LIFE MATTERS: Traditions

By Dr. Dencio S Acop

Why do we do what we do? How did we get here? How certain are we that what we do is right? How do we define “right”? What is truth? Kings, prophets, and sages have struggled through the ages to make sense of how man should behave and how life ought to be lived. While man’s basic instincts led him to what nurtured his earthly survival, his vastly deeper attributes of seeking the divine through reason resulted in his discovery of passions within him that were attracted to values of truth, honor, and joy. In trying to survive, man also recognized that there was a hierarchy to this survival. Very fundamental to this process was the recognition that there was a higher power beyond himself and that the physical plane in which he existed was merely a part of something much bigger – the universe. History books are replete with how man struggled through the ages from atheism and paganism to finally discovering the one and only true God. Certain truisms must first be understood before we can even begin to fathom the width and depth characterizing this journey and understand the forces that impinge upon us. While artificial technology rapidly evolved (especially in the current century), such development has canalized man more towards himself than others. Individually perceived, there seems nothing wrong with this development. However, when viewed against the backdrop of humanity’s collective survival, such progress is headed in the wrong direction. Selfishness is a given in the human character. It had led to man’s downfall every now and then. Fortunately, it has been the gift of learning through these downfalls that man developed traditions to preserve modes of belief and behavior which advanced the common welfare of not only himself, but all others as well. World peace and harmony is a welcome gift from tradition which institutionalized the basic human values of peace and dignity through dialogue than war. 

However, the world’s departure from the established tradition of promoting world peace and harmony, learned from the blood-soaked lessons of World War II, is leading mankind once again towards what it has abhorred all these years – another global war! This established tradition has so far kept the world free from self-destruction for 81 years. What are the ideals of this tradition and how have they been operationalized? Before we continue, let me be clear about certain truisms at play with the human condition in the world today — such as capitalism, communism, authoritarianism, racism, atheism, agnosticism, and satanism (among others). These are, in fact, growing and recurring traditions themselves (gaining adherents). Thus, towards appreciating what is argued, these forces must be borne in mind. Now, let’s get back to our argument. Since man lives with hierarchy and competition, he cannot do away with military power. Killing is made justifiable by the Just War Theory where nations are morally obliged to develop their own combat power through standing armies to defend against invaders of their national sovereignty and territorial integrity. But a threat to this tradition exists whenever states unilaterally attack other states without provocation. The world is witnessing such again as it departs from idealist to realist international relations. My alma mater, West Point, is another good example of tradition. Its culture of leadership excellence based on a tradition of honor that builds character has been nurtured and protected since 1802. The military leaders it therefore developed have been guided by the academy’s principles of duty, honor, and country. Another convention established by the moral tradition is the advancement of universal human rights protecting the dignity of man and his pursuit of happiness. While this international rule of law is taken for granted by half of the world’s populations today, it has nonetheless allowed much of the world to live relatively free of earlier conditions characterized by bondage, oppression, and violence. It has enabled modes of living ideally designed to attain the common good of all and not just a few elites. When we think of institutions and processes promoting the general welfare of man like democracy, family, freedoms, education, health, justice, and support for the underprivileged and marginalized (among others), these are specific conventions firmly rooted in the general tradition of the moral liberal order. 

