Hawai'i
3/9/01
It's going to be very difficult to update from Hawaii. I do have a certain kind of connectivity, but the editing is very tedious. So I'll summarize in a few short entries--I'm sure stuff from this trip will be coming up for months.
On Sun, I taught an introduction to Huna with four other people who had been here with me. It was a wonderful experience for me, and for the five students as well. The material is powerful and beautiful, and I loved sharing it. The fact that two of the students were my son and daughter just made it better.
It was rather frantic getting on a plane by Tues. AM, however. I stayed at Diana's on Mon. night, since I had an early plane on Tues, so I had to come back and pack and do everything needed to put the house to sleep (from thermostat to filling the bird feeder and paying bills, stopping the newspaper,... well, you know). The plane flight was uneventful, even pleasant. I doubt if there is a lot of air rage on flights to Hawai'i.
The hotel we use is right on the ocean--it used to be the site of one of the Hawaiian king's summer house. There are several old sacred sites on the hotel grounds (the hotel was carefully sited to avoid these sites). The hotel that is next door was designed to avoid other sacred sites, but the builder decided that there weren't enough rooms with a view of the ocean, so he turned the hotel through 90 degrees when he built it, clobbering several ancient temples. The hotel has stood empty for over 10 years. Several attempts to make a go of it all failed within a year or two. Guests would show up at 3 am at the front desk saying "get me out of here". Lots of local tales--guests looking into their mirror and seeing grotesque creatures looking back at them, ghosts, etc. Being here, it's possible to believe these tales. The hotel, in any case, is very empty.
One of my purposes for coming early was to buy a Hawaiian drum, an ipu heke. If I get my digicam unpacked and working (and have some time!) I'll send some pictures. I talked to the drum's maker, and I've fallen in love. It's bigger than I expected--It will be a pain to get back and forth to Hawaii, but I love the sound and the feel of it--it feels almost alive to me. Pictures will come. Probably won't have the visual appeal of Viv's mice, though...
Classes started Thurs. A full day discussing East Indian Trantric meditation techniques, and how they relate to the Hawaiian meditation techniques. Followed by two hours of chanting in the evening. If you had told me that I would be willing to pay good money for a day like this, even two or three years ago, I would have laughed in your face. It was absolutely wonderful. Not only did I not once wonder "when will we stop chanting", but it was a shock when we did. I'm just beginning to understand the power of this kind of activity, so totally alien from my upbringing...
The Hawaiians believe that each of us it completely responsible for creating our universe. Yes, all the bad stuff too. If there is a more challenging idea out there, I don't know what it is. They would say that, at a deep level, nothing is chance, nothing "happens to you". If somebody else "makes you mad", you are the one who is making yourself mad. If your partner is unfaithful and leaves you, you made that happen, and it is expressing something unconscious in you.
Whew!
Not to mention your creating the Nazis and the Holocaust and various famines, earthquakes, etc. Double whew!
The thing about this point of view is that it is very empowering. It gets you out of the stance of a victim. Even if you can't adopt it about everything, to the extent that you do adopt it, you become empowered to change yourself (and, yes, your universe) an a way that seems like magic. Many of the people in my level of study are there because they have used these ideas to change their life.
Me too.
So, today is the opening of the entry-level class. Sixty people from all over the world. A wonderful opening ceremony with ancient hula and chants. And then things get really busy.
So I think of you often, and will update when I can...
Thank you for reading.
Copyright © 2001 Pete Stevens. All rights reserved.
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