Healing Shapes

Some years ago, while reading a short statement by Seth in the book Seth Speaks, which said, "I communicate with your dimension, for example, not by willing myself to your reality, but by imagining myself there," I felt a light go on in my mind. This initiated a whole string of ideas which culminated in the fact that I hadn't yet developed an instant healing technique based on simple imagery that anyone could apply without a lot of thought. Of course, I have developed a lot of imagery techniques that are extremely simple compared to many others, but not as simple - nor as effective - as I wanted one to be. This line of thinking led me to recall various attempts I had made to formulate a set of basic symbols without much success or persistence. I had done some work with petroglyphs, with energy effects of geometric symbols of varying complexity - the simplest being the circle - and I had experimented with Reiki and other symbols supposedly designed to produce healing or manifestation. However, I thought that most of these were difficult to remember or visualize and no more effective than simple affirmations.

Suddenly a simplified system came into my mind: the use of only four symbols, each with a fundamental meaning related to its shape, and each of which demonstrated strong energy effects. These were a Circle, a Triangle, a Square, and an X.

Their simplicity was indisputable, but what about their power? At first I wondered about that, but then I realized that I had been experimenting with these shapes through my energy research ever since the early seventies.

Early experiments with crystal balls led me to discover that a simple black circle on white paper could produce the same visionary effects. And the same drawing could evoke energetic effects in anyone who gazed at if for at least one minute. Furthermore, I found out that a hula hoop was highly effective as an energized meditation space. I gave some consideration to adding a spiral as a separate symbol, but in the end I decided that the spiral was only a variation of the circle. The overall effect of circular energy was to promote physical and mental harmony.

The triangle is related to pyramid energy, with which I have done very extensive research. In experimenting with simplification, I found that a pyramid framework worked just as well as a solid-walled pyramid. Then I found that the triangular frame of one side of the pyramid worked as well as the whole pyramid for most purposes. The general effect was to intensify or amplify energy.

The square is found all over the world as a symbol of stability and strength. In my energy research I found that the corners are areas of intensely active energy, but that as a whole this energy becomes stable, grounding, and strengthening.

The X or cross is an extremely ancient symbol used to represent the magical properties of a crossroads or threshhold in cultures all over the world. The symbol itself is represented by gods and goddesses like the Greco-Roman Hecate, Ganesha from India, and Papa Legba or Eshu from Africa. Crossroads are considered to be places of intense energy with two seemingly opposite characteristics: on the one hand they are openings to other worlds, and on the other they bar the way to those same worlds. It appears from researching the use of the shape culturally and experimenting with it energetically, that the cross form is an opening or meeting point, and the X form is for obstructing or blocking.

So far I've merely been reaffirming meanings and energy effects that are known in many places by many people. The extension of their use into the mental realm comes from another area of my research, the use of thoughtforms.

A thoughtform is a structured thought, held in the mind or projected outward into the environment for the purpose of influencing situations and conditions. In order to maximize the effect of the thoughtform, it can be associated with a keyword that helps to focus the intention.

After careful pondering I decided to experiment with four symbols, each accompanied by a single command word, thus:
Circle - Heal!
Triangle - Increase!
Square - Strengthen!
X - Stop!

The way I have used this is to think of something I want to influence, project a thoughtform of the symbol over it, and state the keyword. Repetition is part of the process.

Here are just a few of my experiences:
1. One morning I had tension in my chest and a feeling of mild depression. On the way to Talk Story I imagined a circle on my chest and said "Heal the tension!" Then I put a triangle inside the circle and said, "Increase my self-esteem!" I immediately began to feel relief from the tension and the feelings were gone by the time I reached our museum where talks were being given. On the way I had repeated the process several times. After the Talk Story I received a lot of compliments on the session and on my work, but that wasn't unusual, so I didn't think much about it. We then went to the Aloha Beach Resort for lunch and in the lobby Dickie Chang, a very well known video commentator at that time, stopped to introduce himself, praise my work, and tell everyone around that "This man is a treasure!" Later he stopped me at the buffet and did it again. This was most unusual. Also, during the meal the chef came and talked to our group for a long time, also unusual.

