# tradition (kept)

A pattern of acting that a collective self keeps because it reads the pattern as part of what it has always been.

- Computed level: L19 (depth in the emergence graph, not abstraction)
- Status: published  ·  Domain: agency

## Emergence
**Emerges from:** [collective self](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-collective-self.shared), [pattern](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-pattern.regularity), [act](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-act.deed), [keep](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-keep.maintenance), [read](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-read.information), [always](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-always.temporal), [narrative](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-narrative.self-story), [part](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-part.relation)

**Through:** A group's narrative marks some patterns as belonging to it from the start; keeping them is then maintenance of the collective self itself, which is why a tradition is defended harder than its practical value explains.

**Novel properties:**
- maintenance of a self through a practice
- value read from age, not use

## Used by
- [proud tradition](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-proud-tradition.standing) (L20)

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*Canonical: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-tradition.kept*  
*Structured data: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-tradition.kept.json*  
*Every definition provably resolves to space, time, energy and pattern.*