Tradition

Tradition may be said to encompass symbols, myths, rituals, outlooks and behaviour which structure the social and cultural circumstances in which an individual lives and ensure his connection with the past. As such it is a manifestation of human creativity and a force in shaping and renewing individuals and in determining the way they interact. Ceremonies and rites of passage weave together traditional culture; changes in traditional symbols and methods demonstrate the effect of religious change and the cultural impact of new orientations.

In cultures not subject to the rapid change that has afflicted western civilization, the individual's life is so steeped in tradition that he or she is not consciously aware of it at all - very often no term exists in the language for the concept. The "normal" state for humanity is to be so much part of traditional patterns of thought and behaviour as to be unaware of anything beyond that tradition. It seems that only when a cycle comes to an end, when society becomes totally secularized and anti-traditional, does the need arise to enunciate the traditions of the past so as to assist in the commencement of a new cycle. This can be seen in the setting down of the distilled wisdom of great philosophical schools of thought at the most decadent times when a civilization is about to pass away (for example, of the great Socratic and Platonic schools at a time when the Greek civilization was declining). When tradition is no longer the living heart of a person's life, so that no thought or action is uncoloured by it, then it may be analyzed and expressed in words which, although they are not the tradition itself but it's reflection, nevertheless give a flavour of what it means to live according to that tradition. It is for this reason that many traditions resist the writing down of their wisdom, preferring that it should be passed on orally as a living tradition from teacher to follower rather than via the "dead" words inscribed on paper.

The concept of tradition implies transmission - transmission of behaviour and beliefs from one generation to the next. It is by this means that perennial wisdom is passed on, that which is common to all religions. This is not static, mere antiquity does not give authority over a later tradition which may be an equally valid or a clearer revelation of the truth. Each tradition has an origin which relates universal truth, which is always the same, with its particular adaptation to suit the circumstances of time and place. This may be taken to imply (Seyyed Hossein Nasr) that tradition originates in the divine and is then transmitted throughout history, being renewed by revelation. It is this direct connection with and origin in the divine that makes it valid. Tradition is thus intimately connected with a sense of the sacred, again something which tends only to be analyzed when a society has largely forgotten the natural sense of the sacred. Secularized societies and individuals, alienated from tradition and the sense of the sacred, lead lives which are trivial and marked by pettiness and indifference as the means of relating to each other and to the eternal are discounted or forgotten. Only when they are aware of nostalgia for what, in the midst of change and bound by time, is immutable and eternal, does awareness of the sacred and the value of tradition arise.

It is tradition which conducts the sacred into the practicalities of everyday life and which makes the traditional life so satisfying compared with a life without roots - every aspect of the traditional life is pervaded by the sacred. Such domination by the sacred protects the individual from nihilism and scepticism and the terror they produce. Nothing lies outside its realm - in particular it is the foundation of law and ethics and determines the structure of society.