2. I experimented further with using the symbols for various aches and pains and tensions and feelings and got very rapid results.

3. It has also worked on many occasions for quick manifestations of intents and desires.
For some reason I put this whole project aside to work on other things a few years ago, but it has come back into my awareness and I would ask anyone who is interested to try this out and let me know how and if it works for them.

An Answer To A Tough Question

A number of people over the years have asked me why some things happen so easily for some people, while others have to put a lot of effort into programming for them. And why one person finds some things are brought about easily while he or she has to program hard for other things. The question has always reminded me of a magazine ad I once saw that featured two babies in diapers sitting on a blanket. The baby on the left was looking placidly at the camera while holding a silver spoon in its mouth. The baby on the right had what can only be described as an avaricious look on its face and it was reaching for the spoon. The message was that some people are born to wealth, while others have to do something to get it. That still leaves the question open, however, and it isn't limited to wealth. Some things are easier for some people and harder for others in all areas of life. Why?

There are many answers, depending on your philosophy and culture.

Predestination is one answer. In this philosophy everything is predetermined, either by God in some form or by impersonal Fate. The upside is that it's not your fault. The downside is that it leaves you helpless.

Another answer is "karma." The popular conception of this idea is that your experience in this life is determined by your behavior in a previous life. The upside is that if you were a good boy or girl you will have a good life this time around, and the downside is that if you were a bad boy or girl you will have to pay off your "karmic debt" by experiencing whatever bad things you did to other people. Two more downsides, of course, are that it leaves you just as helpless and it is your fault.

A third one is that it's all God's Will. By this theory, God has a Plan in which you are required to play a part, even though he doesn't tell you what it is. The upside is that everything is God's fault. The downside is that it doesn't matter what you do or don't do - God will always decide the outcome.

There are lots of other answers, naturally, including the fairly popular one that says all the good stuff that happens is due to God, and all the bad stuff that happens is the Devil's fault, but most of them are simply variations on the theme of human helplessness. So, we'll skip all the others and go straight to Huna philosophy.

In this philosophy, the answer to the question at the beginning of the article is that it has to do with what you believe about yourself and about life. Right now you are manifesting everything in your life quite automatically without any apparent effort. When you have no blocks about a particular thing, the slightest thought can bring it into your experience. People who seem unusually lucky in certain areas simply have no fears or doubts to get in the way in those areas. So they can decide on something related to those areas and have it happen with ease.

It is when you want to change a long-standing conditions in your life in a conscious way that you often have to apply so much time and energy in manifesting the change. This is because you must also change the beliefs that brought you to your present condition. When changes seem to occur on their own, it is because you haven't noticed a more gradual change in beliefs that has been taking place on a "subconscious" level.

You manifest your own reality. But it is the total "you" that does this, not the conscious mind alone. To put it accurately, your Higher Self creates your reality according to the beliefs you have established in your Ku (subconscious). And those beliefs are established by concentrated attention and repetition by your Lono (conscious mind).

To change your experience, you must change yourself.

The rule of life is that you get what you concentrate on. Just be sure you know exactly what it is that you are concentrating on. Many think they are concentrating on having health, wealth, love, success, or spirituality, when they are really concentrating on the lack of it.

Manifesting something very different in your life will depend on the strength of your motivation, the persistence of your concentration on what you want instead of what you don't want, and the degree of confidence you have that the Universe will help you get the best possible outcome according to these factors.

Feelings

One of the most perplexing problems that people have is how to deal with their feelings. Just experiencing some of them is hard enough, but people are further confused by various recommendations to "go ahead and feel them," "let them take you to their source," "analyze them," "go ahead and express them," and "change them." It's not surprising that some of these recommendations seem to contradict each others. Perhaps it will be helpful to consider dealing with feelings in terms of "types."

