As a species, wise, harmonious progress is our mission.
Few men are of one plain decided colour most are mixed shaded and blended and vary as much from different situations as changeable silks do from different lights.
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Few men are of one plain decided colour most are mixed shaded and blended and vary as much from different situations as changeable silks do from different lights.
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Huius (sapientis) opus unum est de divinis humanisque verum invenire; ab hac numquam recedit religio, pietas, iustitia ...
Sapiens means wise or sapient... Wise means acceptance, not differentiation. Wise means helping, not fighting. Wise means assimilation, not destruction. Wise means harmony and peace, not dissension.
Together you are a species that grows in all aspects of life _ separated you are a mere speck of dust in vast ocean of space-time capable of nothing progressive.
This is the best reason to learn history: not in order to predict the future, but to free yourself of the past and imagine alternative destinies. Of course this is not total freedom - we cannot avoid being shaped by the past. But some freedom is better than none.
This is the paradox of historical knowledge. Knowledge that does not change behaviour is useless. But knowledge that changes behaviour loses its relevance. The more data we have and the better we understand history, the faster history alters its course, and the faster our knowledge becomes outdated.