Eclecticism vs. Traditionalism

[zombi]

I saw this question on a message board, and it caused a lot of debate -- I'd like to ask it here, too, to see what all of you have to say.

In your opinion, is it wrong to stray from specified guidelines within a path? Will doing so tarnish a given practice? Will doing so show disrespect to those that have "done the work"? Should we adhere to the rules?

Conversely, does holding onto the traditions from maybe thousands of years in the past keep us from moving forward? Should we take what we like, what is of use, and discard the rest?


To answer my own question, I think that if you don't follow tenets within a Tradition, then you are not of that Tradition. If you take parts of it and parts of another -- then you are following a completely different path. When you take parts from one and then another and combine them, you have something new, and in my opinion, you should name it something entirely different so as not to be confused with either original. But I don't think it's "wrong".

Chris Penczak Study Group?

[akatonbo]

Would anyone have an interest in a study group (on its own community, so as not to clutter this or any other) working through Christopher Penczak's Temple series? It's pretty good for 101 stuff, something I've long been meaning to go through as a part refresher course, part remedy for the fact that my actual 101 days were as a teenager in the early 1990s and various factors conspired to prevent me from getting much structure or true practice back then, and I think I'd be more successful at it with not only a place to report on my progress, but other interested parties to discuss it with.