Type 1: You get a mildly unpleasant feeling that doesn't really interfere with your work or relationships. It could have a multitude of sources, from burnt toast for breakfast to someone else's emotional spillover. It isn't worth being concerned about. Turn your attention to something else and it will automatically transform itself.

Type 2: You get a more unpleasant feeling that does interfere with work and relationships and your own self-esteem. First step, find some way to express it without disrupting your work or relationships. If you can express it safely to someone else, fine; otherwise, do it when alone or in your imagination. Often this process alone will transform the feeling into something more positive. If not, take step two, which is paying attention to your thoughts and to your environment (including people) when the feeling comes on. In this way you can learn to pinpoint the source of the feeling and deal with that. It might involve changing ideas or opinions; using a mental or energetic technique; or changing your environment (even a cluttered desk can be depressing). If you can deal successfully with the source, the feeling will change automatically.

Type 3: You have a recurring or constant unpleasant feeling that interferes with your effectiveness. You have found the source as far as you can tell and have tried to deal with it, but this hasn't worked very well. In all likelihood, the feeling is linked to a habitual idea about yourself or about life, but just knowing that won't change it, and just saying you are changing it won't change it either. I won't kid you, the solution at this stage requires effort. It will mean consciously and with determination forcing yourself to behave differently and think differently in spite of how you feel. You don't force yourself to think of something unrelated at this stage (that may work with Type 1 or 2), because here that will only result in suppression. Instead, you force yourself to think and behave in a way that is the direct opposite of the feeling. Consciously and on purpose you generate the opposite feeling, too. You break the old habit by replacing it with a new one, and you maintain the effort until the job is done.

Here is a simple guideline for a difficult process. I call it the Triple Whammy FUDS-buster (FUDS = fear, unhappiness, doubt, stress):
1. Increase your energy (breathe deeply and slowly)
2. Bless the present (change negative words to positive words)
3. Trust yourself (change negative thoughts to positive thoughts)
4. Expect the best (change negative posture to positive posture)

It works, but only if you use it.

Fields Within Fields

Aka is a Hawaiian word that refers to the essence of matter, or what might be called the "Universal Matrix." It is related linguistically and conceptually to the Sanskrit akasia and can be thought of as the Hawaiian equivalent of the Akashic Records. It can also be compared in some ways to "astral matter" or "etheric matter."

Esoterically, aka serves two main functions. One is to take on form in response to thoughts. In other words, the idea is that thoughts give form to the aka. The weaker the thought, the less substantial the form; the more intense the thought (i.e., the more energy that accompanies it), the more substantial the form. It is for this reason that the Hawaiian word for physical matter--kino, which is usually the term for the human body--can be reduced to its roots and translated as "a highly energized thoughtform (ki=energy or force; ki'i=image; no with a macron over the o=an intensifier; no'o=thought)." The second function is to act as a perfect medium for the transmission of energy.

There are different ways in which this can be understood. One way is to use the concept of aka threads.The idea here is that whenever you think of a person, place, or object, you send out a line of force through the omnipresent aka, a portion of which forms itself into what can be called an aka thread. Through this thread you can then send or receive ideas and/or emotional-psychic energy, and information from any of the senses.

A further concept along this line is that whatever you come into contact with through any of the senses results in the automatic creation of a "sticky" aka thread that serves as a continuous link between you which is activated by thought and which makes future contact easier. The people, places, and objects with which you have the most contact produce a multitude of threads, which serves to explain why mental contact is easier with them. It also gives rise to the shamanistic symbolism of a spider web to illustrate these connections.

However, the above is a simplistic and pragmatic teaching which serves the needs of non-technological people. If you apply it as a hypothesis it will work as a practical way of thinking. But there is a more refined approach used by some present-day "Hunatics" in regard to the psychic links between persons, places, and objects. This approach teaches that within the universal aka field are an infinite number of individual aka fields. Furthermore is the idea that the aka field of every physical thing acts like a radio/television transceiver. It radiates or broadcasts its own unique frequency or energy pattern and receives and retains impressions from other patterns radiating toward it. When you pick up a rock, for instance, the aka field of the rock retains an impression of your energy pattern and your aka field retains an impression of the rock's pattern.

