William Shakespeare. Charles Dickens. Leonardo. Michelangelo. Picasso. Van Gogh. Great Wall of China.
Starting with Herodotus for no particular reason. I start with him partially because he was part of our conversation at a dinner party I was at last weekend. Does anyone know the reason why there are some things which stand the test of time, and others which fade away? The above mentioned gentleman had some writings which have allowed us to enter into what it was like to live approximately 2500 years ago. He documents his experiences in life, which of course included battles, political events, and descriptions of far away lands which he visited. It should be noted that he was a warrior because of necessity, and the violence of the time, but because of his valuable writings he became known as a historian.
But he is not what I wanted to write about today. No. Again I pose the question, in a different way, saying; what qualities stand the test of time? I would presume it is simply that word. Quality. When we are dead and the next three generations have passed, will our little lives be known? Probably not. However, I believe people will not have changed much. I can think of love, hate, envy, lust, pain, joy and more human emotions. They will be the same tomorrow as they were in 500 BC.
Value. Is there anything valuable yesterday that is still valuable today? The first which comes to my mind is water. Without it, we will die and so did they. Land. It held value and still does because we all need a place to settle. Of course it could be argued that there were many nomadic people, but they were surely outnumbered by those who chose to settle. It is prevailant in the human psyche to want your own place. Gold is very valuable today like it was in yesteryear. It is the backer of currencies, and is the substance which people flock to when the future of the world looks shaky.
Ideas. The great intangible quality. The idea of taxation was one that enabled nations to be held together. Isn't it great that the taxman was hated then, just as they are now. Value of human life. It is one that changes of course. Rule of Law. It enabled people to share common rules. I elect that when there is law, it creates order. When a people of a common law have order, prosperity is a result. When there is prosperity, it allows people to build, including literature, art and breathtaking works of architecture. Humankind can surge forward.
I know there are better men and women who could inscribe my thoughts better than I could. In fact I feel as though I cannot quite get my thinking onto this page. It may sound pretentious but I will sum it up in the next line, and then I will stop.
Humankind desires love and a place in which substance can be deeply stirred, created and consumed.
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4 comments:
"Beauty" is in the eye of the beholder so what was valuable yesterday could be still be valuable today. Or maybe not.
Quality covers alot of ground. And once again, depending on what side of the fence you are on.....sorry Chanks but you have to be a little more specific.
There were two men, one lived in a mansion and the other was homeless. They both thought they had it right.
I guess it depends on what a person beholds.
Now I guess I will go read the links.
AV
William Shakespeare. Charles Dickens. Leonardo. Michelangelo. Picasso. Van Gogh. Great Wall of China.
Which one of these does not fit? Oh, well, the Great Wall of China of course. It's not a man. Come to think of it, most history books have a lot in common with this list. Most history books are written either by men, or by women who are so brainwashed that they believe their position in the world somehow has less importance than a man's. They'll talk about a wall before they'll talk about a great woman. The first "man" in this list, from what I've heard, was actually a woman. William Shakespeare was a pseudonym for a woman who knew, because of the world she lived in, that if she did great things and people knew it was her that did them, she would get no recognition because she was a woman. Sad.
The two books used by some of the most powerful and corrupt religions in the world as their holy books both refer to a supreme being of the universe that is ascribed a male quality. Why? Because both books were written in misogynistic societies of course. And another quality about both these books is that they give great virtue and recognition to women who have never experienced sex. Yet another way to push women into an inferior role in society: convince them that one of their most powerful, natural urges is something they should be ashamed of and have to hide from the world. In my experience, women that have the most decent human qualities are those that have accepted their sexual urges and behaviours as good things. However, some religions would have us believe otherwise.
"Humankind desires love and a place in which substance can be deeply stirred, created and consumed". That's powerful, elusive, engigmatic, and beautiful. I want to keep that sentence in my mind as I go about my day and my week. Men look for these things in women, and women look for these things in men. Love can come from anybody, and is always a good thing, but it has a stronger effect on your heart when it comes from someone that your mating instinct has given you an affinity for.
Chankslee, you posed the question of what things are valuable today that were valuable in millenia past. You also asked which works and which people get remembered through those eras. I just watched a movie called Blood Diamond. It taught me something about this question. One thing that will always be remembered about any great works of art are how well they show that the act of observing some things to be more valuable than others is what causes conflict between us. It is at the root of destructive conflicts. It is tragic.
One thing that has stood the test of time is CAPITALISM.
Hooray for Capitalism.
dost
Powerful words dost.
You implied a lot of good things and a lot of bad things all at the same time. From things I've heard you say in the past, I'd have to say I think one thing you've taught me exists eternally along with human existence is love. Omnipresent. For all my rants about religions, their benefits and their pitfalls, their rights and their wrongs, one thing that is universal to every religion or spirituality is love. Some people say God, some say Allah, some say male, some say female, some say one, some say many, some even say none at all, but all of those people have experienced love, and it doesn't matter which name or gender or numerology, when you see life and love it for what it is, it flourishes. The more you manage to do this, the more good you are doing for your own existence and also that of all other living things.
Thanks for helping enlighten me to this fact.
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