Tradition and Growth

 There is a balance to be struck between being open to the new and faithful to tradition. Too much of one and you lose connection to roots and what grounds you in truth. Too much of the other and you become set in your ways, unable to grow and develop, stuck in a calcifying rigidity, bound by form and convention and without the freedom required for creativity.

A tree is planted in the ground but it must aspire up to the sky, ever seeking to stretch towards the light into new heights. It cannot stay close to the safety of the ground or it will remain a little shrivelled bush. But as it grows its roots must go deeper into the earth in search of life giving nourishment. Again, a balance must be struck. 

In fact, to respect tradition and be open to the new, both and at the same time, is easy. More than that, it is natural. But it is only natural to the natural man by which I do not mean the man responsive only to natural instincts and impulses but the man who is not caught up in the machinations of the earthly mind which analyses and separates. Unfortunately, now in the 21st century none of us are free. We are all far too self-conscious, and our excessive self-consciousness makes us fake. None of us is natural. None of us is innocent but that is what we must become. To be innocent in this sense does not mean to lack experience but not to be defined by it. We can learn from experience but the clarity of our vision should not be determined by it and our mind must be clean from the stains of the past. To be innocent is to live from moment to moment, to be aware of the past but not limited by it.  This is freedom and from freedom comes spiritual growth.

At the same time, if this growth is to be in the right direction it must be guided and constrained by something to stop it becoming a jungle of weeds. The mind should be a beautiful garden which means order and freedom have to work together. Tradition is what gives structure and form to personal intuition and inspiration but these two are what provides the impetus for inner growth.