Progress & Tradition

I am orthodoxly unorthodox. From my earliest memories, I have found myself moving against the grain, challenging and questioning the belief systems and traditions given to me. To this day, I eagerly search for unconscious norms or traditions that propel my behavior in the world, hoping to secure more independence and freedom.

Looking back, though, I realize that tradition wasn’t the problem. The human being, her experience, and her progress is not possible without the hard-earned structures, traditions, and beliefs given to us — the foundation we stand on, which was laid down by all those who stood before us.

We as individuals, in each new generation, can’t simply begin again with Adam and Eve or else we’d get no further than Adam and Eve. Imagine the double helix, the structure that holds our genes together. It is this structure, its rigidity, its strength, its stability, that allows an organism’s existence to continue in tact.

But as you know, this isn’t the full story. To sustain the evolution and diversity of life also requires creativity, it requires innovation, it demands mistakes. On occasion, the genetic code contained within the double helix makes a small copying error. Something new is introduced to the system. And whether this blind innovation or mistake is beneficial or harmful to the organism depends on the environment in which it lives. Feedback is necessary, a kind of critical conversation.

One remarkable aspect of the human being is its ability to not only create, imagine, and innovate on the drawing board of the mind but also to criticize these bold conjectures before implementing them into the world. In other words, we can let our ideas die in our stead. This was the great gift — the gift of reason — given to us by the Ancient Greeks, beginning with Thales of Miletus. Reason, as Socrates said, is what makes us human. It is the divine spark, the spirit of progress, the path to truth, beauty, and goodness.

So, again, tradition is not the problem. It doesn’t get in the way of our independence and freedom. It is a necessary aspect of them. The real problem is a lack of feedback, a lack of constructive criticism, the complete absence of an open and honest dialogue where the aim is to get nearer to truth. The problem is dogma; authority; the “because-so-and-so-said so” argument.

Currently, this dogma is poisoning our society in the form of identity politics. There are no longer adults in the room who can come together with an open mind and competing ideas to explore the best way forward. Each of us runs on hate for the other side. With closed ears, we shout into the void of our own echo chambers.

Though tragic, it is hilarious to see how this dogma has even dismantled the traditional notions of Left and Right in politics. The Right, or the Conservative Party, no longer seeks to “conserve” our traditions, norms, and institutions. They seek to destroy them, to burn to the ground our democratic and liberal values established in the Enlightenment. The new Right seeks to intimidate, bully, and silence those in opposition. They choose to ignore due process, curb oversight, and extend their power.

The Left, or Progressive Party, is no better. It too, for years, has sat on its high horse, virtue signaling its moral superiority, policing anyone who didn’t hold the same values. It too spat in the face of our democratic and liberal values when the DNC refused to hold a traditional, competitive primary in the 2024 election cycle, intentionally deceiving their base into believing that former President Biden was physically and mentally competent to run for a second term. Progressive’s utter lack of humility and willingness to come to the table with Conservatives, ignoring real problems like border control and wokeness, is smothering that divine spark Socrates was willing to give his life for.

The United States Constitution is one of the most beautiful pieces of writing to come into existence. It, with its division of power, its checks and balances, has offered more people more freedom than ever before. People from all around the globe, from all cultures, with many different beliefs, are allowed to live in peace together in this open and free society. People vote with their feet, and you just need to look around and see how many people from across the globe are desperate to come here, to make the United States their home.

Pericles of Ancient Athens perhaps summarized the aims of our open society best when he said:

“The laws afford equal justice to all alike in their private disputes, but we do not ignore the claims of excellence. When a citizen distinguishes himself, then he will be called to serve the state, in preference to others, not as a matter of privilege, but as a reward of merit; poverty is not a bar. The freedom we enjoy extends also to ordinary life; we are not suspicious of one another, and do not nag our neighbor if he chooses to go his own way…But this freedom does not make us lawless. We are taught to respect the magistrate and the laws, and never to forget that we must protect the injured. And we are also taught to observe those unwritten laws whose sanction lies only in the universal feeling of what is right… And although only a few may originate a policy, we are all able to judge it. We do not look upon discussion as a stumbling block in the way of political action, but as an indispensable preliminary to acting wisely…We believe that happiness is the fruit of freedom and freedom that of valor….”

This is my plea for a return to the open society, the society first established by the great thinkers of Pericles’s generation. This is my plea to return to a tradition of reason, the tradition that brought us the theory of the atoms and the void in only a few short generations. This is my plea to leave blind hate and dogma behind.

We must bridge the divide in this country. We must learn to once again love our neighbor. We must learn to be open to new ideas, to be open to constructive criticism. We must remember that our country’s strength does not come from conformity and single-mindedness but from diversity. The Left needs the Right to keep us tethered, and the Right needs the Left to fuel our growth. We are interdependent on each other.

John Driggs | Author, Meditation Teacher, Philosopher, Podcast Host of Love & Understanding, & Founder of Project Human | Explore & Expand the Space of Possibility that You are!