Annie Besant Quotes
A myth is far truer than a history, for a history only gives a story of the shadows, whereas a myth gives a story of the substances that cast the shadows.
Besant, Annie. Esoteric Christianity, or The Lesser Mysteries. Theosophical Publishing Society, 1901, p. 144.
Blight was referring to one classic example where the myth developed in the South and spread to the rest of the country, that the Civil war motivation was not to maintain slavery but a noble fight for freedom and states rights. Nothing could be further from the truth. Most of the seceding states had a legislative declaration of secession and all of them stated maintaining slavery was the cause of the war and secession. None mentioned a general principle of states’ rights. As a matter of fact the State’s rights issue went the other way. It was the Northern states that refused to obey the Dred Scott decision of the Supreme Court to return fugitive slaves. The Northern states claimed State’s rights and the South responded that states had no right to nullify a Federal Law that had been upheld as constitutional by the Supreme Court. The historical myths that nations create, puts a more acceptable veneer on disreputable behavior of the past. The United States does this but other nations do as well, and some of the myths cause conflict and violence hundreds of years later as with the Balkans where each ethnic subgroup has its own myths all of which are wrong but believed.
Annie Besant (née Wood; 1 October 1847 – 20 September 1933) was a British socialist, theosophist, freemason, women's rights and Home Rule activist, educationist, and campaigner for Indian nationalism. Regarded as a champion of human freedom, she was an ardent supporter of both Irish and Indian self-rule. She was also a prolific author with over three hundred books and pamphlets to her credit. As an educationist, her contributions included being one of the founders of the Banaras Hindu University. For fifteen years, Besant was a public proponent in England of atheism and scientific materialism. Besant's goal was to provide employment, better living conditions, and proper education for the poor.
