Why Some Traditions Need an Update In Order to Survive
There are many beautiful and meaningful traditions around the world, some abandoned while others have been brought forth to be revived in recent years. The rooting effects of long-standing traditions can give us a feeling of safety, a sense of belonging, and directions on how to live life, because we can always count on them to be there for us in our fast-paced and ever-changing modern world.
The abandonment of some traditions isn’t without reason though, I feel. As someone with an inquisitive mind from a culture of many rules and traditions, I often asked why we did what we did growing up, but seldom received a satisfying answer from an adult who reinforced the tradition.
3 reasons why I would turn my back on a tradition:
If I felt lied to — The moment we found out there is no Santa Claus, we all felt a little betrayed and vowed to never do that to our own children.
If I was forced to participate in it — Many walked out of Church and decided to seek a new path to God than the one bought with 10% of their income.
If there was a double standard — If the rules applied to some but not others, then it felt far less genuine.
As we expand our consciousness, it’s not unusual to ask why we do certain things and whether or not it supports the inner freedom we seek. Or, is it just another set of conditions we were subjected to live by? And if it indeed stems from love and spiritual depth, where does the truth lie?
The importance of understanding a tradition
A tradition becomes a tradition because it has great meaning and it serves a purpose. Learning about its origin and history gives us an understanding behind why it became so valuable to the people who started it and those who continue to live by it. Without a thorough understanding, we’d simply be going through the motions without intentions behind it. And without intention, anything withers and fades.
Those who want to uphold traditions now take on a tough new challenge. As many old traditions begin to lose their luster, new generations, each more educated than the last, require much more convincing as to why they should follow something that feels like nothing more than an inconvenience. With world knowledge accessible at their fingertips, nothing short of a documentary or a Masterclass is needed to explain why any tradition is important enough to commit to.
The good news is, those with such knowledge are embraced more than ever, because they often breathe new life into traditional practices that are on the verge of being seen as superstitions.
Recognizing its practical values
I attended a biohacking event in San Diego last year and met Dr. Patrick Porter, founder and inventor of BrainTap, an electronic headset using primarily binaural beats and light therapy to guide your brainwave patterns into alpha state. He is also an author, meditation teacher, and brain researcher. During his speech about the benefits of meditation, he gave a fun fact and the real reason behind mealtime prayers.
While giving gratitude and setting intentions are some of the values many of us already understand about prayers, Dr. Porter gave another layer of how this tradition served a more practical purpose. Taking a moment to focus, connect, and articulate a prayer often includes relaxing the body and taking deeper breaths. This puts us in a meditative state and activates the vagus nerve, switches on the parasympathetic nervous system, and in turn, aids digestion. A little known scientific fact that proves tremendous health benefits behind prayers (and meditation) before mealtime — a reason even atheists could embrace.
While not every tradition can be backed by scientific evidence with alluring health benefits, if more practical applications can bring forth a new way of seeing ancient traditions, they stand a chance of revival in our cynical times.
Integrating the old with the new
As years turn into decades, and decades turn into centuries, some ancient traditions desperately need an update so they can be integrated into our modern way of life. If certain traditions are indeed sacred and worth preserving, they must evolve with advancement and the collective consciousness.
A Tibetan ritual comes to mind as an example. I was traveling in Central China in 2016 and had the opportunity to stay at a Tibetan village for a couple of days. I got to learn about their way of life and some of the traditional rituals they still practice, one of them being their burial rituals they hold sacred to this day.
Living a simple lifestyle in the high mountains (often above 3,000 meters) away from stress and pollution of the busy civilizations below, their average lifespan is 95 years old. Just about everyone expires from natural causes. In the event someone dies of a disease, a special burial ritual is performed for purification. One of them is the water burial, for infant deaths, in which case, the infant body is floated down a stream or river. It was a tradition no one questioned, until one year a few more unexpected infant deaths took place and more bodies were sent down the river, causing severe contamination in the natural habitats downstream and killing many lifeforms as a result. Perhaps this particular tradition needed a revision, taking their geographical location or the migration of other lifeforms into consideration.
But there is often a resistance in making the necessary updates to a long-standing tradition fearing it might be forgotten over time, which ironically, results in its inevitable demise.
We must understand, changing the form of a tradition does not mean altering its function.
A Chinese proverb describes the mentality of Buddhists who never gave up meat and alcohol: “Meat and wine passes through my system, but Buddha remains in my heart.” The true spirit of a tradition stays alive through a deep connection—not through its appearance, tools or setup.
If we are able to communicate, educate, and channel a deep connection with our traditions, why should we fear changing a few details to accommodate those who seek the truth.
