enough to my own standards, to the point that it has roused my curiosity enough that I feel like I need to write about it. In this chapter, much of it explores the overall symbolism of the Punic Wars, which is a very fascinating subject; and indeed, the chapter is rather riveting in its depiction of two great civilizations at war. However, what came to mind as I finished the chapter had nothing to do with Rome or Carthage especially, but with history in a very general and broad sense. I asked myself: What would it be like to live one's life with no real sense of a world history? Of fully living in the progress and advancements of your time, but completely ignorant of how the world got there in the first place; and of having no real knowledge of the milestones and monuments that in our informed minds of today help us shape and comprehend the path this world has been on for so long. Perhaps the only history you would possess would be the limited knowledge you had of your own family or town, but beyond that, any knowledge of the course of the world would be amiss; even one's own understanding of the age of the world, or perhaps more importantly, of the current duration of humanity would be a fact that completely eludes you. What would that be like? Would the world seem more mysterious? I don't know. It would definitely seem to be more veiled. But in that sense, does the world seem to lose mystery when one has a general sense of the events of history? Perhaps not. The world still seems very mysterious to me, but in a different way than simply being uneducated in history. The events themselves possess a certain amount of mystery to them. So I suppose I am talking about two kinds of mystery. But to be completely ignorant of those events, to have no idea of wars already fought or of the formations of countries or of the rising and falling of great civilizations old and new would be a state of mind I would like to delve in to for a short time, at least to satisfy my curiosity, because perhaps maybe when I return from my state of ignorance with the knowledge I have gained from being in ignorance, I would then be able to better understand the mystery of history itself and why it is valuable for my existence, which I undoubtedly feel it is valuable, I'm just not exactly sure why.
Anyway, now that I have said that, I feel that what I have written is merely cluttered, underdeveloped thoughts that I am sure as you have finished reading have thought to yourself how that was such a waste of time to read.
Anyway, now that I have said that, I feel that what I have written is merely cluttered, underdeveloped thoughts that I am sure as you have finished reading have thought to yourself how that was such a waste of time to read.
