Archive for October 2009

Pugad Baboy strip from Pugad Baboy Online

Generation after generation Filipinos have embedded in their entire lifestyle the bahala na* attitude, more of a philosophical & spiritual value than a simple mantra to get through life. After a couple of years of being uprooted from this culture, I realized that I have not applied this outlook for so long now. At first I wanted to say that I finally rid myself of what seemed to be a cultural flaw but I cannot really say if my life has been so much better without it.

Bahala na, believed to be rooted from the word Bathala, the Tagalog word for God, expresses our fatalistic attitude towards life. At home, in school and at work, we have always been reminded to change this habit. Now that I live in a culture where fatalism is non-existent and where the absolute truth is that life is a series of action & reaction, I found myself more depressed, more frustrated & affected when life does not turn out the way I would want it to. In the end, we are where we live.

While the reality of life is in fact reaping what we sow, the sun or the rain, the bees or the worms somehow affect our reap. We do with what happens in between but we cannot control everything. A lot of my stress & frustrations are rooted from here. The pressure of believing that we can do everything & control everything. It took long for me to be reminded of this. That there is something bigger out there.

A glance of back home, with their grumbles and troubles, they always manage to surmount the stress & depression in so little ways. And when the news of the France Telecom employees rate of suicide cases headlined France, you really have to wonder about the importance of our individual character as a person in relation to the society we are part of. Probably we are really tougher when we are more hit. Sure, the complications of life are relative from one to the other but even the smallest detail can make a difference. We cannot put a planet on our shoulders all the time.

And when bahala na has a more negative connotation, it becomes more of a reassurance when applied responsibly. It is when when we try to do the best we can & then say bahala na. Knowing that we did our part then letting go of what may come. Imagine the emotional freedom it can bring. And I really believe that it's one of the things that makes us Filipinos manage to go through life, even happier than the most privileged.

In a society where there's no room for fate, I don't know what I'll do staying sane without bahala na. Is there any better way to cope with the pressures of life?

*bahala na = come what may
You can explore more of this Filipino culture with a Philosophical Analysis. Yes, it can go deeper.

Popular Posts

blog archive