Tradition

A good number of traditions strike me as odd. The word tradition is defined as doing something that was also done by others of your family or culture. I do not wish to attack traditions or the people that adhere to them as they can provide great comfort and happiness to those people. My aim here is primarily a justification for why I do not follow many traditions, for this is one of the main causes of my difficulty in relating to society and vice versa.

For the larger part of my life I have been rather blind to the merits of social interaction and solved my problems with a logical cause-and-effect methodology. I do not have an intuitive idea of how my actions can cause an emotional response in others. It is only by observation of similar situations I encounter that I have been able to build up a database of appropriate social interactions. The older and more experienced I become the better I get at blending in, but I am far from perfect and still encounter new scenarios all the time which trip me up and expose my nature.

I have only recently learned the social merits that are to be gained from tradition. Until then I could not see any physical benefit to doing something in such-and-such a way based on the justification of that way being traditional. I would often conjure up more efficient or practical ways towards the same end which did not conform to the traditional approach. It must also be noted that both my parents were unconventional in their different ways and their effect on me in regards tradition must have been great.

As I have explored psychology I have come to appreciate the importance of social intercourse in defining and maintaining the "self" for want of a better word. I have historically always got a great deal of the important elements of social intercourse from animal interactions and so felt the need for human interaction less, particularly the kind found at traditional functions. This suited me for a few reasons; firstly animals are honest, they make it clear what they want and feel thus making interaction easier and secondly because their interactions are generally a lot less complicated than human ones. Animals have many less desires and fewer tools to express them and so learning the possible outcomes of a set of situations is significantly less onerous.

As our social intercourse as humans is more complex than other life on the planet we have developed methods to ensure that these interactions go well. We require social intercourse and external sentient affection much like we require nutrition, the equivalent of a bad or awkward social interaction is that of eating food which is off. It will not provide what was needed and may even cause harm to the individual. There are many ways in which we ensure that the food we eat is fit for purpose such as preparation, additives, cooking, storage and shelf life. The reasons for these are all well understood by the populous in both the aim and method. It is however not always so clear what methods are used to ensure social interactions do not spoil and cause harm in society.

Tradition is essentially a method by which social interactions are prevented from going bad. The idea is that everyone knows what is expected of them and of the various other people in the situation and so it is far harder to say or do something "wrong" and spoil the interactions. The reason for performing certain tasks and rituals is simply because that is what people are expecting and prepared for. Until I understood the importance of unspoilt social interaction I was utterly incapable of appreciating the usefulness of traditions.

The physical acts of the traditional event are irrelevant, excepting that those acts are known to all, what is relevant is the opportunity this provides for a bounty of fruitful interaction to occur. A full explanation as to why positive social interaction is so important in sustaining a healthy life is likely beyond my capacity and certainly beyond the intended length of this essay. "The Birth and Death of Meaning" by Ernest Becker is a good place to start if you wish to explore this concept further. For the purposes of this essay we can be content to assert that social interaction, to an individual, is essential to their well-being, and without any positive experiences over a long or critical (such as a newborn) time period the individual will suffer a lowering in their sanity and/or happiness. The traditional event is rather like a big feast that nourishes the mind.

Being seen failing to adhere to certain traditions is socially stigmatising and can not only cause you harm but can also harm those around you. I am very uncomfortable with dishonesty and have struggled as a consequence to evade tradition without upsetting others. Now knowing the underlying reasons for the existence of traditions in society is at least helpful in alleviating this problem even if it does not help me enjoy traditions any more than before.
To an extent I still think that the belief in tradition alone as a justification for a certain practice is quite close-minded. Only when things are perfect and there is nothing to complain about can we consider change to be a bad thing. Tradition is a resistance to change and without the further justifications I cannot condone it. This is another way of saying if you enjoy traditions, then by all means do traditional things but do them for fun and not because they are traditional. One can break tradition if desired with no ill effect if it is managed in such a way that causes no spoiling of social intercourse.