In the past, there were two old sayings, one is that "literature and history do not separate families" and the other is "the history of the six classics", both of which show the special and developed historical tradition of the Chinese nation. And history itself has a unique charm. Zhu Guangqian said, "The age often makes the most ordinary objects have a kind of beauty", "the two words 'once upon a time' can immediately take us to the fairy tale world of poetry and legend." The ambiguity, uncertainty and sufficient "imagination space" of historical themes have the stylistic tension that general realistic themes lack.
History is an inexhaustible spiritual rich mine, and if you really start to explore, there will be more articles in it. As the saying goes, "I don't know where to start with a twenty-four history." Of course, to say simple is also very simple, nothing more than one is a person, one is a thing. Legend has it that when the King of Persia ascended to the throne, he asked the historian to write a complete history of the world for him.
A few years later, the history books were compiled, up to six thousand volumes. The emperor, who was no younger, worked day and night on state affairs, and had not been able to find time to watch, so he had no choice but to let the historian abbreviate it. After several years of hard work, the shrunken history book was completed, and the emperor was already old and had no energy to read the abbreviated version, so he asked the historian to further compress it. However, before it was made, he was already dying. The historian rushed to the throne and said to the king of Persia that in the past we regarded the history of the world as too complicated, but in fact, it was very simple to say, but it was just a sentence: "They were born, suffered, and died." These nine words, "they" are human beings, and "born, suffered, and died" are things. The fact that the storm is the month can be seen as a summary of history.
History is centered on people, and history is the unfolding of man's practical activities in time. It is man who creates and writes history. It is true that the thousands of events that illuminate the pamphlet can be said to be vigorous, unprecedented, earth-shattering, and shocking, but what is not a human act? Man's thoughts, man's practical activities, that is, man's spiritual existence and material existence, are the most basic facts in all historical facts. It can be said that the tension, charm and vitality of history are all closely linked to the characters.
In history, people are the starting point and the foothold. The meaning of human existence, the fate of man, why and how he lives have always been the focus of historians' attention. Mr. Qian Mu, a well-known historian, has stressed many times, "History talks about personnel, and personnel should be mainly based on people, and things should be deputy." How can no one be okay? "Historical existence depends on people and does not depend on things, but people can always exist." He also said: "Thought must have factual expressions, there must be someone behind the matter, and if there is no one, the theory of institutional thought is empty." "Therefore, when I talk about historical figures, I especially hope that we will value people, take people as examples, and be a new stimulus for us."
In fact, it is not only history, in terms of paying attention to life, human nature, and caring for people's destiny, the entire humanities discipline is connected: philosophy thinks about fate, history reveals destiny, literature expresses destiny - no direction is not people, people are the purpose, people are the core.
Reading history is mainly to read people, and reading people focuses on the psychic. "Do you know the history of antiquity without understanding the heart of the ancients?" This is also the words of Mr. Qian Mu. Only by reading the history of tongxin can we hope to eliminate the spiritual barrier and the boundary between time and space, enter the depths of history, reach the source of the ancient people's hearts, and carry out the dialogue between life and life.
I agree with this statement: history is spiritual activity, and spiritual activity is always the present, not the dead past. This is exactly the case, reading history is a kind of collision between the souls of today's people and the ancients, the docking of hearts, and the interrogation of life.
As the saying goes, "Watch the Three Kingdoms shed tears - worry for the ancients" This kind of "worrying for the ancients" is actually a kind of spiritual participation and intervention of future generations of readers. It is not only the examination, examination, and examination of the ancients by the present, but also the torture of the souls of the deceased to the living people today. As long as everyone who reads history goes deep into the depths of human nature and the bottom of the soul, and examines, compares, and contrasts, I am afraid that he will not feel so detached and relaxed.
To be psychic is to put historical figures in the local historical context at that time to check. The Southern Song Dynasty thinker Lü Zuqian once said: "If you look at history as if you were in it, you will see the interests of things and the calamities of the times, and you will cover up your own thoughts, so that when I encounter such things, I will treat them as if they were." To borrow Mr. Qian Zhongshu's words, it is "remote understanding of human feelings, suspense of current events, setting yourself in the middle of the situation, immersing yourself in the cavity, and thinking about it, in order to speculate."
At the same time, Psychic also emphasizes empathy and understanding of predecessors. Friends who study history know that it is much easier to criticize the predecessors and make judgments spontaneously than to understand the predecessors sympathetically. However, empathy and understanding of the predecessors are indispensable to all historians and historians. Li Yu, a literary scholar in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, said: "Whoever reads the books of the ancients and discusses the affairs of his predecessors should ignore his traces and forgive his heart." ”
Mark Bloch, a famous historian of the French school of annals, also pointed out in his book The Skills of historians: "For a long time, historians have been like judges in the palace of Yama, praising and disparaging the dead. This attitude satisfies people's inner desires"; and "understanding is the guiding light of historical research".
In fact, "we may not be very sure of ourselves and the world today, are we so sure that we can judge right and wrong for our predecessors?" I understand what he means, not that we should not judge, judge, praise and disparage—governing history, reading history, and writing history itself means judging, but how to judge, that is, according to what scale, what principle to adhere to, and what attitude to adopt.
In the process of reading people and understanding the mind, it is not only limited to the historical figures who are the object of the object, but also the history writers should be observed, paying attention to studying the traces of their history, exploring their hidden intentions, and examining their origins. In this regard, the famous literary scholar Jin Shengsi in the early Qing Dynasty had a very profound and profound understanding. He said, "Whoever reads a book must first know what the mind of the person who wrote the book is. For example, in the "Records of History", it must be Tai Shi Gong's belly grudge played out. Therefore, he was particularly spirited in the Ranger, the Cargo Breeding, and even the rest of the biographies, and whenever he encountered money and murder, he admired and sighed. A "Historical Record" is only the six words of "slow and urgent people from time to time", which is the will of his life's writing. ”
In the process of reading history, I often focus on subtext and voiceover hidden behind the pages. In the study of "Zhou Yi", there are theories of "change" and "change of gua", and I often pay attention to the "change" and "change of gua" in the process of its evolution in history, so as to make a side interpretation, he said, the so-called ulterior motive.
Ancients Cloud: Take history as a mirror. Reading history makes one wise. History is a mirror that can look at the past, understand the present, and look into the future. In the era of globalization, let us inherit and carry forward the excellent Chinese culture in the reading of history, and continue to create new glory for the realization of the great Chinese dream.
Transferred from the International Confucian Federation, originally published in Qiushi Network
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