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No Progress without Tradition
A Plea for Tradition from a Non-Traditionalist
I am orthodoxly unorthodox. From my earliest memories, I have found myself moving against the grain, challenging and questioning the belief systems and traditions given to me. To this day, I eagerly search for unconscious norms or traditions that propel my behavior in the world, hoping to secure more independence and freedom.
Looking back, though, I realize that tradition wasn’t the problem. The human being, her experience, and her progress is not possible without the hard-earned structures, traditions, and beliefs given to us — the foundation we stand on, which was laid down by all those who stood before us.
We as individuals, in each new generation, can’t simply begin again with Adam and Eve or else we’d get no further than Adam and Eve. Imagine the double helix, the structure that holds our genes together. It is this structure, its rigidity, its strength, its stability, that allows an organism’s existence to continue in tact.
But as you know, this isn’t the full story. To sustain the evolution and diversity of life also requires creativity, it requires innovation, it demands mistakes. On occasion, the genetic code contained within the double helix makes a small copying error. Something new is introduced to the system. And whether this…