Thereafter, no matter where you are, when you think of that rock it is like tuning in to a unique radio/tv signal and establishing a resonant link with it. If you concentrate your thoughts on that rock, it is then like beaming a specific signal of your own, or "sending out an aka thread."

The more energy associated with such contacts, the stronger the impressions received or the signals beamed. The strength of the impression depends on: (1) the nature of the contact (physical touch leaves a more energetic impression than mere proximity); (2) the frequency of contact (a high number of contacts leaves a stronger impression); and (3) the amount of emotional energy present during the contact (handling the rock while in a highly emotional state would result in a stronger impression).

Thus, in picking up objects handled by others, the first and most powerful impressions received would be those which had been impressed with the most energy. Similar principles apply in beaming thoughts outward. Continuing along these lines, we have the idea of aka experiential memory fields. This would mean that the experiential memories of individual people and things form fields that continue to exist even after the physical forms are gone. It would also mean that similar fields could resonate with each other and form what might be called group fields. This could be used to explain things like electronic technology products were difficult to understand and absorb by adults when they were first made available to the general public, but today seem to be second nature to children as young as three.

Of course there is a strong resemblance to the theories of Rupert Sheldrake in all of this, and that makes it more intriguing. More important, though, is the fact that this admittedly hypothetical system can be put to practical use for teaching and learning just by assuming it's true and finding ways to access these fields through such practices as meditation, self-hypnosis and creative imagination.

A Different Point of View

As we know from the first principle of Huna, there are many different ways to think of anything. In this brief article I am going to explore a different way to think of how we experience life.

According to this point of view, we have direct experience of this world in two ways: through physical senses and emotional feelings.

We probably don't even think twice about the fact that we make contact with the world through our physical senses, because that seems so self evident. With our eyes we see light in the form of color, shade, intensity, contrast, shape, size, and texture; vertical and horizontal distance; movement and patterns. With our ears we hear sound in the form of tone, intensity, harmonics, loudness, dissonance; and blends of frequencies that enable us to recognize individual people, objects, and sound sources. We experience touch in the form of pressure, texture, heat, cold, movement, and more. Taste and smell have their own ranges of physical perception as well. What I am proposing here is that we make a parallel contact with the world through our emotional senses. 

When you experience anything you have both a physical perception and an emotional one.

Some philosophies have used the concept of an "emotional body" to get this idea across, and the idea that we sense emotionally through our aura or energy field is intriguing, but we can instead simply say that you have two sets of senses, or two main ways of perceiving the universe.

In addition to the physical perception of sight, there is an emotional perception of sight that occurs at the same time. It's important to understand that I am not talking about an emotional reaction to what you see, but to an emotional perception that is related to the act of seeing. I'll bring up the subject of reactions a little further on.

To help you understand what I mean, think of it this way: physical seeing produces an image; emotional seeing produces a feeling. To use an example, when you look at a sunset, your physical perceptions include the ones I mentioned in the third paragraph above. At the same time you may have emotional perceptions of beauty, expansion, happiness and the pleasure that comes from a release of tension. So, looking at something produces both an image and feeling feelings about that image. The same would be true for our other senses. Each one would produce a physical perception as well as an emotional perception. And perceptions relate to awareness, not to reactions.

Reactions are separate experiences that occur as a consequence of perception. Of course, when reactions become habitual it is very difficult to make that distinction. However, perception is a characteristic of our senses. Reactions are learned, consciously or unconsciously.

It is possible to simplify our understanding of the physical and emotional reactions themselves by recognizing two categories of reaction for each set. All of the physical reactions can be described as varying degrees of pleasure or pain. All of the emotional reactions can be described as varying degrees of insecurity or confidence.

