In Philippine culture, loob or kalooban refers to one's inner self, or, more specifically, to the internal dimension of a person's identity. Its external counterpart is labas - the physical, outward appearance.[1] Loob is a core concept in Filipino Psychology, a field which is unthinkable without both the internal and external dimensions, "loob"/"labas".[2]
Loob or kalooban has been compared to similar concepts in other Southeast Asian and Oceanian cultures, such as the Indonesian concept of batin or kebatinan.[1]
"Walang sarili kung walang loob."[3]
According to a publication by Dionisio M. Miranda entitled Loob--The Filipino Within, Loob can be viewed as a psycho-moral reality. This part of the publication says that Loob is made of two more concepts, and these are katauhan and pagkatao.[3]
From this, katauhan and pagkatao seem like similar concepts, but they translate to personality and character, respectively, which are often used interchangeably but are two very different things.
Personality (psychological), according to Loob as a psycho-moral reality, embodies the traits, attitudes or habits that distinguish one individual from another. It is the complex or one's behavioral and emotional tendencies. It is not just the structure or the organization of these qualities, but it is the whole of these qualities that gives form and meaning to an individual and his existence.
It is more or less static in the way that it is the basic or initial particularity of a person, what makes him different from everyone else. It could eventually be viewed from static to dynamic (changing) terms.
Moral character, on the other hand, is understood to be mainly dynamic and secondarily static. It is related to personality in the sense that character is based on personality and is initially determined by it. In the concrete sense, character is the aspect which constitutes one's ethnicity which structures him not only as subject (ako) but further as a moral subject and moral agent.
Content-wise, it is the values and attitudes, principles and norms, ideals and projects that lend the person his moral form (kaloobang makatao). In the generic sense, it responds to perceptions of realities of good and evil, right and wrong, appropriate and inappropriate and so on.
Personality as Katauhan, Character as Pagkatao
The core of both personality and character is the ego or the self. Sarili (self) manifests itself either as personality or as character.
Under Katauhan are the following distinctive constituents:
Under Pagkatao are the following distinctive constituents:
The word Loob, simply taken as 'inside' and not a construct, is also used for "looban," which means an interior compound, or community; and for the term "manloloob", which means 'robber', literally 'someone who enters'.
As a core concept of value, Loob and its variants are a critical aspect of numerous Filipino value constructs, of which the following are examples:[4]
| Concept | Definition | Literal Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Utang na loob | Debt of gratitude | 'Borrowed inner self' |
| May utang na loob | A good person, a person who understands what it means to owe a debt of gratitude | 'With an inner debt' |
| Nakikingutang ng loob | To seek a favor from someone | 'To borrow one's inner self' |
| Ipagkaloob | To entrust | 'To put inside someone's inner self' |
| Lagay ng loob | Mood, one's state of mind or feeling | 'State of the inner self' |
| Lakas-loob | Courage | 'Inner force' |
| Tibay ng loob | Inner strength, resilience | 'Durability/strength of the inner self' |
| Tining ng loob | Clarity of thinking, feeling, volition | 'Calm of the inner self' |
| Kababaang loob | Humility | 'Lowness of the inner self' |
| Kabutihang-loob | Good naturedness | 'Inner goodness/kindness' |
| Kagandahang loob | Generosity, noblemindedness | 'Inner beauty' |
| May kusang-loob | One who does his work without prodding | 'With inner direction/volition' |
| Payapang loob | A calm person, to be at peace, to accept | 'Inner peace' |
| Mapagkaloob | A generous person | 'One who shares his inner self' |
| Mahina ang loob | A coward | 'Weak inner self' |
| Malakas ang loob | A daring person, can be positive (to be courageous) or negative (the phrase Ang lakas ng loob mo! is often synonymous with the English rebuke 'How dare you!') | 'Strong inner self' |
| Malamig ang loob | An indifferent person | 'Coldness of the inner self' |
| Pikit ang loob | One who is blind to injustice | 'Closed inner self', 'Shut from the inside' |
| Mabigat ang loob | The state of being sad, heavy-hearted | 'Heaviness of the inner self' |
| Maluwag sa loob | A state of being willing, cheerfully ready | 'Loose from the inside', 'Inner openness' |
| Wala sa loob | A state of being unwilling | 'Not to have it in oneself' |
| Tapat na kalooban | Sincerity, loyalty, trustworthiness | 'Truth of the inner self' |
| Masasamang-loob | Criminals | 'Those with bad inner beings' |
| Kapalagayang loob | Confidante, intimate | 'One you would entrust your inner self with' |
| Pampalubag-loob | Consolation | 'Salve for the inner self' |
| Kagaanang-loob | Grace, something to pacify intense emotion such as anger | 'Lightness/Lifting of the inner self' |
| Saloobin | One's inner thought or inner feelings, attitude | 'The entirety of the inner self' |
| Masama ang loob | To hold a grudge, to be angry with | 'Feel bad inside', 'Sickness of the inner self' |