My American Journey, Part 3: Religious Pluralism, Immigration, and Assimilation

There is a phrase from the United States Declaration of Independence that describes three fundamental rights that all people are born with that cannot be taken away. Governments are created to protect such rights. In short, these are qualities of existence in a democratic society to be free, to have a life of your choosing. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are simple concepts that are imbued with much deeper meanings.

Coming to America and seeing the world made me understand these concepts through the lenses of Western and Eastern thoughts from the past. Plato’s theory in The Republic opened my eyes and shaped my understanding of the nature of knowledge, truth, reality, ethics and politics. Eastern thought hews to an old Chinese tale, if you will, of the Fable of the Frog in a Well.

The Greek philosopher’s “Allegory of the Cave” is akin to the Chinese fable in the context of freedom and democracy. In Rizal’s Noli and Fili, the author wanted Filipinos to see the light outside the cave after centuries being in it. The “Allegory” is about the illusion and reality of the chained people in a cave society who are faced with the existence of two worlds – inside and outside the cave.

The Spanish and American colonial years shackled the Filipino mind and kept them in the cave through their chosen colonial methods. The Spaniards used religion as a method while the Americans used a pseudo-democratic society to control the destiny of the Filipino people. Even now, many Filipinos are still trapped in colonial mentality and religious rituals despite advances in science and “blessings of democracy” (liberty, equality, and peace) as envisioned by the framers of the 1987 EDSA Constitution.

“Secure the blessings of democracy” is one of the enshrined goals of the Philippine government. It is an oxymoron because democracy does not provide blessings. As Catholics we reserved such words to God. The concept of democracy entails conflict by dividing citizens into political sides. If our society is so divisive, it can be attributed to the fruits of democracy. Unity as a nation, as a group or organization is a common aspiration, albeit unachievable, by Filipinos or any democratic society.

The fable of the Frog in a Well gives us an understanding about such divisiveness. The fable tells of a conversation between a frog that lives in a well, and the sea turtle with unlimited view of the shore and the sea. One day, the sea turtle visited the well frog and shared his story of what the sea is like with limitless territory. The frog who has lived comfortably in a cavernous cavity could not make head or tail of what he heard.

Earlier Chinese society was influenced by Confucian philosophy where society is expected to be governed by rules, rituals, and morality much like democratic societies of today. These rules, rituals, and morality keep citizens in a cave or in a well where they have found comfort such as in religion. At the same time, these boundaries keep people in the dark and are treated like mushrooms.

These paradigms are not illusions that people live in. It is real and it limits their perspectives. In religion, for example, the faithful have embraced the idea of hell and God’s punishment for sinful living and therefore live life in fear of the afterlife. It is a narrow moralistic perspective in a society marked by divisiveness and chaos. Between the frog and the turtle, there is a conflict of understanding of the moral obligation of humanity, and what entails justice for the greater good. Healthcare is a human right that is understood by everyone. Yet, the majority of the citizens who live in the fringes of society are unjustly excluded from enjoying the “blessings of democracy.”

In other words, governments are incapable of rendering justice or creating a just society by nature. Corruption and corporate greed rob the poor of their humanity. Governments have tools to help the poor, but often are dependent on political influences. Access to healthcare is a form of pursuit of happiness for healthy living. Government provision of healthcare is often contested by ideology and not by reality. One side will argue that such free healthcare creates dependency, the other side however, will say that society offers limited opportunities to those who have nots and therefore, disadvantaged.

For democracy to thrive, there must be rules and conventions for people to follow. However, such rules and conventions are favorable to those in power, with wealth, or with fame who use such rituals to protect their interests. Same rituals or rules regulate every aspect of human existence and are therefore constricting. They are used by society as a barometer or a marker to distinguish civilized people from the uncivilized.

For Catholics, there is an expectation to follow church teachings and dogmas even in death. Much in the same way that the state expects people to obey traffic and parking rules, paying taxes, rendering justice as a juror, etcetera, lest they be judged as uncivilized, immoral, or a lawbreaker. If you steal because you’re struggling in life, society will judge you based on the ritual that they’ve been conditioned to, instead of defaulting to Jesus’ teachings about the poor, the thirsty, the homeless who were displaced by war and poverty (immigration).

In other words, there is a chasm between our view of human knowledge (facts) and human nature (values). The logic of chasm between facts and values exists because facts involve science and reason; while values being the domain of religion and art involves emotion. The parable of the rich man and Lazarus as told by Jesus warns of the pitfalls of living a life driven by greed and a lack of love for others. Such chasm, according to Jesus, is a bridge too far that could not be crossed.

What is needed is personal freedom that can operate in a space inside and outside of the society that created such rituals. Instead of crossing, one should enter the chasm to develop a new way of understanding that embraces the true engine of the mind – imagination. The frog in a well lacks imagination because of the wall that traps it much like by religion and of the rituals of the state.

Exploring the chasm can perhaps heal the divide between science and humanities. If the frog’s imagination can grasp the freedom that the turtle enjoys in a limitless world while roaming the infinite width of the four oceans and gazing at the heavens and mud below, life would be better with such change in paradigm.

We often encounter the chasm in real life but not necessarily recognize it. The butcher at the local market does and is able to navigate seamlessly chopping the pig into a marketable product by learning the intricacies of the pig’s internal make up and untangling it. Every move is highly scripted but precise following invisible paths only known to him.