There is No Better Time Than the Present to Understand Our Past

Written By: Nina Cashman

Learnings from M.A. in Happiness Studies (Article # 2)

October 27, 2023

As our country sits closely on the sidelines of two world conflicts between East and West – Ukraine fighting to maintain independence from Russia, and now Western ally Israel defending its right to exist as a nation, I see no better time to make history sexy again. Over the last few weeks, I have heard a common sentiment from many: they find the news too draining and biased to watch, yet they also want a better understanding of what is happening in the world. And while these two sentiments seem contradictory, maybe there is an easy solution – read history.

As the Pulitzer Prize and Medal of Freedom-winning writer, philosopher, and historian William Durant said, “We of this generation give too much time to news about the transient present, too little to the living past. We are choked with news, and starved of history.” (Will Durant).

I get it – reading takes time that most of us do not have. As we juggle non-stop pings, alerts, and notifications from our multi-device existence, we are fed with non-stop, one-sided headlines disguised as facts instead of the biased agendas they are. It is no wonder many of us (me included) are not fully aware of what is happening in the world, so we cannot see when history repeats itself.

Yet, amidst the endless clutter of this information age, there are nuggets of gold. Last month, two brilliant minds came into to my awareness through my online master’s program in Happiness Studies. I must admit that when I first opened a seemingly low-budget (and outdated) video called “A Visit with Will and Ariel Durant,” I could almost feel a case of the yawns uprising. But then the words of William Durrant caught my attention– “studying the events of time – history – is as important as studying science, if not more important – it helps you understand what man is.” (John Little, 2021).

If the lifetime achievements of William Durant and his wife Ariel are not enough, the story of their relationship and incredible contributions together is beyond inspiring. Working as a husband-and-wife team during a time when few women were leading the charge of scholarly pursuits, Will and Ariel Durant “spent over fifty years researching and writing about human behavior in their critically acclaimed eleven-volume The Story of Civilization.” (Will Durant Foundation, 2004), which sold over 17 million copies all over the world.

In The Story of Civilization, the Durants approached history from the view of the whole while making it accessible to the general population. Instead of compartmentalizing historic specialties such as economics, politics, literature, religion, philosophy, music, and art, they believed “the ideal historiography would seek to portray in each period the total complex of a nation’s culture, institutions, adventures and ways” (Will Durant Foundation, 2004). Contrary to the typical approach of past historians, the Durants recognized that history was a great story to be told, and not “a dreary succession of impersonal dates and reigns, but as taking place through human beings who loved, fought, dreamed and achieved” (Will Durant Foundation, 2004).

When I was young, my family used to be awe-struck that my dad would read history books like novels. We would tease him about his favorite genre because we assumed it must have taken immense patience, if not Spartan-like endurance, to sit for hours in boredom, digesting facts, names, dates, and events of dead people. He always told us, “The truth is far stranger and much more interesting than fiction,” and then proceeded to answer our many questions about current events that we did not fully understand.

His ability to reference humanity’s past gave my dad the superpower of having a wide-angled lens in the present. Moreover, it armed him with some enriching life advantages that the Durants also reference: an appreciation for how the past stays alive and forgiveness when humanity falls short.

Dr. Will Durant wrote, “The past is not dead; it is the sum of the factors operating in the present. The present is the past rolled up into a moment for action; the past is the present unraveled in history for our understanding” (Will Durant, 2004). As the world stirs in its familiarity with wars that pull on Eastern and Western allies that involve the genocide of cultures and people, it seems like a good time to start paying attention to history’s lessons, even the unpleasant ones, unless we want to relive the same unpleasantries and trade in our happiness altogether.

Based on Durant's unprecedented understanding of world history, it is no surprise that he was able to forecast (almost fifty years ago) what we seem to be living now –

“At this historic moment – when the ascendancy of Europe is so rapidly coming to an end when Asia is swelling with resurrected life, and the theme of the 20th century. It seems destined to be an all-embracing conflict between the East and the West – the provincialism of our traditional histories, which began with Greece and summed up Asia in a line, has become not merely an academic error but a possibly fatal failure of perspective and intelligence. The future faces into the Pacific, and understanding must follow it there.”

I don’t know about you, but the Durants inspire me to want to exchange our biased national news for an accurate dose of human history. As Will Durant highlights, “Other studies may tell us how man might behave, or how he should behave; history tells us how he has behaved for six thousand years” (Will Durant, 2004).

Those who have spent time delving into history seem more forgiving of human fallibility – an inevitable part of our nature. This was a remarkable characteristic of Will and Ariel Durant and one I also admired in my history-buff dad, who was never quick to judge anyone. William Durant explains that those who know history are “in large measure protected in advance against the delusions and disillusionments of his time. He has learned the limitation of human nature and bears with equanimity the faults of his neighbors and the imperfections of states” (Will Durant, 2004).

When I read this, I was amused by the memory of my dad announcing his new club – all members welcome. He called it the “ARU.”

What did it stand for? Quite boldly, “Assholes Are Us.” I remember rolling my eyes in typical teenage horror at my dear old dad enthusiastically accepting the title of President of his new club, the ARU. I mean, he even made business cards! And yet, here I am, almost 30 years later, coming to terms with what I think he meant. None of us can escape our human foibles, and the sooner we accept our long history of imperfections, the better we may become at “seeing patterns of human progress and failures and extracting what lessons can be learned from each” (John Little, 2021).

So, what is the big takeaway in all of this? Why am I telling you about an old couple who died over 40 years ago?

If you, like me, are fatigued by national news and its narrow, one-sided stream of negativity, then perhaps the works of William and Ariel Durant could offer a great resource for learning about what is behind the current events in our world today. And if you are still balking at the idea of reading history pages, then there is always Audible – you can find Durants’ audio books there, I checked. Let me know if you decide to make history sexy again.

References

Little, John, and The Passionate Mind Institute. “A Visit with Will and Ariel Durant.” Www.youtube.com, 2021, www.youtube.com/watch?v=JA3EqCxjuGI.

Will Durant Foundation. ““The Life of Will Durant: He Wrote One Book for 50 Years.”” Www.will-Durant.com, 2004, www.will-durant.com/bio.htm.

---. “Ariel Durant: Embodiment of Life.” Www.will-Durant.com, 2004, www.will-durant.com/ariel.htm.

---. “Will Durant Online: The Gentle Philosopher.” Www.will-Durant.com, 2004, www.will-durant.com/.

---. “Will Durant: Invitation to History.” Www.will-Durant.com, 2004, will-durant.com/invitation.htm.