A tradition is a
belief or behaviour passed down within a group or society with
symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past.
Google Arts &
Culture
One reads and seeks
to understand, but sometimes it takes time to piece things together,
such is the complexity of experience and the arrogant certainty of
modernity. In spite of this, on the way, one boldly quotes one’s
references on the basis of respect, without really knowing what is
being spoken about beyond the suggestive, parroted words and their
vaguely-assumed intentions.
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So it is that one is
able to recite the meaning in traditional art and architecture as
being ‘remembrance,’ a resonate word with an endearing, poetic
knowing that embraces a potential subtlety in things wondrous without
one really knowing what or why. Indeed, remembrance, memory, has been
a theoretical position in some recent architectural ideas, such as
Post Modernism, (Charles Moore), and the thinking on habitation,
places lost, (Peter Read), so the proposition from tradition seemed
to fit in nicely with recent thought, suggesting that the modern
world had substance too, rich with personal recall and its
subtleties.
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One speaks of this
traditional relationship with some authority based on the source, its
reliability, stature, and scholarship, while being quietly
embarrassed about the lack of clarity in one’s own understanding.
One finds oneself spruiking words and phrases that hold no known
depth other than their everyday references. The circumstance embraces
some degree of blind hope rather than any clear assertion, leaving
even the speaker asking: remembering what in particular?
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In spite of this
void, one might go on to argue the relevance of memory in things
everyday, like lost places, and induce a certain knowing sensitivity,
but this never seems enough, being too personal, individualistic,
because the texts continue on with their approach to finally embrace
God in a way that becomes unacceptable to the ‘clever’ western
intellect with its questioning of religious overtones that are seen
to be mesmerising to any true clarity of perception. Religion is said
to be the opium of the mind, (Marx’s famous quote was ‘people’),
a moron’s crutch that lacks rigour; lazy, blind belief akin to
superstition and witchcraft.
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With time, one
discovers in the texts that what is remembered is the ‘origin,’
and, in the same way as before, one is able to respond to the
question with a word that usually comes with the informed proviso
that this notion has nothing to do with our current concept of things
‘original,’ bespoke, or of persons being ‘original’: uniquely
creative, special, one of kind; action involving personal genius.+ Now
the phrase is that tradition involves the remembrance of origins. One
moves on into other matters as if this might be enough without one
really knowing what this all involves as a lived experience beyond
speech. What origins? Modernism might see this as being functions and
purpose, some archaeological similarity, or a cultural reference,
again giving some apparent substance to our era’s strategies that
mock tradition as a conservative weakness, preferring the ambitions
of progress, a blind racing forward into ever-different and
ever-better futures that are seen to be superior to everything else
old and staid.**
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Traditions are
beliefs or behaviours that are passed down through a society or group
and have symbolic meaning or significance.
Google
Here the thinking
that searched out some sense in symbolism as understood by tradition
can help us see matters with more clarity, because tradition frames
modernity as action that has gone astray; that has lost its way. Even
this understanding of symbolism has gone through years of struggle to
be more clearly comprehended beyond the mere spoken word. The texts
tell us that the symbol is the thing experienced in part; it is not
an applied reference or relationship, but a real, lived matter that
embodies the presence of an aspect of a reality made explicit in part
as the symbol, the portion of the thing itself manifested as
perceivable fact in/as a thing experienced.
The dictionary of symbols rationalises the experience: it explains with too much certainty.
In seeking to
understand this circumstance, the matter was pondered and explored in https://voussoirs.blogspot.com/2024/06/country-outside-inside-place.html: the example of wine tasting was used to illustrate the
point. It is this way of knowing that can help us with ‘origins.’
Our understanding of being original involves things singular and
intimately skilful, having to do with unique personal approaches and
an individual’s genius: all matters that we are told are follies of
the true spirit of things original as understood by tradition.+
What we need to
realise is that the notion of the origin holds its sense and
orientation in symbolism. The symbol refers to a part, a segment of
its origin; e.g., the lion is a symbol of the sun, one of its
aspects. We can say that the lion’s sense of power and awe, its
glory, has its origin in the sun; that, in this example, the sun is
the origin: the thing unique, singular, bespoke, in part; the source
that the symbol references.