Recognizing that all your emotional reactions fall into one of these categories can be helpful in dealing with them. Fear, anger, hate, jealousy, anxiety are all expressions of insecurity with their own parallel to physical pain. The body tension that accompanies them is a well-intentioned but poor attempt to regain security. Happiness, joy, true pride, and the sense of accomplishment are all expressions of confidence, which is akin to physical pleasure. The names that are given to emotions based on insecurity or confidence merely reflect the thoughts in our mind at the time.

It is curious that in English we use the verbs "to sense" and "to feel" both physically and emotionally. French is more clear, with sentir used more for physical sensing and both se sentir  and ressentir used for emotional sensing. Hawaiian equivalents are too complicated to go into here.

Staying with English, like many animals we can sense danger, fear, friendliness, confidence, and that mysteriously compelling awareness of what we call charisma.

The main thing to note, to contemplate, and perhaps even do something about, is that, just as we can train our physical senses, so can we train our emotional senses. Further, just as we can develop our physical skills , there is the possibility of developing our emotional skills, as well.

The Hula Experience

As an avid observer of life, I find it very interesting to watch people watching hula. Typically, the locals are completely focused on every part of every performance, and the eyes of the malihinis, the visitors, glaze over after three or four dances.

In researching the whys and wherefores (by asking a lot of questions) I have finally concluded that the real problem is one of understanding. Most visitors, and a surprisingly large number of residents, simply don't understand what the hula is all about. So, this article is designed to inform all those who wonder what the fuss is about... what the fuss is about.

First, the word, hula, means "dance" (sorry, guys, it doesn't mean "shake those hips"). Since it's a Hawaiian word, it refers to Hawaiian style dancing, which is usually divided into three types: kahiko, which refers to a more traditional style of dancing with traditional costuming; 'auana, which is a flowing style generally using modern Hawaiian costuming; and hapa haole style, also affectionately called "hotel hula," which may feature coconut bras and blue-spangled faux grass skirts made of plastic.

Let's continue with just a little bit of legend. This is a very simplistic overview to show that not all Hawaiians agree on how the hula started.

On Molokai the story is that hula came to these islands a very long time ago from Tahiti, brought by a man named Laka, assumed to be related to the male god/hero Rata in the South Pacific.

On Kauai the story is that hula came to these islands a very long time ago from Tahiti, but one version says it was a woman named Laka who brought it, and another version says it was brought by a set of twins, male and female, both named Laka.

On the Big Island, the most popular story says that hula was invented right here by a human woman named Hopoe, who taught it to her goddess friend, Hi'iaka, who taught it to her elder sister, Pele. I like this one in particular, because it is a rare legend of a human teaching something to the gods.

Hula as a dance consists of a relatively small number of steps, each with its own name. The dancer also uses a kind of sign language to illustrate the meaning or purpose of the dance. Kahiko hula is typically accompanied by chanting and traditional instruments, like skin and gourd drums, bamboo rattles, and sometimes castanets made of stones. 

'Auana hula is usually accompanied by singing and a band playing guitars and ukuleles. The locals who focus so intently are probably doing so for one of two reasons - or maybe both. First is the skill of the dancers, chanters or singers, and the musicians. The dancers especially are subject to intense scrutiny for the way they place their feet, how they move their bodies, the positioning of their hands, and the direction followed by their eyes. The second reason is the content, and how well it is expressed. 

The content of kahiko dancing is mostly concerned with legends, ancient gods and goddesses, chiefs, and royalty. That of 'auana can be virtually anything, from romance, to gossip, to praise of people and places, to simply telling about a great party, picnic, or adventure someone had. For those who understand Hawaiian, hula is a special treat, because the chanting or singing will most likely include word-play, innuendo, and hidden meanings. 

At competitive events like the Merrie Monarch Festival, the dancing follows a strict pattern, for the benefit of the judges. First, there is the entrance, called kaʻi, which is usually chanted by the dancers; next is the dance itself, and finally there is the exit off stage, called hoʻi, which is a kind of procession accompanied by chanting or singing. If you have an opportunity to see the Merrie Monarch Festival, in person, on television, or on a DVD, don't miss it. There is nothing else like it in the entire world.

