There is no history—only biography,” declared the American sage Ralph Waldo Emerson.  His statement is true on many counts.  Standard history tends to be an on-going record of wars, the historian chronologizing from his or her personal views and biases. In fact, however, wars represent a very small fraction of all global happenings in any given period of Earth-measured time, and perspectives of war presented by historians tend to obscure those underlying causal factors which are actually to be found specifically in the thinking of leaders and decision-makers. 

We must ask the question: With whose thinking, scheming, planning, propaganda to enlist others, and determined action did any given war originate?  For historic accounts are not what they frequently claim to be—wars are not the outcome of “local chance” and “random happenings.” Humans are not puppets in a mechanistic universe. Historic “cause” is to be found precisely in the thinking of particular leaders, of persuasive and determined people who take power and make decisions—decisions of both positive and negative effects. Unforgettable 20th Century examples abound: Franklin D. Roosevelt; Adolph Hitler; Harry S. Truman; Sir Winston Churchill; those who made the decision to use atomic bombs for war.  Explorative study of history inevitably leads us to the causative thinking and actions of individual people and those individuals in agreement with or in opposition to one another.  In our final analysis of any given account of history, we study biography. 

Recognizing this truth, our study of history—of the biographies of great leaders and thinkers of recorded time—becomes not only the most fascinating of pursuits, but the most meaningful.  Why is biography of such compelling interest?  How is it we relate to the heroes, great thinkers, artists and creators of the past, the philosophers, scientists, spiritual leaders? Why do we relate to the heroism of Jean d’Arc, the tales of Dickens, the humor of Mark Twain, the independence of Thoreau, the humanity of Eleanor Roosevelt?  Are we not in effect studying ourselves—our own potential, hopes, dreams and aspirations?  We see the potential grandeur of our own lives through the drama lived by those people whose character and achievement point to the heights and the genius we intuitively know to be our own inherent potential. We are in a sense those very people whose biography we follow with empathy, approval or disapproval, and shared vision, causes, purpose and ideals.

Now, what does this truth really mean to us, personally, standing in historic time at the gate of a new century and a new millennium, at the historic moment of time named in the Western World the year 2000?  Let’s think about it.

First, unity of all people of all times is clearly and unequivocally the message of our ability to relate to all situations and people throughout history.  We are united in empathy, insight and unity of spirit with all people of all time: with Penelope and Ulysses, with Miriam and Moses, with Socrates and Plato, with Akhenaton and Nefertiti, with Plotinus, with Heloise and Abelard. The ideals and inspiration of citizens of the past illumine our present.  In the annals of the mind, there is no time—the unity achieved through cross-century meeting of minds by means of stored biographical records transcends time.

All those who have gone before inform our present thinking and action.  All biography writes of Everyman and Everywoman. Commonality of experience connects all through all time. Any  “history” can in fact be personally experienced only in the here and now. Do I need direction in my life and thinking?  Nothing is new under the sun.  The insights and solutions of people of yesterday enlighten and inform me today. Principles and ideals, the intelligent and true remain unchanged through time. We are part of all we have ever known, which includes the wisdom of the ages, when we seek it out of the silences.

Biography convinces that nothing in the realm of human interaction happens by random chance, but rather by planned individual or collective intent, by specifically focused attention.  “Nothing is, but thinking makes it so!” The most profound lesson of biography is the spiritual fact that the Great Soul, the OverSoul, speaks to us through people—we need but ears to hear, eyes to see, and that intuitive empathy which leads to our knowing.  Connection with history is connection with ourselves—with our Cosmic Source and our evolving drama of human consciousness.

What power there is in our thought!  With determined intent focused on our vision for practical action, we have every potential for ourselves becoming history makers. Our biographies echo those of millenniums past.  We have the power, through our own will and wisdom, to ensure our biographies, however humble, echo on to inform future millenniums.  With the year 2000, let us take up the challenge of choosing leadership.  Let us be visionaries. Let our intent be to create a Cosmic Age for the New Millennium.

DDD