Traditions

Traditions

Editor's letter Lara Lychagina
Lara Lychagina Editor's letter

An interesting fact is that the literal translation of the word tradition is passing. Passing behavioral norms, moral settings, attitude towards what we can’t imagine our today’s and yesterday’s life without: models of attitude towards love, friendship, family, state, each other, religion — in a word, to all what we call as living. It’s a code of being and everyday life — our archetype which doesn’t impersonate but on the contrary makes us different from those who carry another archetype belonging to another Homeland same unique and valuable but different from ours. This locality is as logical as the unity inside of one’s own homeland. In this sense traditions play the same role as animal instincts. Same way transferred and same way important, differ only by context. On almost biological level traditions play the role of umbilical cord nourishing and keeping us balanced. As soon as it is cut the new born cries: the shout of pain or glory — doesn’t matter but it is logical and painful at the same time because there is no way forward without renovation.

Biotechnological revolution can swing the pendulum abruptly back- wards: centralized distribution of information can become destructive. Let’s take any totalitarian country: people there will wear, say, special biometric sensors. When someone enters the door and sees a portrait of another great leader sensor will read his emotions, tension and transfer the data to special department — that’s how the cyber dictatorship will look like. Violent planting of traditions, norms, way of life is like Pro- crustes cutting excessive or stretching the missing if the object stopped to be the subject and doesn’t fit into the frames. Tradition is unique this way. Living without it is impossible, same as when it is pushing the new things — it suffocates.

Unfortunately today man can’t always feel himself singular in the flow of constantly changing world. Information field is widening, the space we move in grows but the feeling of deepness and connection to the source goes at the same time. We often proudly define ourselves as the «citizens of the world». We speak for spiritual and physical glo- balization forgetting that significance is mostly belonging to something whole, eternal, patrimonial. To something defining our essence. The whole world can become Homeland perhaps only in case we fly to another planet. Knowledge of the fact that you have your own Home fills any trip with sense even if it lasts for the main part of life. We travel if we have a place we can come back home to. And only traditions in the best sense of the word help us to fill our lives with the sense of unity and eternity so that we could pass it to our children. And let the new be born in a shout of pain or glory. The main thing is that our new traditions shouldn’t turn into something keeping the ashes but fanning the fire which keeps the warmth and light of windows of our Home. So that we wouldn’t get lost and could come back.

Lara Lychagina

Editor-in-Chief