Adam Weishaupt's Philosophical Musings

Time

Time is cyclical and eternal; either by looking at the revolutions of planets, the seasons, the sun and the moon which is measured for calendars; or by looking at Time in a more metaphysical, or ontological sense. We can see cyclical time, also, in life: our birth, growth, decay, and death. Old life forms pass away as new ones begin. In history, we see civilizations rising, corrupting, and at times falling; only to give rise to new and more civilizations. It is best represented symbolically as the Ouroboros; the snake or the dragon eating its own tail.

Time can never be linear, as in a line moving from Point A to Point B. There wouldn't be a way for us to perceive Time as the cycles of celestial bodies and forces would be obsolete in linear time. Moving A to only destination B would result only in sudden, static entropy; something contrary to what we actually experience (it's thinking that's found in teleology, Abrahamic eschatology, Big Bang theory).

Gender

Gender is a reality that pervades everything in the biological, physical, spiritual, and archetypal. Biologically, men have testosterone while women have estrogen; the two genders have both of these hormones (dominant/recessive) to give balance. To go further into biological functions, men produce sperm while women produce eggs. We obviously know that a man and woman have differing body parts. Not only is this present in human beings, but also in other animals as well, and other life forms well, such as plants. Gender is also a concept found in Grammar (something that I will get into in the "Classical Education 101" thread).

Gender plays a role in understanding spirituality; the esoteric and archetypal principles in life. It is a principle in the Kybalion as seven of the Hermetic principles, and in Masonic imagery is represented as the two poles Joachim and Boaz (the equivalent of Yin and Yang). Furthermore, Male and Female is symbolized as Sun (Male) and Moon (Female), in a cosmic/Alchemical unity to give birth to the child (the Star; hermaphrodite, humanity). The archetypal Male is a warrior/hero; skilled, disciplined, tough, thinks logically and with reason, consciousness. The excess of Male is a brute; violent, cruel, hungry for dominance, closed mindedness. The archetypal Female is the mother/care-giver; one that nurtures and gives compassion and love to humanity, intuition, unconsciousness. The excess of Female would be the whore; overly-emotional, manipulative, lustful, passive, non-discerning, relativistic.

History

'History' - particularly human history, is largely constructed by human minds under different points of view, in historical causes, meanings, and events. We often have our 'great men of history', as we also have our 'villains'; but while these types of figures may truly exist, it is a construct that simplifies history and glosses over the complexities behind these figures. Like, for example, the 'great men' could have their corrupt side, and be put under scrutiny for it (they may as well even be more so evil than what is told). Likewise, the 'villains' could have their philanthropic side shown to light when looked at in deeper depths, than the superficial level which often distorts their more 'villainous' features.

We can often see examples of this with people like Hitler, or Qaddafi. Both of these leaders among possibly many of them, have been made the images of evil; meanwhile, the superpowers (the US, UK, and other powers) have made themselves out to be heroes. The good side of Hitler (such as helping Germany recover economically) has often been omitted in favor of highlighting the Holocaust (largely out of profit and influence on the part of the Jews).
With eras in human history, we tend to celebrate the advent of modernity as part of progress (freedom of speech, religion, education, etc), and shun the past (which is characterized with superstition and oppression). Although partly true, modern civilizations have never escaped superstition and oppression; it's that they uphold the secular humanism and positivism above the worship of God.

As for the the people - the ones in the background in the midst of this 'history'? They, unfortunately, are faded into the background. They are merely steppingstones for the historical figures to be looked at and celebrated. This is an example of history often being made by the 'winners', as in the more influential.