The Chemistry of Love

I was almost going to call this article "Mechanistic Scientists Strike Again!" However, "The Chemistry of Love" sounds so much better.

Mechanistic science began during the Renaissance in Europe, partly due to an increased interest in actual experiments rather than philosophical and theological discussion, and partly as a reaction against religious restrictions and blind superstition. Out of that came the idea that everything is separate, and that in order to understand the whole of something you have to understand the parts. Another way this is often expressed is that the whole is the sum of its parts.

These ideas led to a further idea that Nature operates like a vast machine, and to an even further idea that, in order to get truly accurate results from an experiment, objectivity was paramount. That is, the observer must distance himself from the experiment, suppressing all feelings and opinions, because they would interfere with the experiment. Eventually, as this form of science became more mechanistic, all emotions, sensations, and non-objective thoughts were considered subjective, and therefore suspect, and were rigorously excluded from experimental consideration. And that brings us to the event that initiated this article.

On February 12, 2009, the Hawaii Tribune-Herald ran an article written by Seth Borenstein titled "Understanding the Science of Romance." Subheadings included "Scientists study brains to unlock the secret of love," and "Brain's regions reveal romance."

Here is a quote from the beginning of the article: "Like any young woman in love, Bianca Aceveda has exchanged valentine hearts with her fiancé. But the New York neuroscientist knows better. The source of love is in the head, not the heart." A few sentences later the statement is made that "love mostly can be understood through brain images, hormones, and genetics."

And what was the source of this conclusion? It appears that when people who claimed to be in love (a subjective decision if there ever was one) were shown photographs of their loved ones, a tiny area in the center of the brain, the ventral tegmental area (VTA) shows activity. This is an area that produces dopamine, a precursor to adrenaline. It also appears that brain scans of people who claim to be broken-hearted show additional activity in the nucleus accumbens, associated with hormones that are associated with addiction. Long-time lovers, instead, show activity in the ventral palladium, an area that produces hormones related to stress reduction, and the raphe nucleus, associated with calming hormones.

People with certain kinds of feelings show activity in certain areas of the brain. That's not surprising, since mind, body, and emotions always interact. The mechanistic interpretation, though, is that the neurotransmitter chemicals and hormones cause the thoughts, feelings, and sensations of love and romance.

One researcher says, "Love works chemically in the brain like a drug addiction." Another one says, "The brokenhearted show more evidence of what I'll call craving. Similar to craving the drug cocaine." The conclusion, derived from these subjective interpretations, is that soon we'll have pills to bring on whatever feelings of love we want to create, or to heal whatever experiences of love are unpleasant.

Here's a subjective opinion of my own. The more we try to ignore the subjective side of love, the less we will ever understand it. That's like trying to understand life by analyzing the chemistry of what is called "living matter," when a definition of that is also subjective.

In fairness, one of the scientists mentioned in the article retains some open-mindedness. He says that, although love might theoretically be stimulated by chemicals, it's better to engage in the behavior that stimulates the chemicals, like hugging, kissing, and intimate contact. And at the end of the article he states, "My wife tells me that flowers work as well. As a scientist it's hard to see how it stimulates the circuits, but I do know they seem to have some effect. And the absence of them seems to have an effect, as well."

Our Destiny

"Destiny" is a word greatly misunderstood and misused. Even good dictionaries describe it as something that is going to happen which you cannot do anything about. However, "destiny" and "destination" both come from the same Latin word meaning "the intending of something for a particular purpose." In other words, destiny is based on intention. When the missionaries tried to translate this word into Hawaiian, the only equivalents they could find were hope (meaning "purpose") and hopena (meaning "consequence").

