Resistance to New Invention
By Karmayogi
Orthodoxy, conservation, tradition are the old ways
of life summarised by the modern term ‘Establishment'. That the old
strongly resists the new is the order of the day. The old ways of life are so
strong, that they can come back sooner or later, even if removed effectively. After
the French Revolution, Napoleon made himself the Emperor. Later the royalty was
restored. The same thing happened in England earlier. Even in
democratic countries, the President of the nation behaves like a Monarch and
people at all levels treat him as a King. The old is strongly entrenched, not
easy to remove. As late as 1930, the US public opinion was not in favour of Darwin's theory of
evolution being taught in the schools. There was a famous case at that time
against a teacher who taught the principle of evolution.
Those who stick to the old methods won't permit a little change of any
description. About 170 years ago the Railways came into existence. Christians
who believed in the sanctity of the Sunday Sabbath would not allow the Railways
to operate on Sundays. For several decades that rule prevailed. In Scotland it was there for a
longer time than in England. Every innovation – the steamship, the
telegraph, the phone, the radio, etc. – met with the same type of resistance. Science
called it superstition, but later science developed its own orthodoxy. As
recently as 1960 when Eisenhower was President of USA, he disliked the use of
phones, though his position compelled him to use them frequently. Industrialists
introduce new technologies, but try to operate them in the old way, thereby getting
the minimal benefit.
Mother calls Sri Aurobindo's Philosophy NEW Spirituality. Those who take
to Mother happily follow the new spirituality in the ways of the old
spirituality. Sooner or later, it stops working. But the old spirituality as
well as the new spirituality are based on Truth. There never was a compromise
on that score. There can be no two opinions about it. We are, in any situation,
capable of distinguishing the truth from falsehood, whether it is technology or
tradition. Let us not resist the truth in the name of anything, not even the
sacred tradition. Tradition becomes sacred by its being true, not just by being
tradition.