When we wonder, or are asked, “Why do we do things this way?” the answer, usually, is:
There’s no thinking in this practice or in these answers. Addressing the answer to “why” in this way surrenders our very agency.
(Take a breath. Sit with this a moment.)
It’s fantastically illogical to say that things are “best” because that’s how those things have “always” been done. If that were the case, we’d still be living in wattle-and-daub homes, falling victim to simple illnesses, risking freezing in winter, etc., etc., etc.
When we get stuck in habituated patterns, it’s like having the wheels of our life trapped in the grooves in the road that others have traveled… and when we’re trapped in pattern, there are few (if any) ways to do things different. This makes us predictable, and it’s that unconscious predictability that will, ultimately, do us in.
After all, don’t we study religion/philosophy/spirituality to be liberated from these rote behaviors? Yet, once we find some practice or “tradition” that is comfortable and “secure”, we repeat these patterns over and over.
Lemme tell y’all something: This is EGO. (I know… “oh, geez William. Again with the ego stuff?” Yes. Again. Not apologizing.)
Why? Because ego is kept around by COMFORT, and is a liniment to INSECURITY, and that secure comfort is what habit and mindless tradition bring.
So, does this mean that all traditions and customs fall into this category?
Kind of, yes… but in potential, not in actuality. It’s up to us and how we approach these things that determines if we’re victim to tradition, or masters of our fate.
“Is this really the best way to do these things?” we must continually ask ourselves.
If we mindfully engage these habits and practices, and actively make a free, reversible, informed, enthusiastic, and specific choice, then we are not surrendering our agency to tradition, we are instead being guided by our sovereignty.
Please note, the italicized words above are all talking about CONSENT (thanks, Planned Parenthood), which is exactly what we must give, in all things, to retain our individual sovereignty... including the perpetuation of habits.
- Tradition!
- It’s how we’ve always done this.
- Because it’s how my parents did it, and how their parents did it, and so on… *looking wistfully off into the distance* back to the beginning.
- The lore said so. Period.
- Well… it’s how “everyone” does it, right?
There’s no thinking in this practice or in these answers. Addressing the answer to “why” in this way surrenders our very agency.
(Take a breath. Sit with this a moment.)
It’s fantastically illogical to say that things are “best” because that’s how those things have “always” been done. If that were the case, we’d still be living in wattle-and-daub homes, falling victim to simple illnesses, risking freezing in winter, etc., etc., etc.
When we get stuck in habituated patterns, it’s like having the wheels of our life trapped in the grooves in the road that others have traveled… and when we’re trapped in pattern, there are few (if any) ways to do things different. This makes us predictable, and it’s that unconscious predictability that will, ultimately, do us in.
After all, don’t we study religion/philosophy/spirituality to be liberated from these rote behaviors? Yet, once we find some practice or “tradition” that is comfortable and “secure”, we repeat these patterns over and over.
Lemme tell y’all something: This is EGO. (I know… “oh, geez William. Again with the ego stuff?” Yes. Again. Not apologizing.)
Why? Because ego is kept around by COMFORT, and is a liniment to INSECURITY, and that secure comfort is what habit and mindless tradition bring.
So, does this mean that all traditions and customs fall into this category?
Kind of, yes… but in potential, not in actuality. It’s up to us and how we approach these things that determines if we’re victim to tradition, or masters of our fate.
“Is this really the best way to do these things?” we must continually ask ourselves.
If we mindfully engage these habits and practices, and actively make a free, reversible, informed, enthusiastic, and specific choice, then we are not surrendering our agency to tradition, we are instead being guided by our sovereignty.
Please note, the italicized words above are all talking about CONSENT (thanks, Planned Parenthood), which is exactly what we must give, in all things, to retain our individual sovereignty... including the perpetuation of habits.
Photo Credit: Planned Parenthood/Tumblr
We must be free to make the choice between habit and a new way, and have the power to rescind that choice without harassment. We have to choose from a place of being informed, and those choices must be entered into with enthusiasm and excitement. Finally, just because we choose one way in one situation does not mean that we will choose that way in all things. Choices are for specific instances.
In other words, it is WE who have to consent to surrender to “tradition”.
We must make wise, informed choices, in all things… and thus, we end up doing things for the right reasons.
(See y’all tomorrow)
In other words, it is WE who have to consent to surrender to “tradition”.
We must make wise, informed choices, in all things… and thus, we end up doing things for the right reasons.
(See y’all tomorrow)
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