All destiny, even that of species and whole worlds, is fan-shaped. That is, the future at any instant is a series of probabilities or possibilities of which only certain ones will be physically expressed. One broad probable trend is pointing now to an adventure of epic proportions. Sometime in the not-too-distant future humankind is going to have the capability of leaving this planet for other worlds within and beyond this solar system. Many billions of dollars are being spent right now to ensure that this will happen.

Everyone will not want to go, of course. Some out of fear, some because of limiting beliefs, and others simply because this is still a big and beautiful planet and much good remains to be accomplished here. But many will take up the challenge, much as did emigrating pioneers of past centuries. We are going to have the opportunity of going back to the stars.

Yes, I said back. A great many cultures around the world have legends--or histories--indicating that human beings originated from one or more places beyond this planet, or intermarried with extraterrestrial visitors. Every day archeologists are pushing back the period of our sojourn on earth to the point where it is clear that, as a race, we are far, far older than anyone would have believed possible. It is indeed a feasible theory that we have been to the stars and back many times. And coming up is another such move, at least for some of us--those who choose to go.

There are groups today who believe and claim that gigantic spaceships will land in the near future to carry off the "elect," or those who belong to that particular group and have paid up their dues. These hopefuls are in for a disappointment. We will explore and populate the stars, to be sure, but by our own efforts. No "elder brother" spaceman is going to do it for us.

Many are also waiting for superior beings to land in great spacecraft and take over the administration of the earth for us poor insignificant mortals. Well, I say to you that we are not insignificant and that God's design for us is to stand on our own two feet and work out our problems for ourselves. It is possible that spaceships may land from some other planet (I speak here of public landings), and that they may carry technologically superior beings. But to expect them to take away all of our responsibilities is immature escapism of the worst sort. There is no such thing as a being superior to you, except in gross and temporary physical terms. There is no being closer to God than you, if you would realize it. Any distance is of our own making. No, even though we may subject ourselves to one another from time to time through our own folly or for our own experience, it is not part of the natural order for us to be subject to anyone but our God within.

Now is the time for planning the kinds of societies we will establish on new worlds, and for preparing ourselves and our children for the venture. Our preparation must include physical, psychical, and spiritual refinement. Physical, so that our bodies can withstand whatever stresses we may encounter; psychical, because all our psychic abilities such as telepathy, clairvoyance, healing, etc., will be called into play to assure success; and spiritual, in order to avoid as much as possible the sad results of human greed and exploitation. This adventure belongs to all of us living now, whether or not we shall all be around to witness the actual event. Our own development and experience at this point will aid all the others.

In closing, I ask you to pick some clear night and look deeply at the stars. Open your heart and see if you do not feel a sense, however slight, of longing. And think on the fact that the Hawaiian phrase, holo i Kahiki can mean either "sail to Tahiti" or "travel to outer space."

On The World As A Dangerous Place

(from a letter to a worried friend)

Let me share this with you before addressing your concerns. I am living on an active volcano. Molten lava is flowing about twenty miles away from my home and there is a crater emitting poisonous gas from a hole where the glow of molten lava can be seen only two miles away. A change of wind could force us to evacuate at any moment, and the lava could erupt anywhere at any time. All of our water must come from rain, which is also dependent on the wind, and it hasn't rained very much for two weeks. Earthquakes happen every day, usually small, but big ones like we had two years ago can happen at any time. Hurricanes pass close to us every year and sometimes land to cause great destruction, like one did in 1982 and another in 1992. Tsunamis also happen once in a while when there are big earthquakes in Japan, Alaska, or California.

Some people here live in constant fear of what might happen, and some people live here happily, knowing what could happen, but not dwelling on that possibility every day.

Another short story: Years ago a friend of mind became obsessed with the possibility of a giant tidal wave hitting the California coast, and he would lecture about it and frighten people out of their wits. Then one day while he was describing to an audience in detail the horror of watching a two-mile high wave coming toward you, I stood up and said, "Right, and while you are watching it you get hit by a car and die before the wave hits." Fortunately our friendship survived my comment, but I had to make the point that the future is unpredictable.

