A best-selling author, Jordan Peterson, said in his book that chaos and order are
interchangeable, as well as eternally juxtaposed. Wherever there is chaos, there is order. They are so
close to each other that sometimes it feels the same. Ibarra and Elias is a perfect representation of order
and chaos.

Ibarra has his life in order. He’s a young man with everything to be envied of. He came from a
rich family. He’s well-educated and intelligent. His love life is more than fine, Maria Clara loves him
dearly. He’s got it all. Elias, on the other side, found himself in chaos. One tragedy after another has led
him to be a fugitive. He once experienced a good life but was stripped off of everything. That makes
things more painful. To have nothing and to remain that way is better than to have everything and lose
it anyways.

Which of the two are you? Are you living in order or in chaos? Do you want to stay where you
are? What is that makes you want to stay or leave your place? Seeing how their experiences, context
and circumstances have led them into the person they’ve become, is it impossible to find order in
chaos? chaos in order?

Ibarra and Elias have the same goal but different course of action. They both wanted a better
system for the mass, for the Filipinos and the country they’ve come to love. Ibarra wanted to educate
the people, a peaceful way where order is found. Elias wanted revolution, he believes in the power
violence holds where chaos is found. Does this mean one is better over the other? Must we always
choose between the two and never consider meeting halfway? Is that impossible?

In life, as a “normal human being” - as a mother or father, a son or daughter, an employer or
employee and a lot of other roles that we need to be, we’re always after a goal and are offered different
ways to achieve it: chaos and order. The question here is who gets to decide what’s normal? Normal is
the standard. For us to know that we are doing great in life our goal and action must meet the standard.
The world is not good enough to overlook our shortcomings or supplements. The world wants the
standard, nothing more and nothing less, otherwise it rejects you.

If there is something that is common with Ibarra and Elias that would be they were both
rejected. Rejection is not something new for the human race. We are rejected over and over again. We
were rejected with the college we applied for, the course we wanted take, the job we were waiting for
so long and a lot of things. Rejection is always there, it just changes its form as we grow old. As time
passes by, we get to change our roles in life from being a son to a father, a daughter to a mother, a
student to a teacher, it varies in what we choose to be.

The characters in Noli Me Tangere proved how you can find order in chaos and chaos in order.
Rejection and Choice. Ibarra was rejected by the Church. Padre Salvi, the town’s curate, wants
Ibarra’s fall down. Elias was rejected by fortune and life itself. Nothing went his way. They could have
just accepted that and let life roll however it wants. It is easier that way, much easier. However, a life

lead without suffering and sacrifices does not produce a remarkable outcome. What you give is what
you get. Choose an easily life and you will experience less than half of what life has to offer. Choose a
hard and productive life and you will experience the best that this life has to offer. Equal trade. This is
something that Ibarra and Elias have just like us. That is the opportunity to choose. The only weapon
we’ve got to keep going despite rejection. When we say “Well, I didn’t have a choice.”, it’s just the same
as saying you chose not to choose which means in actuality, you did have a choice. The process of
choosing something over the other is actually easy but making a well-thought choice, that’s when things
get complicated. We owe ourselves this complication so we could arrive to the best possible outcome
there is.

Success and Failure. The definition of the “best life” varies with every person. The best for me
may not be the best for you and vice versa. We all came from different family, different experiences in
life, different health condition and different emotional state. To put it simply, no one has the same exact
life. Ibarra and Elias were a definitive proof of this. We plan our course of action so we would eventually
arrive at our “best life”. Unfortunately, success is not the only thing there is. Well in fact, Ibarra and Elias
failed to tract their enemy’s movement so they were pushed to escape hurriedly. We’re also often like
that. We’re caught off guard by unexpected turn of events in our lives. Most of the time, it causes us
panic and anxiety. That’s totally fine. We’re human and we have feelings. We’re sometimes vulnerable,
although, that’s not the end of the story. We’re human so we’re also capable of overcoming these
things. We can triumph over negativities. That makes victory sweeter. Failure is inevitable but that
makes more opportunities for us to win it over and to succeed.

Chaos in Order. Religion is generally something that we view as order. Religion is primarily good.
It sets standards. It lets us know what’s good that is to be done and what’s wrong is to be avoided.
Regrettably, the drive to be good sometimes leads us to hypocrisy. In Chapter 54, when the vesper bell
rung, the people were obligated to pray so they do it without minding the true motive of what they are
doing. Just so they could abide to the rule, the women move their lips so no one would doubt them and
be labelled as an “erehe”. The same rule that makes us do what is right is the same rule that drives us to
insincerity. The fear brought by the consequences and the heart that protects the faith are two very
different motivations for taking action. Chaos is in order. Hypocrisy is evident in religion. We’re
sometimes just too self-righteous to admit it.

The whole “chaos in order” thing might seem harmful for us and it truly is. On the contrary,
sometimes this keeps us from going the wrong way. Sometimes, when we’re so confused and do not
know where to go next anymore. This gives us the default. For example, course selection for college is a
very important phase in our lives. It directs where we might be in the future. Many will relate that when
you’re too undecided, you let your parents choose. Preparing for your future endeavours is order
despite the uncertainty which is chaos. When you think about it, choosing your parent’s choice is
actually a better choice than not having a choice at all. Complicated right? But at least, you end up with
the choice with better possible outcome.

Order in Chaos. After knowing that Ibarra was a descendant of the man who caused his family’s
misfortune, he was enraged and that is chaos. He wanted to harm Ibarra but as he was about to do it, he

snapped out of the anger and asked himself what he was about to do and fled. That’s order, the ability
to stop yourself from doing the wrong thing. Lucky for Ibarra that Elias is a rational being and is capable
of assessing himself even at such dangerous situation. The fact that Elias ran away after this happened
just means that he was ashamed of what he did. His reasoning wasn’t clouded of the anger. That’s a
very admirable trait. There was order in chaos.

Humans are a higher form of animals and animals are instinctive. When they’re hungry, they eat
whatever prey is around. They kill. Since we’re a higher being although also animals, there’s a part of us
that is driven by instinct. When we’re hurt, we want to do the same. However, we also have reason.
We’re capable of thinking. We must think of the consequences of what we want to do before actually
doing it. No one said that being human is easy but this is our obligation: to act as a human because we
are human.

The Ibarra and Elias within us are both in chaos and order. We must find the balance between
these two so we could be the best version of ourselves for our family, friends, country and last but not
the least ourselves too. Only you can take you to a better place. Only you can solve the mystery of what
is to be chosen. Embrace everything that you consider yourself as. As you go through this process, do
not be afraid to step further ahead even if it’s just one step at a time. You’ll eventually reach where
you’re meant to be. Go find it!