In the purgative training phase of the training of a Culdee we begin with the study of mundane history.

History, within the system of the Quaternary, corresponds to the gate or element of Earth. Mundane history serves as an earthly frame for a type of tripartite soul which is composed of the other three elements of the Quaternary. This frame serves in the way the human body serves as an earthly frame for the tripartite human soul, whose parts have a direct correspondence with those of the Quaternary. Ethics, corresponds to our moral sense. Physics, corresponds to our reasoning. Theology corresponds to that transcendental aspect of our psyche we call the noetic or anagogic.
As an earthly frame, mundane history can help to give context to the instruction by demonstrating what worldly forces in the course of chronological time where likely at work when various aspects of the training developed. It also serves as a framework of context for the new student so that he or she can look at the parts of the training in relation to the whole within themselves, and in time and space.
History, however, is a mere image of a mundane world which lacks inherent existence. The mundane world is the world of “this particular thing and that particular thing,”which are not real things for they are always in a state of becoming. They, unlike the One, are not self-subsistent. They are merely manifestations of the ever running flow of the Logos. So, history is only the image of an image.
History is sometimes written by witnesses who may have experienced the events of which they write. What they write, however, is their interpretation of the events, and often differs significantly from the interpretation of others who experienced the same things.
Sometimes the history we read is written not out of a pure desire to simply describe historical events or persons, but rather with the intent to sway the opinions of others with regard to the significance of the events or persons. Some people write history to promote a political agenda, or to aggrandize a popular person. Sometimes history is written to demonize, disparage, and marginalize persons, nations or ideologies that the historian dislikes. We all have also observed how modern historians and journalists often “spin” or “slant” their writings to favor those ideologies and persons whose favor they would like to gain.
The fact is that we can never really know with certainty what forces are at work on the writers of history, and subsequently we cannot know with any certainty if what was written is an accurate portrayal of the events or persons described.
In regard to a Culdee's spiritual development, mundane history's value is negligible. It cannot truly give the Culdee much useful insight about how to attain the happiness he is working toward, because the same type of historical event or historical decision can work to the apparent advantage of one person while it works to the disadvantage of another.
In times past, and still today there are those who look at sacred writings as though they are both historically accurate, and as though that historical accuracy has some useful impact on human spiritual development. If we admit or believe that Heracles literally performed those 12 labors, or that Odysseus literally struggled to make his way home, or that Jesus literally returned from the dead, what good does it really do us? How does it help us progress? What does that history tell us truly about ourselves and the nature of the universe? The best it can do is provide us with an anchor of faith which we can use as a launching point to become like those beings if we find them worthy of emulation.
That anchor of faith is not devoid of value, but it is only a starting place, an impetus to action, it is where we begin on our quest for understanding ourselves, the universe and God.