Tradition - Living in the Past.

Britain is possibly one of the most traditional countries in the world in every sense of the word. We have numerous arcane costumes & ceremonies. Look at Parliament. If there is anywhere that needs to be brought into the 21st C it is the "mother of all parliaments". Ditto our Judiciary. Then there is the dress uniforms of some of our forces. The Monarchy & Aristocracy is probably the prime example. Harking back to our " glorious past" is ingrained in certain areas of our culture. How glorious is it really in the light of it's impact on the world today?

The problem with tradition is that there is only a hairs breadth between it & "we've always done it this way" or "it's always worked perfectly well before".

It is important to learn the lessons of the past. But do we actually do that? Do we have to retain the trappings of the past to use the valuable information our past gives us?

I think not. I feel we are sometimes trapped in the confines of behaviour which isn't questioned enough. People who live in the past can't move forward properly. They are prisoners of their experience. You see it all the time. Friends and aquaintances who can't stop re living some slight or inadvertant insult. Something which is possibly unintentional or a mistake changes things forever.

We probably all have tragedy in our lives to some extent. People become seriously ill, they have accidents, they die. We are emotional human beings. We can't ignore that, but we do have to try to come to terms with it and continue to live fulfilling lives ourselves.

If we are lost somewhere in the past we don't really live & appreciate now. Our lives move inexorably forward. We need to be moving with our life as it travels to the inevitable ending. We do have to be "in the moment", (dreadful phrase). We have to be "mindful", much better, because it implies really knowing - about here & now, the past & what might be.