Ideas Have Consequences: Bondage to Tradition, East and West

I am not my own. I belong by birth to a long Chinese tradition that stretches back thousands of years and that hopefully will endure for thousands of years to come, of which I am but a small link. Although I am nothing on my own, within the context of the Tradition I am something, albeit very small. Although I am small, the Tradition is big. Although my life is short, the Tradition lives forever. The Tradition is greater than I am, and it is the Tradition that is the only thing that gives my life any significance beyond scratching for food and comfort for the few short decades of my individual life. I am a physical part of this tradition by virtue of being descended from its founders and being the future ancestor of generations yet to come. Therefore, I belong to the Tradition by birth. It does not belong to me or to “us” (those of us currently alive). Neither does the Tradition belong collectively to me, my countrymen, my ancestors, and my descendents – rather, we all belong to it. This is because the Tradition is not only greater than any one of us, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts, and thus the Tradition is greater than all of us put together. Yet the Tradition cannot continue to exist unless my countrymen and I continue to follow it. Therefore I have a moral obligation from birth to follow this Tradition, to heed its strictures and principles, and to defend it against all enemies, both foreign and domestic. This is my highest duty in life, and it is more important than whether I am happy or not; it is more important than whether I live or die, and it is more important than whether my family and loved ones are happy or whether they live or die. We must all be willing to sacrifice our individual lives for the sake of the Tradition.

The Tradition was created by the unmatched wisdom of our ancestors, and no one who has come after them or who will ever come after them can match their wisdom. Therefore we must not question Tradition, try to improve it, or try to start another one – to do so would be blasphemy against our Ancestors. Our lives should be dedicated to stability and moderation, and we must avoid risk and innovation in our lives, because the Tradition must be kept stable and unchanging. Our job is to protect what already exists rather than to create something better or try to improve upon what is. Accordingly, except for the abstract concept of Tradition, we must focus on the concrete over the abstract – the maintenance of traditional ways, and the focus on the concrete over the abstract. Money and food are concrete, passionate love is abstract. Passionate love is as dangerous as excessive happiness, because both destabilize us emotionally, distract us from our duty to Tradition, and encourage us to exalt mere transient individuals over the ageless, impersonal, indifferent Tradition.

I have spoken of “Tradition” from the point of view of Chinese because I live in China and have been observing it. Nevertheless, a very similar mentality prevails among the Christian churches in the West, although the tradition is different (I speak as a Christian). The view that what is transcendent is static and unchanging rather than dynamic and vital is the difference, in Christianity, between bondage to the law and the freedom of grace, between Christianity as religion vs. Christianity as relationship, between the Old Testament and the New Testament, between worshipping the Bible vs. worshipping God, and between Christianity as a dead relic with the church as a museum and Christianity as a living faith. God must see mankind as foolish – offer us the precious gift of freedom and we tear the ribbon off the package and bind ourselves with it…

PS To any Chinese readers (or non-Chinese readers with a good knowledge of Chinese culture): I invite you to comment and correct any errors I have made in my understanding of Chinese traditional thinking. I am particularly interested in confirming whether Chinese see their culture as having been created by the ancient sages (Confucius, Mencius, etc.) or having been handed down from Heaven through the ancient sages. What is the ultimate source of a traditional Chinese’s obligation to serve that tradition?