Now who would be the long ago ancient people who were part of the process of creating the baybayin writing system? They were probably those who were already recognized for their previous contributions to the community. And it is also probable, that they were those who were recognized as sages who lived their wisdom every day, and who had innate knowledge and understanding of many things(kaalaman galing sa loob). Remember now, that wisdom and practical intelligence of these times were not of a patriarchal, westernized bent or of a scientific approach. The wise people of an ancient society were those who were in touch with not only every day practical matters but also with nature, peoples’ psyches and the spiritual world.
It is possible that it is these types of people who brought about the baybayin symbols by choosing symbols for the concepts, objects and feelings that they evoked. Then again, it could have been anyone, including a very clever child, who helped bring about the baybayin. We will never know.
Whatever the case may be, the original symbols that the baybayin started out as probably did evolve in shape and rendering due to the individual who wrote it or the geographical area that it was learned in and being written in. Over time and through the years of colonization and westernization, it’s easy for the baybayin symbols’ original significance and any of their deeper meanings to be lost to the now westernized Filipino mind.
Like the process of interpreting dream symbolism through Jungian techniques and like the process of interpreting found images or symbolism in paintings or various art forms, we can, in fact, begin to do what others have already begun to do in these modern times, that is, interpret and reconnect with the baybayin symbols and discover their deeper meanings.
I invite you to post here at Baybayin Alive, about what and where you might think the various baybayin symbols came from, what their original meanings might have been, and how much of that meaning was retained to this day.