Ideas, like institutions, that cling to the past (to prior versions) become myopic, end up withering, and eventually disappear. They become devoid of the energy and relevance that not only sustains them, but also helps them to grow and flourish.
This doesn't mean that only new ideas are good. As Ecclesiastes points out, there is nothing new under the sun.
It's the clinging dynamic that is the problem. All ideas need to be, as it were, re-invented. Even reinvention is not necessarily as much about something new as much as it is about discovery.
It's the energy of relevance to current contexts that is key. Holding on to something that has simply passed on is not a constructive use of that energy. The application of energy to how an idea can work right now is what is needed.
Clinging is a closing off of energy. The power of an idea, new or old, is satisfying the request of the new beneficiary, the current generation, to provide the connection between what is and what is needed. That requires openness to creative energy.
Wash away your old opinions to let new ideas in.
This is largely why greatness isn't something to aspire to in historical terms. Greatness is always what is happening now that leads to something better in the future.
Don't cling (and protect). Reach out (and provide).
An example: Justice