Learning How to Live from Ruins and Monuments

Do you tour monuments to learn about past civilisations, cultural heritage, and important moments in history? Use them for learning how to live with this reflection.

Photo of Istanbul by Mert Kahveci on Unsplash

Last month, during my holiday, I toured an array of sites with their respective monuments - from the Colosseum in Rome and St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City to the famous mosques in Istanbul - each monument was maintained or built to commemorate significant historical changes, achievements, or losses.

I was surprised to learn about the gladiator fights that took place for entertainment at the Colosseum in ancient Rome, and how they were slowly banned because of the cruelty and bloodshed involved.

Many visitors posed inside and outside this monument for pictures. I wondered how many of them took the time to read about and think of what fellow humans must have competed against, lost, and been subject to at these famous sites.

Istanbul’s sites were no less attractive to Instagram and TikTok-savvy tourists. I listened intently to our guide who told us stories of how the number of minarets and size of a mosque would determine one’s power and standing in Ottoman times, and how the Ottoman sultan’s sons often disappeared amidst powerplay at the royal court.

Without social media to show off possessions and power back then, humanity would resort to constructing buildings and sculptures. Contrary to current times, monuments and sculptures were a tangible way to leave one’s mark on upcoming generations and tell a story we’d never know of otherwise.

At first, witnessing the peculiarity of ancient sites being promoted with the help of newfound media made me giggle. Later on, I came up with a set of questions to deeply understand how and if we have progressed and changed as a society.

Reflection: Learning How to Live From Ruins and Monuments

The following set of questions will help you reflect on our motives as human beings, why and how we still want to illustrate our power, and how we can live better and more fulfilling lives:

1. Why do ancient ruins and monuments attract us? Do we value things that are broken and incomplete, and time that is lost more than what is whole and here?

2. When learning about past (human) suffering and progress, are we using it to improve our current (global) situation?

3. Does the preservation of ruins and monuments take us away from what is currently happening in our society and the world? Is it stealing away our resources and attention from what matters now?

4. Should social media (accounts) seize to exist tomorrow, how will we make our mark on the world? What will demonstrate our impact and who will tell our story?

   

   Whirling dervish by Emir Eğricesu on Unsplash

Final Thoughts

Ruins are a mark of how great we once were as a civilisation. They show us how great we can be once again. But they also teach us that human creativity, life, and loss are behind all material creation we see around us.

Monuments may tell the world who we were and what we achieved, yet they will never make up for a life not lived to the fullest. What happens inside the walls of a castle is more important than the beauty of the castle itself. Are you living your life for the purpose of constructing a monument or sculpture after you’re gone or for pursuing your soul’s satisfaction and purity of character?

With gratitude,

Raksha