Bahala Na

Bahala na. It's a common Filipino phrase, so common in fact that we often say it without thinking. The closest translation is Que sera sera or "Whatever will be, will be." The phrase is usually said when one doesn't know or is undecided about the next step to take or is unsure what the consequences of a certain course of action are. It's equivalent to going with the flow, taking it as it comes and letting fate decide how things will turn out.

This is why among progressives and intellectuals bahala na is almost a dirty word. It's the lazy person's approach to problem solving, a fatalistic surrendering of one's fate to chance. One might even say it's part of what makes Filipino society a "damaged" culture, just like the manana (mamaya na) habit that was supposedly inherited from the Spanish (the mamaya na habit is delaying something that can be done or should be done immediately).

Is Filipino culture really that damaged, that a lazy person's way of thinking has worked its way deep into our thought process and identity? I don't believe that our ancestors were so naive and ignorant as that.

In this age where a lot of things are changing, it is perhaps time to change our consciousness about certain things that have always been taken for granted. So how do we change our understanding of the phrase bahala na? We can start by taking a closer look at the etymology of the word.

"Bahala" is a shortening of Bathala, which in pre-Hispanic times was the term for a Supreme God. Bathala supposedly derives from Bhattara Guru meaning “the highest of the gods.” Therefore, bahala na is properly uttered as Bathala na, or "It is in God's hands." It is similar to the Islamic insha Allah or Inshallah (God willing).

At first look, this new interpretation is not really all that different from the common understanding of bahala na. It still seems that instead of leaving one's fate totally up to chance, one just substitutes "chance" with "God." But following Master Choa Kok Sui's principle that there are always several levels of truth, we can study the phrase Bathala na from a more spiritual or mystic perspective.

Spiritual traditions around the world, even indigenous ones, are consistent in making reference to a Supreme God and the existence of the soul, which is the spark of Divinity, the part of God that is you. Mainstream religion basically says the same thing, though the increasing aversion to dogma tends to overshadow that fact. With the steady resurgence of esoteric spirituality, closer attention is being paid to establishing, nurturing and increasing this connection to one's soul, specifically to one's higher soul.

I already wrote something about why one should be connected to one's higher soul in my other article The Value of Inner Peace, but I'll say it differently here. When we meditate and achieve that state of bliss or contact with our soul, it is often the case that we "come back down" to scenes of argument, bickering and the struggle for daily existence such that the bliss evaporates as quickly as morning dew.

Although we affirm that "I am the soul" there is still a tendency to think of the higher soul as "there" while the everyday self is "here" when in fact there is no separation at all, merely a question of where the consciousness is at. What happens then is that all too often we are unable to bring the bliss and experience of connection that we achieve through meditation into our daily lives. It's like having muscles that can lift heavy weights while inside the gym but not being able to use those muscles to lift a sack of rice.

What does all this talk about the soul have anything to do with Bathala na? When you say "Bathala na" with the proper consciousness, you are communicating with your higher soul and acknowledging that "It is in God's hands." Meaning, it is a willing surrender to the guidance of God through your higher soul. Your higher soul is beyond space and time, so that part of you knows what's coming next and how best to approach a particular problem.

By tapping into that part of yourself, by humbly surrendering all preconceived notions and resistance to your higher soul, you allow your higher soul to act accordingly. You may find yourself being inspired to do something, or a leap of intuition suddenly presents a solution to your problem, or things just fall into place so that you achieve your goals. That, to me, is the proper meaning of bahala na, and the proper way to pray. It's certainly a good way to keep consciously connected to your higher soul in everyday life, instead of limiting this connection to meditation sessions.

This is certainly a lot to say for such a short phrase, but you can often find wisdom in the most unlikely places. We are so focused on being "modern" that it seems we have lost that connection to the wisdom of our indigenous ancestors, a wisdom that has found its way into common usage but with forgotten meaning.

If it seems strange to think that pre-Hispanic "primitives" could have such deep wisdom, just ask anyone who has spent enough time working with or helping the various indigenous tribes in the Philippines. These indigenous people have a raw spirituality that is very attuned with Mother Earth and hence with the cosmic order of things. Esoteric students may be surprised at just how much they can learn by studying the various indigenous traditions.

So what do you do next time you don't know what to do next? Say, "Bahala na." But this time, know that you are praying, so say it with meaning.

Time's Up

Time.

