The meaning and origin of the phrase "to learn from the past

If you don't have this kind of knowledge, you can just repeat the ideas or experiences of your predecessors, and you will be a living library with a lot of knowledge. The new knowledge, the new insights must be the result of careful consideration, not just a blind search for differences.

Today we are in the midst of the historical opportunity of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, and the inheritance, development and innovation of traditional Chinese culture is a major issue of the times. When studying traditional Chinese culture, we need to keep in mind the principle of "learning from the past" as Confucius said.

Source:

The original text is from "The Analects of Confucius" (论语-為政), in which Confucius said, "If you can learn from the past and understand the new, you can be a teacher."

Translation：Confucius said, "When you can have new experiences and discoveries when you are reviewing old knowledge, you can be a teacher."

The phrase "to learn new things by reviewing old things" means that the creation of new insights can be stimulated and guided by constantly reviewing old knowledge and experiences. This seems like it could also be called pushing the envelope. When we study the thoughts and experiences of the ancients, we cannot limit ourselves to the thoughts and experiences of the ancients alone; we need to build new thoughts and summarize new experiences on the basis of the thoughts and experiences of the ancients.