In his 1946 work entitled A Study Of History, Arnold J. Toynbee made some very illuminating observations that serve to give students of history a more honest grasp of a vast and elusive subject. I will attempt to paraphrase some of the opening arguments presented in the first few chapters of his ten volume opus. While I don't personally agree with all of Mr. Toynbee's conclusions, they have informed the RIIA, much as Professor Carroll Quigley's book, The Evolution of Civilizations, has exerted a great influence on the CFR, the American branch of the Royal Institute.
For any interested readers, Mr. Quigley's book is an easy read and Mr. Toynbee's 3000 page work in ten volumes has thankfully been abridged by Mr. D. C. Somervell into a readily accessible tome of under 600 pages. I heartily recommend them both.
First, it must be born in mind for the sake of perspective, that whether we like it or not; the number of cultures labelled primitive when compared to the number labelled advanced civilizations, as well as their respective antiquity, are in very stark contrast. This are facts that any attentive students of history or of anthropology will already know, but I have never seen these facts explained in better regard nor have I ever been shown such hints of the enduring significance of this imbalance, regardless of the author.
A rough calculation shows us that approximately 650 separate primitive societies operate against a backdrop of only a dozen advanced societies. At this point, we must take into consideration that the total number of souls in all the primitive societies since the beginning of humanity are scarcely a drop in the ocean of souls who have counted membership in any one of the advanced civilizations. We must understand that within any science, our first task is to simply gather and collate facts. Our next task is to extract meaning, derive patterns and attempt to develop useful knowledge from the information.
When we compare the amount of available facts to be drawn upon in our two types of labelled societies, it becomes evident that the potential trove of such treasure is far bigger for the primitive than the advanced, although it is infinitely more elusive. Paradoxically, the available facts for a study of advanced cultures are more numerous and easier to obtain, but they lack any depth of antiquity when compared to the other pool, which makes the formulating of any accurate, sensible conclusions very much more difficult.
Mr. Toynbee has shown me that history, by necessity contains many of the devices of fiction; just as fiction cannot help but to include large doses of actual history. This simple fact is far truer and much more significant than it first appears to be on the surface. So, now with the foregoing information tucked under our tongues like a peppermint we will breathe in one additional bit of historical knowledge through our expanding awareness. To whit, the observed fact that when a primitive and an advanced society come into contact along a frontier for a protracted time, the tendency is for the advanced society to emulate the primitive society, if the former does not constantly expand and impinge upon the latter.
Thus, in the spirit of a man who said that any good historian must also be an artist, I will present to your ears an ambient sound painting. Come, we are on a beach in Southeast Sweden where some men are building a dragon ship. An Arab guest is strumming a lute and a Nordic Shaman is beating a wolf-skin hand-drum. Christianity is just over a thousand years old and Islam is five centuries young. The Viking Chief stands looking out to sea recalling the voice of a Brythonic Celt girl he once heard singing in a stone Church in Ireland. It has haunted him ever since. In Spring, he will sail to Cork. Inexorable change is on the wind and everyone can feel it. There are those in the South with a will to dominate, who now require one’s spirit and soul as well as one’s body. You may listen to he sound painting here-
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