Here, to expand this
notion, one can refer to the pattern of relationships spoken of as
the tree -see: https://voussoirs.blogspot.com/2024/06/country-outside-inside-place.html - which involves infinite multiples of origins
shaping a ‘wholeness,’ which is yet another word we use
willy-nilly with an arrogance of the intellect, often cleverly
turning things into the sound match ‘holy,’ closing the matter of
tradition and its logic with a ‘meaningful’ phonetic game that
suggests some native spiritual integrity framing an unchallengeable
hierarchical status.
Things do in fact
move into matters ‘holy’ in the sense of wholeness, with
everything relating to its origin which finally is the ‘One’
referenced by Islam, in the same manner in which Islamic patterns
arise from the point; but here we back off; we are in the realm of
religion again, in particular, Islam, for much of the thinking comes
from this understanding of the world: not that this understanding is unique or
exclusive. We see various positions take dogged stances on the
correctness of belief that becomes the basis of hatred and war,
intolerance, when it is possible to see these positions themselves as
aspects of the same reality: different ways of understanding mystery
and wonder. Lopez tells of the Eskimo shaman who, when asked about
his beliefs, said that they did not believe; they feared; and even
these positions are interfused as experience.
One can see belief
being related to fear, with belief blinding, blocking the raw reality
of fear that is prepared, alert, expecting the calamities of a lived
life, a circumstance that can be seen as being an awareness of
origins. Belief grasps a different interpretation with propositions
about origins that tumble on into an explanatory revelation enabling
one to cope with existence and experience that fear confronts.
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The situation is
something like the experience of beauty. Barry Lopez, in Arctic Dreams, tells of vistas so
beautiful, they could make you cry; and of icebergs so beautiful, the
make you afraid: two responses to the origin. It has become a
commonplace understanding that all things are related; that all
religions are one. Origins have to do
with the notion that everything is a shadow.## Tradition
holds its meaning in remembering this, by pointing to the origin -
the One. The Zen fable tells of the finger pointing to the moon: one
can see the finger or become aware of its gesture and see the moon,
the origin that tradition wants us to remember with its ‘pointing.’
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Stepping back from
origins, we have, over the years, also engaged with the workings of
the craftsman, method, similarly spruiking words that we claim, from
our sources, to be so, to be relevant and meaningful without knowing
anything substantial about the experience and its explanation. The
craftsman is said to start by concentrating, etc., seeing the whole
and then taking steps to reveal it, to implement the perception. Tradition emphasises the importance of this not being personal genius; modesty
and humility are involved; reverence, with a willing involvement like
that of the hunter being aware of the taking of life, thanking the
hunted for its life, and apologising. There is a knowing beyond skill
and tasks. Craft and design are not dissimilar to the hunt: see Maps
and Dreams, (Hugh Brody), and Arctic Dreams, (Barry Lopez), on the hunter: the sensing of the environment,
the wholeness of things that includes the hunted, that which is
sought. The craftsman works with the understanding of origins,
sensing the role as revelation; incorporation, while being aware of
wholeness, its embodiment, and the responsibility this task entails
as an act of inclusive grace rather than grand self-expression of
personal perceptions.
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The discovery from
the readings on tradition is that it is better to copy than invent;
but why? Again, quietly embarrassed we hope the question is not put,
that the authoritative statement will suffice. The understanding of
the symbol again helps us: the true revelation copied is better than
any ad hoc invention, no matter how clever this might be; better than
any intellectual guess in spite of its stark, eye-catching
difference, because the copy will, at the very least, reference the
origin that the bespoke outcome will know nothing about. Even if the
designer knows little to nothing about the origin that the copy is
alluding to, the reference is there rather than the pretentious void.
The personal guess is
the making of a shadow that has no substance as its origin, a mere
folly, a fantasy, a figment of a disturbed mind even if it might be
‘interesting’ and ‘entertaining’ in its stark, surprising
difference: (see NOTE B).
