Tens of millions of Filipinos around the globe are Catholic, because of the Spanish colonizers who launched the faith primarily as a device for social management. However we have to be cautious in pondering that the Catholicism of the colonizers is similar as Philippine Catholicism, notably in the best way it’s understood and practiced.
For probably the most half, it appears to be like the identical, sounds the identical, and in lots of instances even feels the identical, but when we glance intently, the religiosity of the on a regular basis Filipino is just not actually the identical.
We deal with saints the identical manner our ancestors used to deal with their anito. Our fiestas, at this time a celebration of Catholic spirits, are rooted within the outdated pagan traditions. The way in which most Filipino Catholics do their panata (devotion) and pamumuwesto (pilgrimage) follows the identical rules as the folks practitioner. House altars comprise a wide range of spiritual pictures, from Catholic to Feng Shui—seemingly in an try to harness and appease each energy “simply in case.” For this reason many social scientists previously have referred to as it “Christianized Animism.”
This week is Holy Week, a commemoration of Jesus Christ’s loss of life and resurrection, symbolizing the spirit’s rebirth via struggling. I’m not a pastor, so you do not want to listen to from me the theological and ethical significance of Holy Week and Lenten Season normally. I’m a psychological researcher, so my curiosity is just not in what folks needs to be doing throughout this time, however what persons are doing, and what this would possibly suggest about us and the way we relate with the world. It’s not my place to evaluate anybody’s non secular perception system. That is how folks make that means of the world and their lives. I all the time method the unfamiliar with an open coronary heart (bukas loob), as a result of beneath all of it we actually are extra related with one another than we expect.
Learn: Holy Week 2025: An Inquirer.web Particular
Throughout the archipelago, the albularyo, baylan, and antingero are getting ready. It is a spiritually highly effective time for them. A surwano defined to me that, for some cause, this time is simply extra “clear,” and so it’s simpler to do magic. (Like a sunny day, she stated.)
Another excuse is that Christ (that’s, the authority) is useless and the spirits of the earth and underworld are extra assured to roam round and strike bargains with folks. Albularyos would search for their particular herbs; baylans collect in sacred mountains and forests, and a few of them have interaction with one another via balete bushes; antingeros make and cost their anting-anting.
One antingero advised me that that is additionally the most effective time to gather dignum, a sort of magical wooden that supposedly solely seems to the worthy. Traditionally, antingeros would take blessed supplies from church buildings throughout Holy Week (equivalent to fragments of the Paschal candle or a brass bell), and people items could be used as anting-anting. Lots of them do that as a technique of internal transformation (pagbabagong-loob), or as a strategy to align their particular person spirit with the bigger spirit that strikes the world.
The Jesuit psychologist Jaime Bulatao studied these subjects a long time in the past, and from him we are able to borrow an vital psycho-spiritual idea: what he referred to as the “Filipino Transpersonal Worldview.”
Based on Bulatao, most Filipinos see the world in a “transpersonal” manner. This tutorial time period simply means, experiencing the self past the physique. This would possibly sound unusual, as a result of we expect we’re restricted to our bodily types. However take into consideration how you might have felt everytime you see a powerful sundown, and also you out of the blue really feel such as you’re a part of an actual, lovely, and loving universe. It’s all the time exhausting to elucidate, however the sensation is profound.
Additionally attempt to bear in mind the sensation of being so invested in a sports activities sport or live performance or magnificence pageant that your voice is drowned out within the crowd, and you’re feeling like you might be a part of one shared spirit. These are all “transpersonal” experiences.
Bulatao stated that Philippine spirituality is transpersonal: we work together with the world as if it have been a part of us, that the spirits of nature and faith are neighbors and members of the family. In a earlier essay, I wrote about household dynamics in Philippine politics—and that is what I imply.
Learn: Household dynamics and Philippine politics
So, throughout this Holy Week, we see this “transpersonal worldview” in motion. For a lot of the 12 months, we’re separate from one another. We now have completely different political opinions, now we have completely different financial wants, now we have completely different duties and duties in life. We’re too busy with our personal, and our household’s, well-being (kaginhawaan). However throughout holidays equivalent to these (bear in mind, “vacation” is rooted within the phrase “holy day”), many people start to acknowledge the extra non secular features of our lives, particularly in how these non secular issues really affect each different a part of lives.
To be clear, I’m not penning this only for Catholics. This isn’t solely a non secular factor; it is usually a cultural expertise. In case you are not a non secular individual, you may nonetheless expertise the transpersonal in your personal manner. We all know that Holy Week is an extended, non-working vacation, and many individuals take this time to journey with their households or relaxation at residence. Our tendency may be to distract ourselves with display time and doomscrolling on our telephones. It is because we don’t really need to hearken to the emotions now we have buried deep inside us: the anger, discontent, resentment, anxiousness, and unhappiness that has constructed up each different day of the 12 months due to our work and social relationships. So, regardless that we get to relaxation from our duties, we’re not actually letting our spirit breathe.
When was the final time you simply sat down and listened to the emotions of your physique? When was the final time you took care of your self—and I imply precise care, by doing issues that you simply actually get pleasure from? This doesn’t need to value something; it may very well be having an sincere and weak dialog with a beloved one, or beginning on that artwork mission you might have been pushing aside, and even listening to your favourite album out of your favourite artist.
When was the final time you stared on the sky, or the bushes, or the movement of a stream and actually let your thoughts wander? This was the key of the outdated animists: the spirits have been probably not particular entities, they have been auras or emotions from the surroundings. The solemnity we really feel in historical forests or mountains: that’s the “diwata.”
Faith has given us handy symbols to make use of, in order that we are able to simply entry these very important realities. However on probably the most primary stage, it truly is about realizing that the world exterior our our bodies and the world inside our minds are one. Typically, they’re misaligned. Our expectations usually are not matched; we get disenchanted by how folks deal with us; the stress of the bodily world tires us out.
The themes of struggling, renewal, and rebirth throughout Holy Week are related to the private course of we should all undergo if we need to realign the internal and outer worlds. When there may be misalignment, we really feel offended and alone. When they’re aligned, we really feel like we’re one with the whole lot. We really feel God’s will and presence in our lives (loob ng Maykapal).
That is what it actually means to be “transpersonal.” So, if we need to undergo our personal transformation (pagbabagong-loob), then we have to be able to really feel some discomfort.
You are able to do panata, pamumuwesto, Visita Iglesia, and all different spiritual rituals. You may take part within the stations of the cross. However, on a psychological stage, these also needs to aid you join with what’s most vital to the human expertise: your private relationship with kapwa, nature, and God.
