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     History is the assimilation of a public past into an
inescapably present individual consciousness.  Thus history
is the substance of the individual's conception of the
world in which he lives.  History is the integration of
common experience into individual consciousness.  Every
fact known by an individual is an historical fact.

     Arguably a mathematical identity should also be deemed
as a fact, indeed as a fact outside of history.  Yet I
would argue the opposite: namely that a mathematical
identity or any other symbolic statement is a pattern, a
paradigm that ,ust be executed (implemented) by the
individual consciousness before it becomes meaningful.

     Symbolic thought in general, and mathematics most
prominently, is the generalization, is the de-
individualization of intellectual activity.  By definition,
the manipulation of the symbol is uniform across the
spectrum of individuals.  Therefore the symbol is the bond,
and the only bond, that links the thought processes of
individuals with one another.

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Copyright 2008, Ernst Jochen Meyer
