Worshipping the past makes the present a futile imitation of it

Evidence

The problem considered here is one of time. Those Negroes and white men will be disalienated who refuse to let themselves be sealed away in the materialized Tower of the Past. For many other Negroes, in other ways, disalienation will come into being through their refusal to accept the present as definitive. — Frantz Fanon, Constance Farrington, Black skin, white masks, 826 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

These forms are frameworks for the creative life which, however, soon transcends them. They should also house the imitative life, for which, in the final analysis, there is no space left. They acquire fixed identities, a logic and lawfulness of their own; this new rigidity inevitably places them at a distance from the spiritual dynamic which created them and which makes them independent. — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 837 (#expands, via linked claim)

Their ritual peculiarities held them together as a nation, but emphasis on the Law gradually destroyed originality and made them intensely conservative. — Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, 1237 (#exemplifies, via linked claim)

Categorization

• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim
• XREF: connects to: Disalienation comes from refusing the tower of the past and the fixed present — Frantz Fanon, Constance Farrington, Black skin, white masks, 826; The myth shapes the present while being reshaped by it. — David Ohana, David Maisel , The Origins of Israeli…, 774; Rigid adherence to ritual law destroyed originality among ancient Jews — Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, 1237 (+8 more)

Related

• Disalienation comes from refusing the tower of the past and the fixed present (similarity 0.81)
• Advanced civilization resents the merely given, the unproduced and unchangeable (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Disalienation comes from refusing the tower of the past and the fixed present #corroborates (0.85) — Frantz Fanon, Constance Farrington, Black skin, white masks, 826
• Cultural forms ossify and drift apart from the life that created them #expands (0.80) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 837
• Rigid adherence to ritual law destroyed originality among ancient Jews #exemplifies (0.60) — Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, 1237
• Time-binding cultures value history, ritual symbols, and rooted community #contradicts (0.60) — James W. Carey, Communication as Culture- Essays on…, 624
• The myth shapes the present while being reshaped by it. #qualifies (0.45) — David Ohana, David Maisel , The Origins of Israeli…, 774
• Traditions are mutable and contested rather than fixed and class-bound #qualifies (0.40)