What is it, exactly? Is it the number of seconds that it takes to read this sentence? The scratches on a prison wall that mark the passing of days? Or is it the number of wrinkles that show up on your skin? Is it a measure of your descent into cynicism? All of the above?

A lot of metaphors describe time. Time is gold. Time flies. River of time. Sands of time. Make the time. All refer to movement and something that is easily lost once past. Or perhaps time is simply an arrangement the mind makes in order to make sense of the progression of events in our lives. Is this why the sages of old exhort us to live in the NOW, because every second that passes contains crucial events that we need to be aware of as they happen? But time isn't simply a series of events strung up in a line.

Time is a paradox. It can be subjective and objective at the same time. Imagine if you were immortal. You don't age, you don't get sick. Time seemingly stops for you. And yet, you watch your friends and loved ones get sick and die. Time still passes, and you are in the middle of it, subject to the emotional highs and lows that come with the experience.

It seems then that anything subjected to time is impermanent. You can even find it in the play of words. Temporary = temporal = time. And if you really think about it, every second that passes means the previous second was already lost. Even doing nothing, you are already losing something. If only the same could be said about losing excess body fat, eh?

What then does it mean to work towards the permanent, the eternal, the everlasting? Aha. It seems we've strayed into "religious" territory.

If time relates to loss and impermanence, then it seems that for something to be eternal it shouldn't be bound by time. If there is no time, then there is no beginning and no ending. Not a nihilistic event, but just one big NOW. So when the ancient sages said to live in the NOW, perhaps what they are referring to is to live towards what is permanent and eternal. It is like the Ouroboros, the snake eating its own tail. It is the circle that is never ending, it just IS.

If you've spent enough time researching the esoteric, you would have encountered descriptions of the supernal realms being timeless and spaceless. Unfortunately, without having experienced it, it's hard to imagine what it would be like to live in a realm with no time, and no space.

Perhaps physics can help give a clue. Let's take a closer look at Einstein's theory of relativity. I won't discuss the history or technical aspects of it and just say that as one approaches the speed of light, time slows down relative to everything else. An astronaut in a spaceship that's traveling close to the speed of light might only experience the passing of a few months in deep space when on Earth many years could have already passed.

As one reaches the speed of light, it is theoretically possible to go back in time. In this case, at the speed of light you may say that one is existing beyond time because one is not bound by its progression. This ties in with the accounts of the so-called akashic records, where one may view scenes from the past and if one were advanced enough, scenes of possible futures.

But here's where it gets interesting. From what I understand of the theory of relativity, as long as you have mass, you cannot really hit the speed of light. You can approximate it, but not get to the speed of light itself. It's interesting, because that essentially means that you should be beyond space as well in order to get to the speed of light itself. How then can you shed mass in order to get to the speed of light?

The potential is actually in all of us, again as described in Einstein's formula E=mc2. This formula is frequently associated with the atomic bomb, but I got insight into its deeper meaning by watching an episode of History Channel's Ancient Aliens. One scientist explained the formula as follows:

"When you have atoms break apart or come together, you lose a small amount of mass. It turns out that the amount of energy in mass is related to the mass times the speed of light squared (E=mc2). And the speed of light is such a huge number, and that's what converts the small amount of mass into a huge amount of energy."

So within each particle of the universe there exists a huge amount of energy, but most of it in the form of mass. But the potential is there. Shed the mass, and you release the energy. Sounds almost like a description of the soul, doesn't it? At death, we shed the physical body and we enter into the supernal realms.

It's interesting that in Master Choa Kok Sui's book Achieving Oneness with the Higher Soul, he describes the soul as "spiritual energy with consciousness." So one is a being of light, with consciousness. One doesn't need to experience death in order to get into this state and this actually forms the basis of practice for many yogic traditions.

As the world enters a phase when a lot of people are thinking of the "End Times" (not the same as the end of time, mind you) coupled with fears of a global recession and a lot of uncertainty about the future, it would do well to think about working towards the permanent rather than on things that will fade with time. I'm not saying one should renounce the world, but rather to know how to discern between the permanent and the impermanent, so that one knows how to manage priorities. This allows us to live and thrive in the world without being attached to it.

But time need not sound so negative. According to Kabbalah, time is also equated with mercy because it is the interval between cause and effect. This gives one the opportunities to make up for any negative actions one might have done in the past, or to reinforce and affirm positive actions. But this only works if one believes in the Law of Cause and Effect (also known as karma).

Time is either a glass half-full or half-empty, depending on your disposition. But I did say it was a paradox, didn't I?