Respect the Past by Breaking the Mold

Hold on to the beautiful things of old, but don’t cling to them as if you’re incapable of creating a new and improved reality. Let your relationship to the past be one of affinity without attachment.

When we base our decisions on what we think we have to do because of how things have always been, we become servants to the very traditions that were meant to serve us.

Traditions are meant to honor creative people who established new trends by daring to be different. Traditions are tributes to the ingenuity of the human spirit.

In his 1983 Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities called “The Vindication of Tradition,” Jaroslav Pelikan wrote:

“Tradition is the living faith of the dead, traditionalism is the dead faith of the living. And, I suppose I should add, it is traditionalism that gives tradition such a bad name.”

Traditionalism constricts. Tradition expands. Traditionalism smothers. Tradition breathes. Traditionalism kills. Tradition gives life. Traditionalism demands compliance without cause. Tradition inspires reverence without restriction. Traditionalism holds us back. Tradition propels us forward. Traditionalism is about the past. Tradition is about the possible.

When we use tradition as an excuse for not being different, we betray the very essence of tradition. Every tradition is there to commemorate a moment when someone chose to take the risk of embracing change.

Tradition is not the enemy of innovation. It’s the reminder of its necessity. The best way to honor the past is by resurrecting the resilience of those who refused to be defined it.

T.K. Coleman is the co-founder and education director for Praxis, a 12-month apprenticeship program that combines a traditional liberal arts education with practical skills training, one-on-one coaching, academic mentoring, group discussions, professional development workshops, and real-world business experience. T.K. is an avid lover of ideas and blogs regularly on personal development, education, and philosophy at tkcoleman.com and the Praxis blog.