Returning to December is like ringing a bell to remind us that the greatness of love is what makes it possible for humanity to grow. Knocking on God’s “door” with love is the root of the tree of life. Meanwhile, knocking on our neighbor’s “door” with compassion is the fruit of life. Love begets love, goodness gives birth to goodness. People hate for a lack of sharing love.
In a world that is bubbling with images and enemies, life in a city has an abundance of loneliness, but is short of serenity. Loneliness means fragility, while serenity radiates constancy. In loneliness, the fire of love in the soul is extinguished. As the fire of love dims, God’s name is evoked, not because of a longing to meet the Most Merciful, but in search of a safe haven for the psyche from the terror of anxiety. People are mutually connected in religious affinity not because they love each other, but because they share the same fear. The road of spirituality that should become a creative means of taming uproar and uncertainty instead becomes a road to escape loneliness, which gives birth to extreme expressions of religion.
December is a time of salvation when the virtue of love requires the fidelity of the institution of love. It is a noble calling for religion to nurture agape love, like the sunlight that shines indiscriminately on all. Confucius thinker Mencius said that if a person sees a small child standing on the edge of a cliff and he pulls the child back reflexively without any thought of ethnicity, religion or reward, God is truly present in that person\'s soul.
However, in real life, affection is generally selective. The altruist spirit tends to be directed towards the people who share the values, norms and identities of a particular moral community. In other words, a national unity that incorporates all forms of human diversity can be developed only with the adhesive of shared connections in public morals.
In other words, morality binds and unites people as a society. Jonathan Haidt (2012) identified six core values of public morality: Care (caring for others against the dangers that threaten mutual safety), fairness (justice, equality and appropriateness), liberty (freedom from oppression and repression), loyalty (to institutions, traditions and mutual consensus), authority (respected as the source of shared sovereignty) and sanctity (glorifying all things pure).
In the Indonesian context, the core values of public morality are crystallized in Pancasila. Its principle of divinity reflects the value of sanctity, that every moral community must have a value that is "sanctified" together as an anchor for social cohesion. In Pancasila, the vertical value of purity is divinity; the horizontal is mutual cooperation. This means that the spirit of mutual cooperation is drawn vertically
upwards to the source of divine light; that all interdependent diversity (which requires mutual cooperation) in this life is a reflection of "the Infinite" (God), who is independent. Therefore, differences are not only tolerated, but must be desired as something that is mutually complementary.
The principle of humanity reflects the values of care and liberty, that a moral community is bound by a care for basic human rights in upholding justice and civilization.
The principle of unity reflects the value of loyalty, that a moral community needs a shared awareness of caring for their “communal home", where individual freedoms must not destroy the traditional and consensual order that maintains harmony in unity.
The principle of democracy reflects the value of authority. In its institutionalization, this authority is developed towards becoming a sovereign nation in politics through the ideal of democracy, the ideal of consensual deliberation and the ideal of wisdom in designing democratic institutions that will strengthen unity and social justice.
The principle of justice reflects the value of fairness. Social cohesion needs a shared concept of justice and prosperity. An unjust system will give birth to social inequalities that can only weaken social cohesion.
These principles are all synchronized horizontally with the spirit of mutual cooperation. Mutual cooperation is the highest level of human adaptation in navigating the challenges of natural selection from individual beings to social beings. Pancasila’s mutual cooperation requires the sociability of nationality, which can overcome the tendencies of individualism and totalitarianism. In a pluralistic society, emphasizing individualism and differences makes national integration difficult. However, setting aside individual aspirations and differences can kill rich potential and creativity. Pancasila takes the middle road upon the wisdom of Bhinneka Tunggal Ika (Unity in Diversity): recognizing diversity/differences while trying to attain equality/unity.
Returning to December is like a return to love. The value and virtue of compassion finds its optimal form when it is institutionalized in the public morality of Pancasila. (YUDI LATIF, Executive, National Alliance)
