Wednesday, September 14, 2016

Principles of My Outlook to the Past

Принципи на моитѣ възгледи за миналото

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Principles of My Outlook to the Past


My views on the past are based on the following principles:
Historians cling on the imperial-civilizational principle, or to the Imperial Principle Of Civilization, by tradition. Attempts to revise it are not consistent. According to this principle, Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, ancient Greece and the fleeting empire of Alexander the Great, the Roman Empire and the empire of Charlemagne have more significance for history than all other events of those times.
Religion is always of Primary Principal Importance. The primary role of religion is something we should always think about. Religion can be Christianity or Islam, nationalism of the 19th century or national socialism and international socialism (communism) of the 20th century. In all cases, its role is immense, important, relevant, dominant, general, vital, topical, significant, historical, capital, cardinal, command, ultimate, fundamental, large-scale, basic, paramount, decisive, fatal, senior, core, essential, nodal, central, epochal. (Here, I used a Russian synonym dictionary first and then submitted to Google translate service).
The principle of the consistency of linguistic archeology is opposed to some views of some professional historians about the inconsistency of historical linguistics. If the conclusions of linguistic archeology contradict some of the claims of traditional history, then most likely we need a review of those traditional statements. Even if there are only false statements in some ancient document, then in that case the conclusion of linguistics from that document will anyway be true. As a witness of the present, I know well that on the basis of today's press, I could not get a correct idea about ​​the present, for instance, and even less about the past. In other words, future generations probably will not have a correct idea of ​​our present on the basis of written testimonies left by us to them.
The Principles of Ecclesiastes {1:9}
The thing that has been, it is that which shall be;
and that which is done is that which shall be done:
and there is no new thing under the sun.
Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new?
it has been already of old time, which was before us.
There is no remembrance of former things;
neither shall there be any remembrance of things
that are to come with those that shall come after.
First conclusion of the Principles of Ecclesiastes:
Our ancestors were the same as us: not any smarter and not any duller.
Second conclusion of the Principles of Ecclesiastes:
Those who do not understand the present cannot understand the past.
If one cannot understand the present that is acting among us, then there is no hope for understanding the past that is already dead and does not react and does not answer our questions.
Deviation of the Principles of Ecclesiastes:
Anyway, there are some new things under the sun ..

According to Ecclesiastes,
".. there is no new thing under the sun. Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it has been already of old time, which was before us."
Anyway, there are some new things under the sun.

These are the new technologies which are the new things under the sun. They are changing the world.

Despite of the principles of Ecclesiastes, nuclear weapons, computers and global communications never before existed.
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Most events are casual and boring.
There is relativity. The Roman Empire, for instance, is of utmost importance to us, to the Mediterranean, to the whole of Europe, but is irrelevant to the history of China and Japan. There is relativity also in the fact that much of the indoctrinated historical narrative is fictional and mythological. For example, almost the whole subject about the so-called Proto-Bulgarians is like that.

Impugning the imperial principle of civilization is usually intended to heal someone's inferiority complexes or to fuel someone's megalomania. My intentions are nothing of the sort.

Putting the topic of the so-called Proto-Bulgarians aside, perhaps nothing is to be changed in the chains of the subsequent events in our (Bulgarian) history and in the world history. In short, the so-called Proto-Bulgarians do not really matter even for the Bulgarian history. Putting the whole Bulgarian theme in the world history aside, what would change? Well, who knows? If we adopt a more worldly view, Bulgaria's greater contribution to the world history is Bulgaria's participation in the Christianization of Russia. If there were not Bulgaria, then Russia would look different. In short, Bulgaria only matters to the Balkans and to Russia. Insignificant contribution, from a worldly perspective.

Now let's imagine what it might have looked like without Alexander the Great or without Julius Caesar. Let me mention just one thread.
  • {1} The Gospels would not be in Greek, but probably in Aramaic,
  • {2} Christianity would not be called Christianity, but for example Messianism, and
  • {3} Instead of the Cyrillic alphabet, we would use another kind of writing similar to the Hebrew and Arabic ones.
Without Alexander the Great the world would be very different. Without Julius Caesar the world would be very different. Without Heraclius, the Roman emperor, the world would be very different. What about his contemporary, the mythical "Khan" Kubrat? One can say that without Kubrat the world would be the same as it is now, and our same Bulgaria would be in it. We have to realize that all of us - all Europeans - are the heirs of Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar, and not just the Greeks, the Firomians-Montesciarians or the Italians.

