We are not only conservative but also creative creatures, and sometimes our conservative impulses clash with our creative ones.
Consider Barre Toleken's Twin Laws of Folklore: folklore needs to be engaged with the combination of changing and static elements that connect with a group's past and present in ways that evolve and change over time. He referred to these "twin laws" as laws of dynamism (change) and conservatism (stability), and argued that in order to persist, traditions need to have both elements. Without the ability to adapt to changing contexts and circumstances, a tradition can't survive. But that tradition also needs to be stable enough to be recognizable as a tradition. They may clash, but this clashing is also a necessity for its own existence.
