张宗子将他的一本随笔集《开花般的瞻望》的自序题为《传统是无限的自由》。初看起来,这一命题或许会引起诸多争议。尤其是对那些深受各种中国启蒙思想运动之负面恩泽,将传统视作“现代化障碍”的精英们来说,此命题不啻是痴人说梦。然而,“一次又一次的启蒙运动的结果是整个儿都蒙住了”(木心先生语),他们不会想到传统是无穷的资源,人类社会一刻都离不开传统而延续下去。 Zhang Zongzi put his essay “Flowering Looks” preface entitled “Tradition is unlimited freedom.” At first glance, this proposition may cause controversy. Especially for those who are deeply favored by the various Enlightenment movements in China and whose elites regard tradition as a “barrier to modernization,” this proposition is nothing more than an idiot. However, “the result of the Enlightenment, which is repeated again and again, is that the entire population has been blinded” (Mr. Mu Xin’s speech). They do not think that tradition is an infinite resource and that humankind can not continue without tradition in a single moment.