Do you follow traditions or your personal experience? Explain why?

Question

"Traditions" meaning what other people have told you to do, think or believe in all aspects of life. Personal experience... well, you understand. =)

Answer 1

By nature, I am a "learn myself, via perception and experience" person, and follow ideas wherever they take me.

However, I have learned to find value in traditions and see why some people find them very meaningful.

I think traditions have to be evaluated and then embraced or rejected, not just swallowed wholeheartedly or abandoned simply on principle.

Good traditions are those that attempt to pass down the wisdom of people who have experienced things we haven't yet -- the ways they discovered that helped them make life more meaningful or efficient.

Bad traditions are those that are used as "control mechanisms" on the younger generations, simply so that someone or something can maintain its power.

Sometimes good traditions can be misused and become bad ones. Sometimes traditions that were misused by people can be "liberated" by the victims and become a source of inspiration for the future.

In their favor, traditions often create a sense of continuity and timelessness between the generations, far back into antiquity, giving people a sense of belonging, and that's valuable in a world where too many of us feel disconnected and alone and adrift.

Anyway, I think the big deal here is that we are each individually responsible for our actions. We can't afford to mindlessly accept traditions. However, we don't have to be cynical either -- we can weigh the value of them, either for ourselves and others, and decide whether they are meaningful to us regardless of how others view them.

Answer 2

There are some things in which I follow tradition, eg. methods in which to care for our children, some medicinal practices, etc. However, there are others from which I've refrained. I believe that in some traditions there are errors of thinking and some things merit change. I embrace change & sometimes that may work out far better than what I was used to. Maintaining some traditions can be dangerous or border on closed-mindedness. There are some things that just aren't good to perpetuate.

Answer 3

Personally, I like to do a little but of both. If I think something someone tells me is a good idea, then why shouldn't adopt it or atleast build off the experience of others. Unquestioned traditions, however, can be very dangerous, just read "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson.

Answer 4

I took Robert Frost"s "The Road Less Traveled" to heart and blazed my own path.
ROAD LESS TRAVELED

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth

Then took the other as just as fair
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet, knowing how way leads onto way
I doubted if I should ever come back

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence
Two roads diverged in a wood
And I took the one less traveled by
And that has made all the difference

Answer 5

I suppose it depends on the situation. I think some things you have to learn for yourself, others it might be wiser to learn from someone else... or just to trust in that person's knowledge and experience. I listen to my parents a lot about things relating to money especially and I would always follow their traditions in that way.

Other things though, I've gone against what people have taught is right, and have learned for myself. In the end I don't regret the bad experiences because they got me to where I am today, and I learned from them, and if I hadn't I would have always been curious I suppose.

Answer 6

I like to follow my own personal experience but when I do not have any, then the traditions come into play. I trust myself more than I trust anyone else in the world. I guess you can say it's confidence.

Answer 7

Well obviously before I actually experience something myself, I follow what I've heard about the situation. What else am I to follow? I'm only human. But when I've experienced something myself, I do what I think is right, because I would know. Does that make sense?

Answer 8

I think you have to figure things out for yourself. However, some traditions are comforting and keep you grounded. Don't throw out something good just because your parents did it.

Some things just require a leap of faith--you can't figure it all out.

Answer 9

Traditions suck. You are forced to do something because some schmuck millions of years ago thought it was a good Idea. If I'm going to do something stupid it's going to be my idea.

Answer 10

Tradition is comforting, but it's great to be a pathfinder.