Learning From the Past Jenny jennyg@compuserve.com Tue Oct 12 15:27:10 1999 Hi Everyone,*p*You've probably all heard the saying, "Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it." It's one of the reasons this site is named the Hall of Remembrance: it's dedicated to the idea that if we can remember the horrors that happened, we can stop them from happening again.*p*But memory isn't enough. If we don't understand what happened, if we don't analyze and think about the past, memory alone will do nothing. There are lessons in the past, but we have to work to extract them.*p*I think that the Burning Times have incredible things to teach us. And I think that, to date, we haven't learned those lessons. I see two reasons for this. Historians think of witchcraft as a thing of the past. Fascinating, insightful -- but not relavant to modern times. Therefore most don't try to apply their learning to life today.*p*Pagans do see the connections between Then and Now -- but for the most part, we don't know much about the Burning Times. The "average" Pagan account of the Burning Times is dreadfully inaccurate. And the "lessons" we tend to pull from it leave a lot to be desired.*p*Most writers seem to pull two lessons from the Burning Times. The first is, bigotry is bad and should be stopped. That's true. Definitely! But not very insightful or helpful. It doesn't tell us how bigotry arises or how it can be stopped. The Burning Times can indeed remind us of how horrible things can get when prejudice runs free -- but it can tell us a lot more, too.*p*The second "lesson" is a bad one, one that I believe actually re-inforces the Burning Times rather than combatting them. That lesson is, other people are monsters. Many writers blame the Burning Times on the Others, on people who are not like themselves. Men, Christians, Catholics, doctors, etc. Pagan and feminist writers tend to describe the Burning Times in dualistic, Us vs Them terms. There were good Witches and evil Witch-hunters; good Pagans and evil Christians; good women and evil men. Few people stop to think that this dualism, this "black and white" dichotomy, is what lies at the heart of the Burning Times.*p*What I'd like to do, in several posts, is to present some of the lessons that I see in the Burning Times. Please, feel free to jump in with comments! (I can handle being told I'm full of crap, honest! <g>) *p*Jenny*br*