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We do need to know
about these things to give some order and substance to our
understanding of matters beyond a rote reading using our own assumed
values, if we are to be properly informed in a way that can change
things everyday meaningfully, because it is too easy to play games
with words and presume there is substance and value in the void.
The craftsman knows
of the relationship with the revelation of origin, and respects
tradition and its rules, being aware that it is better to copy a
revelation than blindly invent something different that can be spoken
about using all the same words as those above that describe
tradition, giving the circumstance some apparent relevance and
meaning, when there is truly nothing but self-centred and personal
whims that traditions defines as distortions; perversions.# It is
important to know the relationships rather than the words so that the
experience can be comprehended and lived rather than intellectualised
and rationalised into a shrewd analytical game for academic
promotion.
By understanding
that tradition is about embodying the remembrance of origins, we are
able to truly see its relevance and importance, even if we struggle
or fail to experience it. Likewise with the craftsman: we can at
least prepare ourselves to act similarly if we so choose, and know
why, instead of proclaiming ourselves to be geniuses, free to express
ourselves and our apparently unique understandings of things
different, bespoke and personal, as if self-praise and self-promotion
might be a useful guide to action.
At least we might
begin to put ourselves on a path that might be able to include the
integral richness held in tradition, that marvel which is revealed in
the everyday with a humility and integrity lacking in today’s
search for a bespoke, catchy, grand display that seeks to reveal the
special genius of the individual while ignoring all origins. As with
the craftsman, it is better to copy, to follow, than to start
strolling blindly along paths unknown, no matter how clever we
believe ourselves to be. We need to know that we are only playing
with shadows for the shadows’ sake, and their intriguing,
mesmerising engagement that promotes an individual’s name as a
brand.
An awareness of the
One* lies at the heart of traditional action and understanding. Our
fear of this world is not the fear of the Eskimo, but the shunning of
reality blinded by the belief in and love of the self as hero/god, a
commitment that mocks tradition as conservative gobbledygook.
The stark contrast
with tradition and the ways of the West cannot be more extreme: the
gap is explained as ‘progress.’ Hollow words are now used to
frame suggestions of meaning in circumstances that seek only to
heighten self-importance and self-praise in the deceit that engages
photographic ploys too. We appear to delight in such subterfuge which
tradition is able to tell us lacks depth, coherence, and integrity,
being the equivalent of playing with shadows that have no source or
substance; an effort that is a pure, indulgent, egocentric delight
totally at odds with the experience of the wonder of tradition of
which Martin Lings said, we cannot marvel enough.
. . .
In conclusion:
When we talk about
tradition, we can now say that it is about the remembrance of origins
and know what, how, and why. In the same way we can understand the
attitude of the craftsman and the particular approach that, using the
same notion as that need to copy, we could adopt likewise: wise is
the important word here, for latent in things traditional is a wisdom
that is truly beyond words; of origins remembered . . . lest we
forget that about which we remain so astonished. It is up to us if we
might choose this path or maintain our aimless self-promotion of
clever shadows and slick fingers pointing to nothing at all.
It is this
relationship that clarifies the important matter involving the
understanding of traditional art and architecture: that it must be
viewed within the cultural vision that made it. Bringing our own,
modern aesthetic approaches to the reading of tradition, e.g.
https://phys.org/news/2024-10-scientists-secret-girl-pearl-earring.html,
and
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2024/oct/03/real-art-in-museums-stimulates-brain-much-more-than-reprints-study-finds,
and
https://theconversation.com/why-a-portrait-of-a-former-nrl-great-could-spark-greater-concussion-awareness-in-australia-238882,
only overlays our own intentions and expectations onto the shadows,
with our perceptions being the equivalent of seeing patterns in
clouds; of admiring and analysing the pointing finger. It is clear
how this modern approach can only mislead, in spite of its rational
certainty. This understanding also highlights the shallowness of
modern art and architecture, its prosaic limitations, with an
intensity similar to that with which it emphasises the meaningful
beauty in Islamic tiling patterns.
