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".