The Power of the People

Based on a comment to A New York State of Mind

The torah was given to us, humans, Yidden, found in a physical world. We are bound into the fabric of our limited reality, yet we posses the power to transcend it -our actions bring G-dlyness into the world. The Oral Torah, decrees from the Rabbis, all of these form an elastic clause of sorts, stretching to incorporate changes in the world around us. Had the Torah merely written to keep Shabbos, even if all of the details had been written down, we would not be able to view Shabbos in the light of our modern times. Only by means of giving it over to us, are we able to view every facet of our existence in a "Torah Light".
We are able to bring Elokus even further into the world, bringing about the k'vana of dira b'tachtontim -making a place were G-d can be felt in this world, ever more present.
We see this in the advantage of a Rabbinic Decree over a Torah law, in the strength found in a minhag yisreol -a Jewish custom over the rest etc.
A chumra, a stringency, if it is true one -backed by true leaders of the Jewish people, is no different.
The spiritual darkness around us grows every day, we need increased light to fight it.
Di Alte Tante Shprintza lived in a shtetl. She probably never traveled more the a few miles away from her home town, and wouldn't have known what newspaper was if it hit her in the face, let alone a Pocket P.C. with wireless internet access.
We aren't monks, we must live with in the world . . . yet we must know that we are higher then everything else. Like a dove flickering above the surface, touching yet not touching.
We can shape our own lives.