Let us cite two significant areas of tradition for illustration. One is religious faith which is foundational to the global moral order of the last century, and whose development dates back centuries to the time of Christ some 2,000 years before. Tradition lies at the core of beliefs handed down by passing elders to succeeding generations. Why was this important? None of the things we know today that benefit our faith would have been possible without the traditions passed on by earlier generations. These nuggets of divine wisdom survived first through oral traditions which became written ones and taught only by teachers morally qualified and divinely inspired to spread knowledge that transcended the temporal into the eternal. When the Roman Empire finally adopted the religion it had persecuted in 4 A.D., Christianity spread like wildfire to the four corners of the earth. But Christianity traces its roots to Jesus Christ and his disciples since 1 A.D. attested to by oral traditions. The moral traditions of Christianity were first practiced by the Apostles from the examples of Christ in the Jewish communities. Then they were also shared by the apostle Paul with the Gentiles (non-Jews) who are practically the rest of the world. The term “catholic” (meaning “universal”) came from this outwardly-directed mission from Jerusalem towards evangelizing even the heathens. The tradition that characterizes the height and summit of the Christian life until today is the Rite of Holy Mass where the consecrated body and blood of Christ is regularly received by the faithful. There are other traditions now called sacraments, which bring Christians closer to God lest they fall into the hands of evil in life’s spiritual warfare. These are baptism, confirmation, confession, matrimony, holy orders, and anointing of the sick – traditions purposely designed to guide man along the straight path through his earthly journey from cradle to grave. The traditions of the moral order are intended to advance the ways of peace and harmony within man as they are also meant to attain world peace and dignified harmony among all men. It is likewise against this light therefore that catholic education came to be – to enlighten humanity towards the highest possibilities of truth attainable in earthly life. The departure of faith-inspired institutions in the life of man from their traditional roots is not without its heavy costs. Where holy matrimony once blessed and inspired the love between man and woman to stay together in fidelity and nurture a loving family, separations and divorces have surpassed faithful relationships thereby impacting the present and future lives of children (and societies) in ways that do not promote the common good of all. As a Catholic, I personally find the modern mass, adopted in 1968 by Vatican II, inferior to its old rite version, the Traditional Latin Mass, in both substance and form. To this faithful, there is absolutely nothing wrong with the Tridentine Mass or Vetus Ordo practiced by believers since 1570. The old rite is the form of the Mass that inspired many to aspire for sainthood in the life of the church. And this is not surprising since the old mass is solemn, united and coherent, putting God at the center of worship more clearly than the Novus Ordo or modern mass can. If anything needed reform, it should have been just the permission to use language other than Latin. But Latin itself, has also been an effective tradition in unifying and identifying Christians throughout the world. Tradition was effective because its value was understood and faithful commitment to its integrity was practiced. When tradition became replaced by novelty lowering its standards to accommodate the world, the world likewise adjusted, not to become holier and closer to God, but to see God as it sees itself.    

Another established tradition is democracy. If there were relative peace and order in the world since World War II, such are owed to the liberal democratic order. The strength of the democratic process lay in its ability to reach a consensus among many contending stakeholders through win-win solutions that encouraged mutual give and take. This strength relied upon the value of truth as its cornerstone. To protect such process, the international rule of law was adopted. But while the process had such formidable strength, it was also vulnerable to undemocratic forces that undermined it whenever they could, to advance minority interests. The manufacture and spread of false narratives using advanced technology is one such threat. It has also been used effectively to mislead voters in political elections and state actors in foreign affairs. Another threat to democracy is the gradual change from once popular moral values to secular materialism maximizing individual freedoms at the expense of a nation’s soul. The bottom-up strength of democracy is only as good as the moral values of the people in general. Such values are protected by tradition, harnessed and cared for through time. The strength of tradition relies upon its daily practice. And its long-term impact is most significant when that tradition is best practice. Like good exercise practiced regularly, good traditions develop muscle memory that endures. But when tradition allows itself to be undermined by selfishness, for instance, to become a majority interest from a minority one, then that tradition ceases to be tradition because it is replaced by an opposing value. The tradition of democracy enables individual freedoms to flourish but it is not those individual freedoms. It is so much more. It is the spiritual force that binds all those individual freedoms together. Otherwise, the spiritual tradition that gave rise to this democracy becomes diminished by the same individual freedoms it gave life to and nurtured. In essence, the tradition of democracy inherently demands the spiritual unity of its adherents first, before the lesser demands of individual freedoms. By its very nature, democracy innately requires the promotion of the common good. It is selfless. Its greatest enemy, therefore, as alluded to, is the hypocritical posturing of individual freedom disguised as nationalism. This enemy, if allowed, will undermine the tradition of democracy, built and nurtured by nations through centuries, from within, and so can be swift.