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SANIB-SINAG
4 May-June 1998
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Teaching catechism
in a public school classroom in Marikina as a member of the Ateneo (High
School) Catechetical Instruction League or ACIL many decades back, I focused
on this word and phrase, this beginning. We started the very first session
with that prayer in Filipino. "Ama namin,
sumasalangit Ka..." the words as recited in spontaneous and
therefore pleasantly imprecise unison by those grade school pupils brought
music to my ears. And blessed my heart. Many of the kids, who were horseplaying
and teasing just moments before, now prayed with their eyes closed!
I recall this
scene as I try to put down in an organized manner my thoughts about the
prefix "syn-" which I have quite recently come to love, as against
the word "sin." How do these relate to the principle of synergism?
What this article seeks to explore is not the definition of synergism, but one of many possible valid expressions of it.. It is actually an initial attempt at developing at least a semi-theological angle to the principle which the Saniblakas ng Taongbayan Foundation exists to promote. Although this might appeal most to readers who are Catholics by upbringing and/or religious organization, I hope others would find value in reading it.
I’ve been cautioned to avoid being simplistically dichotomous in my thinking or presentation of this, considering that its very title creates images of the great polarization between "Good" and "Evil." Inasmuch as I find this reminder valid and vital, I also want to share it. Still I do not think that all dichotomies, per se, are more on the side of the "bad"/counterproductive/destructive/negative, as long as they are just used as concepts to help our minds grasp complex realities, with their competing simultaneous processes, and competing directions or tendencies. (This is not saying all simultaneous processes and attributes are competing; but some pairs of them are, in each reality.) Concepts of black and white are useful in understanding the millions of shades of gray that is all around us. That would be yin and yang within each reality.
Those who agree with my thoughts are welcome to enrich them by sending comments or full-blown articles on similar topics. Those who have reason to feel I have just allowed myself to get carried away (in the obvious play of words which I play up in the title) are welcome to tell me so and why. But, of course, we all have to endure reading through this whole thing first.
Self-proclaimed Siblinghood
Departing completely from the preplanned lesson flow, I asked the children about the word, "namin." I asked them what they meant by the phrase "Ama namin" and what it implied. They first stared at me quietly with their eyes asking me why I was asking them that. After all, they had memorized that prayer much earlier, and were used to just mouthing the words, with many trying to get into unison with others by skipping the phrase altogether.
Yes, indeed, why "Our"? What is implied by the phrase "Our Father" about us who are saying it together in no less than a prayer? I’ve never stopped posing these questions. The discussion that followed in that classroom in Marikina and in subsequent occasions touched on the matter of human brotherhood, which I would now prefer to call human siblinghood; about the fatherhood, or parenthood, of my concept of God, and the felt need to reconcile our words and our deeds.
It was much later in my life that I came to start praying this in Mass where I would occasionally be holding hands with those who flanked me on both sides, forming a human chain as we proclaimed ourselves "siblings" under one Divine Parenthood. Looking back, that would have been a tremendous addition to the classroom scene in Marikina! (An insight from the Katipunan: siblinghood by choice is more profound!)
As of now, I feel that making the Sign of the Cross at the beginning and at the end of a prayer, which distinguishes Catholics from non-Catholics, is less important than the holding of hands to highlight and feel a more-universal, more inter-faith, human bonding.
(Too bad, you
can’t do that often outside Mass, even with close friends who might feel
awkward or suspicious and therefore uncomfortable and distracted while
praying. But I mention it here for others to also think about.)
In my nephew’s
wedding last year, the priest sang the Our Father. He sang it enthusiastically,
even superbly as only a very talented singer would. But he sang alone.
Everyone else listened to him. For one reason or another he chose a version
of the Our Father song that no one in the rest of the gathered faithful
knew how to sing. My feeling is that the priest could have found release
for his singing talent while singing another song. Not the
Our Father. This prayer is to be sung or spoken together no
matter how crudely. Although I am a lover of beautiful music, like Gregorian
chant arrangements, I feel uneasy when aesthetics come before togetherness.
Especially at Mass. Especially with the "Our Father" where we self-proclaim
together our siblinghood. I’d always prefer the spontaneous and therefore
pleasantly imprecise unison of those grade school pupils reciting the prayer
with eyes closed in their classroom in Marikina.
Our Brief ‘Theological Discussion’ on Synergism
When Joydee Robledo, Saniblakas Foundation’s executive director, and I were finalizing our draft of the 1997 mid-year report (titled "Saniblakas: The Word Becomes Flesh") for submission to the Saniblakas Board of Trustees, she expressed the caution that the title may have been an overstatement, due to its evidently intended allusion to some words of the Angelus Prayer. We discussed the implications and our thoughts on and around the concept of synergism, and decided to change the title to "Saniblakas: A Word Becoming Flesh."
How that discussion ran was reflected in "bullet" points that we incorporated as an Addendum to that report. That extra section of the document, that was subsequently approved by the Board, is reproduced here:
Help from the Dictionary
My Webster’s New World Dictionary, Third College Edition (1991) gives the following definition for the prefix syn-:
synergy, n.: combined or cooperative action or force.
So, we have "synthesis" that combines thesis with one or a number of antitheses; "synchronize" that means being together in time or in timing, "synod" which is a coming together of doctrine leaders, "sympathy" where one joins another in feeling or mood, and "symbiosis" which is about living interdependently.
To shift to religion or theology, I conceive of a God who self-actualizes in the synergic integration of the entire Creation, just as "integrity" refers to a person’s coherence or consistency, in other words, unity and harmony, in terms of that person’s thoughts (principles, beliefs, values), words (claims, promises, testimonies), and deeds. In this light, I do not feel it a sacrilegious act to say "synergism is next to Godliness," or, going bolder, "synergism is Godliness."
What about evil or sin? Evil is the opposite of good (as their homophonic pair, God and Devil, are conceptual opposites). Do I take sin or evil to be the opposite of togetherness, integration and synergism? Yes, and I go on to say sin is the simultaneous alienation from God, the great Synergic Totality, and from one another. I expressed this in the form of a segment in my own personal version of the "Our Father," where we oftentimes mechanically mouth the very last word, "evil," without giving it much thought, without feeling any relevance of it to our own personal and social daily lives.
Now, towards
the end this essay, I invite you to join me in this prayer.
My Version of ‘The Lord’s Prayer’
At the beginning of the Saniblakas Board meeting last January, I led in praying what I had just prepared as my personal version of "The Lord’s Prayer." It goes this way:
Our Divine Parent,
Holy be Your
name,
Your Dominion
come
Your will
be done on Earth
As everywhere
else in the Universe.
Give us today
our daily bread
And forgive
us our offenses,
As we forgive
those who hurt and offend us,
Do not bring us to the test
But deliver us from all
alienation and separation
from You and from one another.
Say you "Amen" to that? Can that be our prayer, as self-proclaimed siblings, from now on?
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