Why Restoration of Tradition is Invigorating

“In a revolutionary epoch, sometimes men taste every novelty, sicken of them all, and return to ancient principles so long disused that they seem refreshingly hearty when they are rediscovered.”
―Russell Kirk, 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘔𝘪𝘯𝘥: 𝘍𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘉𝘶𝘳𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘌𝘭𝘪𝘰𝘵

Western man has wrestled precariously with the last few centuries of Enlightenment’s obsession with rationality and naked reason. Reason became the Moloch of our age. It’s produced the phenomenon of intellectual hubris and the epistemological absurdity of reducing perceptive truth to that which can empirically validated by the scientific method. As Russell Kirk exclaimed, “Even the wisest of mankind cannot live by reason alone; pure arrogant reason, denying the claims of prejudice (which commonly are also the claims of conscience), leads to a wasteland of withered hopes and crying loneliness, empty of God and man: the wilderness in which Satan tempted Christ was not more dreadful than the arid expanse of intellectual vanity deprived of tradition and intuition, where modern man is tempted by his own pride.” As Nicolás G. Dávila observed, “When he is stripped of the Christian tunic and the classical toga, there is nothing left of the European but a pale-skinned barbarian.” For all these reasons, reason cannot stand as an idol above concerns for a transcendent order. Kirk’s canon of traditional conservative thought may be summarized thus:

1. A belief in a transcendent order based in tradition, divine revelation, or natural law;
2. An affection for the “variety and mystery” of human existence;
3. A conviction that society requires orders and classes that emphasize “natural” distinctions;
4. A belief that private property ownership, and freedom are closely intertwined;
5. A faith in custom, convention, and prescription, and
6. A recognition that innovation must be tied to existing traditions and customs, which entails a respect for the political value of prudence.

Recovering of more ancient traditions pose an antidote to the perils of Enlightenment. As Dávila said “Reason is no substitute for faith, as colour is no substitute for sound.”