Spiritual Synergies and Undervalued All-Stars

The film version of Capote’s In Cold Blood has the voice-over commentator towards the end pointing out that neither of the two murders (who were eventually executed by hanging) would have been capable of the brutal slaying of the family of four (for a few dollars) without the other. It makes sense: one was cold-hearted, calculating and manipulative but not violent; the other was sensitive and tender but explosively violent. The first planned and engineered the crime and the second actually did the bloody act.

This heinous crime is a case study of synergistic energies by which two or three of us united can produce a far greater effect, for good or for evil, than the sum of our individual capabilities. In the doing of evil, there is a mimetic contagion by which we excite each other into an escalation of malice and destruction beyond the capacity of the individual: Nazis, Rwanda, and Iraq. Clearly, there is also a supernatural, Satanic dynamic that intrudes as well. This is very scary stuff: “Deliver us from evil!”

The Good News is that this explosive, synergistic dynamism is even more powerful in the doing of good: Where two or more are gathered in my name, there am I in your midst. How often are we energized, encouraged, inspired by even trivial exchanges with others?

Sunday’s NY Time’s Magazine had a front cover article on Shane Battier as an unsung and undervalued but most valuable all-star. His personal statistics are not in the least impressive but he does a range of barely visible things that make his team win consistently. He will tip a rebound to a teammate, move off his own man to box out a stronger rebounder, and force offensive all-stars like Bryant to take lower percentage shots. His athletic ability is unexceptional by NBA standards but his basketball IQ is off the charts. He is the quintessential selfless player: calls no attention to himself but does everything to make his team and teammates better and his opponents worse.

These two concrete cases lead to a thrilling insight: those of us who are not all-stars in our personal stats are nevertheless all part of a team and intelligent, selfless performance of miniscule tasks at the right time and in the right manner contribute to a synergistic, mimetic, socially contagious and explosive dynamic that far transcends our wildest individual fantasies. Only Kobe can be Kobe, but each of us can be like a Shane Battier in his given task and mission.