Great essay T man!!!
tradition= staying the same
improvement= changing for the better
so you kinda answered your own question. How can there be improvement, or even room for personal growth and spirituality, when things are done without thought, without reason (or as you said, with underlying common sense, but which does not need to be considered because it is, after all, a tradition that one can follow blindly!)
Tradition takes the steering wheel away from the thinking, enlightened one, and puts it in the hands of he-who-knows-the-traditions (any old fool).....!
Also, you seem quite disappointed with the christian pervasiveness of weak symbols. Well of course, they were the original hippies! Fish, burning bushes, man dying on simple cross, all symbols of weakness for a weak human race...roman/pagan power symbols of bulls and golden orbs elevated things to such a degree that it went too much over the people's heads. But barefooted fishermen was something everyone could relate to. A hero who dies in the end is realistic.
Tradition melds society, especially jewish tradition. But when i think about common traditions: marriage, christmas, birthdays, i think that they are often places where the least amount of thought is given because everyone has it memorized by now. And of course that leads to corruption (heh or commercialisation!)
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