Heritage is baggage as much as it is foundation.
This is true in our relationship to ourselves, to others and to the world. This is true of communities, organisations, governments. Civilisations die, that don’t refresh their traditions and are attached to the 'proper' way over the unifying, inclusive purpose of shared culture.
This is true of everything that changes, ie. everything at all - it is a by product of life. Fresh products grow stale, people grow old, ideas grow boring, truth grows too glaring to see. It is just a fact.
With that decaying, slowing, un-shining of things, comes the stagnation that is opposite to life, to flow, to change. Healthy people, groups and endeavours keep themselves fresh by clearing what is no longer vital, they embrace the flow, feed it the old to let in the new.
Cleansing means forgiving, straightening wrong doings, spring cleaning, and continually seeking ways to purify ourselves and our relationship to the world.
The social contract, relationships, are formed over time and organically much more than by decree.
Known dynamics give a sense of peace and comfort. But unless we continuously look in with a fresh eye, we can’t transform from that experience.
With that openness to our rules learning from our times as much as we do, we keep growing.
Any of our endeavours feels like the better option at the time - whether possible, right, necessary, or the least of two evils,
In hindsight, most of what we do is far from ideal. We don't have to be attached to the execution and justify misdeeds by their good intention. We can keep the intention and align the facts instead.
Our behaviour is a relationship to ourselves, to our world, and the foundation of our self-worth.
We inherit ideas of our self from how you’ve been nurtured, from the codes we grew up with, from the tests we passed and failed.
What we’ve been raised to do and be can go unquestioned for a while, maybe a lifetime. Yet we can never be ourselves unless we DO question those conceptions that have been projected onto our identity, our destiny and our worth.
Trying to fill shoes that were never our own is a goose chase.
Nothing is certain, at least not indefinitely. Only change is certain, which makes everything else uncertain.
What we learnt as a child, what we’ve observed in the past, the 'rock-solid science' we’ve inherited, are traps for intellectual honesty.
As much as we don’t need to reinvent the wheel, or question universally accepted science, we need to be aware enough of our reality to not let old truth be in the way of seeing current truth.
Our value system ought to be a personal choice. Yet, we are told what to believe from a young age, as part of the social construct.
Our making sense of the world still requires our involvement in embracing values of our own, however close they are to what was given us.
Worship without inspiration, mechanical execution of rituals, or abidance to unquestioned codes, set back our ability to awaken into our power.
Former choices were made under different circumstances, and with different resources, and they brought us here.
In hindsight, all the flaws and consequences are blatant, but past foresight doesn’t have to be lost on us. What has been achieved so far enables us to do better now.
We can give our heritage the credit for at least the lesson and clarity over new direction, if not intermediary achievement that give us a springboard to new aims.
Righteousness and subservience are not in order. This is not people pleasing, or a box to tick. Cleansing is not the goal but the means to serve a higher purpose, be honourable. This is about caring for our affairs, not those of others.
Corruption
Work on what has been spoiled (decay)
Detoxifying
Corruption