And most importantly: we, the Bulgarians, are quite ordinary and quite normal Europeans. We are not exceptional, extraordinary, or extra-terrestrian, God save us. We are the same as the other Balkan peoples, we are exactly like them, they do not exceed us, nor do we exceed them.

And so, besides boring, most events in history are also random and casual.

Please imagine a furrow in the ground after a strong earthquake. The Bulgarian history is such a furrow, such a trace, in the history of mankind.

We are not a mountain, we are rather a furrow. But were we a mountain - even maintains cannot stand against the elements.

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Тече, всичко тече, врѣмето нѣма брѣг и ни влѣче. Нѣма как. (М.Башева)
It is running, time is running, everything is running, time has no coast, it gets us. No way to get out. (M.Basheva)
Time is running, and historical events fade away.
The sails of retreating events disappear behind the horizons of the past.

The farther in the past an event of history is, the less value it has just for us now.
Analogy. DNA is investigated to show the relationship between the child and the parent. DNA can also be investigated to show the relationship between the grandson-granddaughter and the grandfather-grandmother. However, investigating DNA in order to show the relationship between great-grandson and great-grandfather will most likely be non-objective - there will be no reliable results. The family relations are moving away. The significance of such distant kinship for the individual's gene pool becomes less and less. Every individual is the fruit of his parents, his mother and his father, first of all.
Our 21st century (or your 21st century, belonging to you the young people) is a result of our 20th century, first of all. Yes, the 20th century itself is a result of the 19th century, but the events of the 20th century most often overshadow, hide, and even override the events of the previous centuries.

In particular, the events of millennia ago are of little importance to us right now. Insignificant importance. Null importance. It needs clarification however, because I wrote above:
The Roman Empire, for instance, is of utmost importance to us, to the Mediterranean, to the whole of Europe, ..
Yes, the Roman Empire is of great importance to us, the Bulgarians, but only because we are and as far as we are Mediterranean and European. There is no specific importance just to us.

In this spirit, the so-called "Turkish yoke" still matters to us, but only because we are Balkan Christians and as far as we are Christians.

Our 20th century has practically eliminated all the consequences of the so-called "Turkish yoke". There are still consequences of the event called "Liberation of Bulgaria" which happened in the 19th century. I warn you that this century or the next one may erase them, too.

And if the historical events of the distant past have an little value for us right now, then is it worth studying history at all?
  • Yes, it is. Satisfying our curiosity. Getting explanations by analyzing events. Lessons learned preventing mistakes.
  • And no, it isn't. It isn't worth studying history in order to look in the past for excuses for our today's misfortunes. It isn't worth studying history in order to cure the inferiority complex with stories of a glorious past.

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Comments, Q&As

If a question or a comment appears or my reply is necessary, I shall copy the question or the reply in this section here and my reply will go also here.

  • ◄► ::christo.tamarin, 2016-09-21 18:18::

  • ►► ::christo.tamarin, 2017-07-24 06:01::
    • Principles of Construction of History for Internal Use (.. show ..)

  • ►► ::christo.tamarin, 2017-11-25 09:31:: Text in English not available (.. Go there ..) (.. Display here in Bulgarian ..)

  • ◄► ::christo.tamarin, 2018-01-14 21:10::

  • ►► ::christo.tamarin, 2019-12-31 11:25:: (.. Go there ..) (.. Display here ..) (in Bulgarian)

  • ►► ::christo.tamarin, 2022-08-02 20:26::  History or Propaganda? (.. Display here ..) (.. Show there ..)

  • ►► ::Lubo.Kanov, 2023-11-12 20:20::  A Hypothesis about the Psychopathy of Historical Leaders   (.. Display here ..)  (.. Show in Bulgarian in facebook there or there ..)

  • ►► ::christo.tamarin, 2024-02-21 19:33::  The Dispassionation and the Cynicism as Required to the Fair-Minded Historians   (.. Display here ..)  (.. Show in Bulgarian in facebook ..)

  • ►► ::christo.tamarin, 2024-11-26 08:50::  Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire!   (.. Display here ..)  (.. Show in Bulgarian in facebook ..) 

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