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I have never been able to understand where people got the idea that democracy was in some way opposed to tradition. It is obvious that tradition is only democracy extended through time...It is the democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to the small and arrogant oligarchy of those who merely happen to be walking about. All democrats object to men being disqualified by the accident of birth; tradition objects to their being disqualified by the accident of death.
....
Poetry is sane because it floats easily in an infinite sea; reason seeks to cross the infinite sea, and so make it finite. The result is mental exhaustion...

 To accept everything is an exercise, to understand everything a strain. The poet only desires exaltation and expansion, a world to stretch himself in. The poet only asks to get his head into the heavens. It is the logician who seeks to get the heavens into his head. And it is his head that splits.

 - GK Chesterton, Orthodoxy

 ஜனநாயகம் பாரம்பரியத்துக்கு விரோதமானது என்ற எண்ணத்தை, மக்கள்
எங்கிருந்து பெற்றார்கள் என்பது எனக்கு புரிந்ததே இல்லை. பாரம்பரியம் என்பது காலத்தின் மூலமாக நீட்சி பெறும் ஜனநாயகமே என்பது வெளிப்படை.... இறந்தவர்களின் ஜனநாயகம் அது. சந்தர்ப்பவசமாக இன்று உலகில் உலாவிக்கொண்டிருப்பவர்களின் திமிர்பிடித்த கட்டப்பஞ்சாயத்துக்கு,  பாரம்பரியம் அடிபணியாது.

பிறப்பின் அடிப்படையில் எவரும் ஒதுக்கப்படுவதை ஜனநாயகவாதிகள் ஒத்துக்கொள்வதில்லை;  பாரம்பரியமோ இறப்பின் அடிப்படையில் எவரையும் ஒதுக்க மறுக்கிறது.

.....

எல்லையிலா கடலின்மீது மிதப்பதால் மட்டுமே  கவிதை விவேகத்துடன் இயங்குகிறது.  (மாறாக) அறிவு, அதே எல்லையில்லாக் கடலை கடந்து, அதை எல்லைக்குட்பட்டதாக ஆக்க முனைகிறது. இதன் விளைவோ முழு மனச்சோர்வு.

சகலத்தையும் ஒத்துக்கொள்வது ஒருவித பயிற்சி.
சகலத்தையும் புரிந்துகொள்வது ஒருவித களைப்பளிக்கும் மெனக்கெடல்.

கவிஞன் உயர்வையும், விரிவாக்கத்தையும் மட்டுமே விரும்புகிறான், தன்னை விரித்துக்கொள்ள ஒரு உலகமே (அவன் தேடல்). சொர்க்கத்தில் தன் தலையை நுழைத்துக்கொள்வதே அவன் வேண்டுதல்.

தர்க்கவாதியோ சொர்க்கத்தையே தன் தலைக்குள் நுழைக்க முனைகிறான். இதில் மண்டை உடைவது அவனுக்குத்தான்.

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ஜி.கே.செஸ்டர்டன்
சம்பிரதாயம்

32, 31, 30, 29, 28, 27, 26

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