One of the interesting contrasts that I like to make is between modernity and tradition. In a way, there's a growing trend of disdain for tradition, it's a relic of the past, has lose a lot of its relevance, etc.
By all means, this may be true but you kind of want to discern first where the motive(s) of such views are coming from.
Oftentimes, I think we try to look at tradition from our evolved "modern way of thinking", which is a bit divorced from objective reality and misses the essence of what a tradition is all about.
In this context, tradition is simply a mode of operation that may have been established over a long period of time, a way to deal with certain situations or do certain things.
From observations, what's interesting to me is that over time(a fairly long time), the "Why" of this mode of operation is lost, i.e why should I do X or Y this way and not that way.
Only the "How" remains, which also gets lost over time. The thread gets broken, so to speak. And from our modern viewpoint, which is akin to being on the outside looking in, nothing about tradition makes sense.
Which is understandable because frankly, how will I work hard if I don't know why should I work hard? How can I be a good member of a community if I don't know why it is important to be a good member of a community?
I think this is the root problem on the widening divide between traditional and progressive worldviews, and it is the cost of attaining more freedom and individuality to do as we wish in this modern era.
Another Attending Conflict
There's always an attending conflict whenever changes are concerned, from old to new.
In a way, modern people may be getting somewhat of a fresh start to create totally new traditions, which hopefully will be more than beneficial for both present and future generations.
But I also think the thread of old traditions need not be broken, especially knowing that nothing really drastic(like civilisations coming to an end) happened and these traditions are usually based on core life principles and values.
I tend to get the sentiment that our current era is lacking a good amount of such principles and values, like a rudderless ship drifting on the ocean to nobody knows where.
Perhaps, this seemingly old traditions could have been modified to be more fitting with our present era, this way their essence wouldn't be lost and will keep us from making irreversible mistakes that we may never get out of.
Really interesting and exciting times we live in, we're in the precipice(or in the middle?) of huge changes that may fundamentally alter the human condition.
Thanks for reading!! Share your thoughts below on the comments.