"We are dwarfs standing on the shoulders of giants; we see more and farther than they do; not that our gaze is sharp, nor our stature high, but we are lifted up, exalted, by their gigantic stature.".
This quote from Bernard of Chartres (12th century), found in Rémi Brague's latest book, Moderately Modern (Flammarion Publishers), seems ever more illuminating each time I read it. Tradition is never what traditionalists or progressives claim it to be. Tradition resolutely ignores divisions. It doesn't even know confrontation. Tradition boils down to a profound sense of balance and serenity. Delve into it, and it immediately becomes clear that it is inaccessible to most people, that few are those of whom it could be proud, and that they were always armed with prodigious humility. But all those who tried to cage it because they hated its influence, or those who did the same because they wanted to protect it from itself and keep it for themselves, understood or saw nothing. Tradition is unalterable. Contrary to popular belief, its destruction proves impossible. At worst, it is possible to forget it. And forgetting him doesn't harm her at all. She knows how to hold back. She's never in a hurry, never panicked by her era. She takes her time, since she's keeping up with it. If men forget her, she knows how to leave traces here and there so that her existence will be rediscovered when the time is right.
It is like water: no one can break it or hold it back.
We should almost avoid referring to it. We should pretend it doesn't exist. We deserve it so little… It immediately loses its luster when we talk about it, when we drag it down to our level. Tradition is intrinsically linked to life; in reality, they are one. They go hand in hand.
Leave a comment