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The traditional
understanding that something cannot be beautiful if it is not
functional and does not comply with the required proportions and
rules, can be seen to be a proposition with more rigour and necessity
than merely adhering blindly to a past for the sake of convention, or
a lack of imagination.
One seeks a sensing
of tradition to better know what one is looking at, searching for some
comprehension of content in its context, not to offer a new
approach for today’s muddle, because each era has its own strengths
and weaknesses in its being - its way.
We need to
understand tradition so that we might gain some idea of how such
authority, intensity, and integrity came to be embodied in things
traditional that we are happy to display in museums and galleries,
and laud in history. At the very least we need to acknowledge the
stark difference with today’s approach and show some recognition of
this gap with humility and modesty, characteristics not alien to
the beginnings of this authentic work.
**
The
meaning of Icarus’s defiant and incautious bravado was never
addressed in my physics seminar. . . . I longed for a direct
experience with the world.
Barry
Lopez, Horizon,
Vintage, London, 2019.
#
Tom Heath’s
argument that mere copying of tradition perpetuated narrow,
ill-informed thinking about matters that new technology and science
have transformed, ignores the strength of symbolism and its origins,
leaving the new world in a meaningless void shaped by rational
analysis that has cast a scepticism over things symbolic and
meaningful in a disparaging manner that demeans it as the
backwards-looking act of a thoughtless fool, a drug-induced idiot.
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We need to
rediscover the importance of symbolism. Our engagement with things
has become concentrated on ourselves as the originators, the
creators, a situation that highlights our self-importance, framing
our selves as gods, geniuses; bespoke heroes. If it does nothing
else, an understanding of tradition can highlight how insignificant
and frivolous our art and architecture has become. We are truly
shaping shadows, playing fancy games with fantasies while arguing
that these interesting diversions are truly meaningful: see beer can
art:
Beer can artwork accidentally
thrown in bin by staff member at Dutch museum
-
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/oct/08/beer-can-artwork-lam-museum-thrown-out-all-the-good-times-we-spent-together
##
Abū
Bakr Sirāj
ad-Dīn
The Book of Certainty
The Islamic Texts Society, Cambridge, 2015.
p.37
. . . when, in
connection with the dhikr, the Qur’ān
speaks of the mathal
– ‘example’ or ‘symbol’ – it is referring to the
essential or ‘vertical’ likeness between higher and lower
domains, such as those already mentioned between the Heart and the
soul. A symbol is something in a lower ‘known and wonted’ domain
which the traveller considers not only for its own sake but also and
above all in order to have an intuitive glimpse of the ‘universal
and strange’ reality which corresponds to it in each of the hidden
higher domains. Symbols are in fact none other than the illusory
perfections of creation which
have already been referred to as being guides and incentives to the
traveller upon his journey, and they have the power to remind him of
their counterparts in higher worlds not through merely incidental
resemblance but because they are actually related to them in the way
that a shadow is related to the object which it casts. There is not
the least thing in existence which is not such a shadow . . . Nor is
there anything which is any more than a shadow.
NOTE A
Using the same
process as that outlined here, and adopted in the blog, https://voussoirs.blogspot.com/2024/06/country-outside-inside-place.html; one
might ask: So what are
songlines?
As a beginning, one
might suggest a knowing, lived understanding of a named coherence, a
continuity in the experience of places and meaning in tradition; but
much more is needed: symbolism is involved.
+
NOTE B
Tradition
highlights the absurdity of our fear of copying, of what we call 'plagiarism';
of always demanding to be 'original' by being different, encouraging the bespoke urge to
express
nothingness that is rationalised as my special,
personal genius,
there
to be admired by all.
It
is this understanding that seeks to give ‘deep meaning’ to a
couple of beer cans – and it is your fault, your weakness, if you
fail to comprehend this valued circumstance because the display is in an art
gallery. At least the cleaner knew what to do with it.
Perhaps one could add 'inventive' shadows to the cans to further enrich the experience?
This strategy leaves us only with an intriguing variety of fanciful, 'inventive' shadows:
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