This anthology of essays by a multidisciplinal group of authors contributes to the discourse on human emotions and efforts to understand human emotions in a cultural and social setting. It reveals perceptions of the concepts, ginhawa 'well-being', kapalaran 'destiny', and dalamhati 'anguish' of Filipinos belonging to marginalized and often ignored ethnolinguistic groups and those whose perceptions are often blurred by westernized lifestyles and an education that has buried indigenous thought. It is a contribution to the knowledge of the Filipino based on the views of Filipinos themselves. An enriching interaction of viewpoints, it also includes cross-cultural perceptions of the themes from neighboring cultures outside the Philippines. Since the essays are the result of the authors' field research, they provide authentic data that could clarify theoretical discourse . Presented in the language they were written in, the essays are in Filipino or English with abstracts in the other language.

- From the back cover