In this day and age, especially if you spend any time on social media or watching the news cycle, it’s easy to fall into the belief that things have never been this bad. If you live in the U.S., it can feel like the country is unraveling, that this isn’t the place you thought you knew. Everything seems to be falling apart. People are persecuted. We no longer seem to be working toward a shared goal. The narrative is always us versus them. Perpetual conflict. Relentless bad news.

The yogi philosophers warned about this exact state of mind. As Yogi Ramacharaka wrote, “You must learn to distinguish between the transient forms of manifestation and the underlying Reality, which remains unchanged amid all change.” In that view, civilizations move in cycles just as nature does; periods of conflict, corruption, and division are not signs of final collapse but stages in a larger evolutionary rhythm. When you mistake the loudest moments for the whole of reality, despair feels permanent.

News do what they have always done. Amplify what is alarming, divisive, and infuriating because that’s how attention is captured and money is made. That’s their nature. Outrage is the business model. The result is a constant state of mental agitation, a narrowing of perspective, and the belief that hopelessness is the natural condition of the world.

Walking around Lady Bird Lake at sunset, the skyline glowing on the water, I talked with a friend about life, and about my son. We talked about everything and nothing in particular, and I found myself wondering what world he will grow into. That split-screen—headlines versus lived reality—is why perspective matters.

The antidote is seeing through the transient to the underlying reality. And what better way to train that sight than history. Read a century back, five centuries, two millennia. When you do, you realize none of this is new. Corrupt leaders, selfish interests, persecution, and division have always existed. And there have been leaders far worse than what we face now.

History offers comfort because it restores proportion. Regimes fall. Movements burn out. The noise fades. What endures is the basic decency of most people, their desire to live in peace, raise their children, and find meaning. The yogi philosophy reminds you that beneath the cycles, the deeper tendency is toward growth, balance, and greater understanding.

So read history. Step back. Guard your attention. Trade endless news cycles for long perspective. You’ll live a calmer life. And perhaps help shape a better one for those who come after you.