Men develop ideas and systems of explanation by absorbing past knowledge and critiquing and superseding it. Women, ignorant of their own history [do] not know what women before them had thought and taught. So generation after generation, they [struggle] for insights others had already had before them, [resulting in] the constant inventing of the wheel.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of understanding and building upon past knowledge to avoid redundancy and struggle.
Gerda Lerner highlights the way in which men often create new ideas and systems by learning from and evolving past understandings, while women may not have the same access to their historical contributions. This lack of awareness can lead to repeated struggles in discovering insights that have been previously established, ultimately suggesting that recognizing and honoring the past is crucial for growth and advancement.
In practice
In a seminar on women's studies, this quote could be used to discuss the need for historical awareness in women's contributions.
Everything that explains the world has in fact explained a world that does not exist, a world in which men are at the center of the human enterprise and women are at the margin "helping' them. Such a world does not exist - never has.
When I started working on women's history about thirty years ago, the field did not exist. People didn't think that women had a history worth knowing.
Prediction is difficult- particularly when it involves the future.
Healing means accepting all parts of ourselves, not just the parts we like, but all of us.
Meditation gives you the wherewithal to pause, observe how easily the mind can exaggerate the severity of a setback, and resist getting drawn into the abyss.
Long ago, Sir Isaac Newton gave us three laws of motion, which were the work of genius. But Sir Isaac's talents didn't extend to investing: He lost a bundle in the South Sea Bubble, explaining later, 'I can calculate the movement of the stars, but not the madness of men.' If he had not been traumatized by this loss, Sir Isaac might well have gone on to discover the Fourth Law of Motion: For investors as a whole, returns decrease as motion increases.
I'm learning in my old age that the only thing you can do to keep your sanity is to stay in the moment.
It is the privilege of genius that life never grows common place, as it does for the rest of us.
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