You live in a dangerous place in unique circumstances, but the fact is that every place on earth is potentially dangerous and pain or death can happen in a million different ways at any time and anywhere. And so can pleasure and the joy of living and loving.

Reading the news about problems will not protect you from them, because by the time it's news it's over. Imagining the worst will not protect you from the worst, it will only make you feel worse. Your imagination is your greatest asset, but it can also be your downfall unless you use it properly. You can imagine all the bad things that could happen, or you can imagine all the good things that could happen. That is a choice. You do not have to be a victim of your fears if you will use your imagination to change those fears. After all, the future is just a fantasy. You can't predict it and you can't protect yourself against it. What you can do is to coax it into being a better one with your imagination while you enjoy whatever good the present has to offer.

The Myth of Supply and Demand

The subject of this article may seem to be outside of my usual range of topics, but it actually falls within the context of the sixth principle of Huna: "All power comes from within."

Over and over so-called experts attribute the high price of oil, gasoline and many other products and services to "the law of supply and demand." This mythical "law" is often stated in this way: "when supply is low and demand is high, prices rise; and when supply is high and demand is low, prices go down."

The first part of the myth is the claim that there really is such a law and that it's as basic as the law of gravity. The fact is that there is no such thing as a "law" of supply and demand. It's not even a hypothesis or a theory. It is no more than someone's opinion and some people love to use it as a simple excuse for rising prices because it provides an unprovable explanation and makes it sound like it's due to forces beyond our control.

The second part of the myth is the implication that prices rise and prices go down all by themselves, as if a ten cent increase in the price of gasoline overnight was due to gremlins or mysterious "market forces" and everyone woke up and saw the new price with great surprise, including customers, dealers, and producers.

Let's blow that myth out of the water right now. Prices rise because someone--some person or group of persons--raise the price. To make it even more clear, an individual human being--or group of human beings in agreement--decide to charge more for a particular product or service. Or to charge less; that happens, too. And that's all there is to it, folks. No mystery whatsoever. People raise and lower prices.

The important thing to look at is "why do they do it?" When we examine that, we discover that the "law" of supply and demand is even more of a myth.

Prices may be raised by people for several reasons:
a) To cover increased costs of producing a product or service. This may happen because demand for the product or service has grown so strong that the producer has to invest in more goods or services in order to produce enough of his or her own product or service to supply the demand. Examples would be someone increasing the price of gasoline because unions have increased wage levels or because the people in charge of the governments of oil-producing countries have raised the price of their oil. This comes close to the supply and demand model, but the amount of price increase is still decided by people (it is almost never exactly the same as the increased costs for lots of reasons).

b) To cover costs of projected investment in research and development of products and services that don't exist yet, and for which there is naturally no supply and demand. This reason is often used by oil companies and drug companies, among others.

c) To make more profit than is currently being made. This is often described as "charging whatever the market will bear," meaning whatever people are willing to pay. For this to work there has to be sufficient demand for something, but it doesn't matter whether there is a lot of supply or not. Some years ago an oil-company executive was publicly quoted as saying, "We are going to get the American people to pay $4.00 a gallon or more for gasoline." 

This is also seen in products and services that have established a popular brand name that people are willing to pay more for, even though comparable products may be a lot cheaper. Gucci jeans are no better than (and maybe not as good as) Levis. Apple computers are more expensive than PCs because they are Apple computers, not because they are more expensive to make or because there aren't enough of them to go around. Airlines typically raise prices around holidays, not because their costs have gone up, but because enough people want to travel who are willing to pay more.

On the other hand, some people who work for oil-producing governments or diamond companies may decide to arbitrarily restrict the availability of their products even when the supply is abundant, so they can create a false impression of limited supply and fool other people into thinking that the Law of Supply and Demand is working.

d) To hedge their bets in a time of economic and/or political uncertainty. When some people begin to lose confidence in the future, they have a tendency to raise the price of their goods and services "just in case" in order to make as much as possible before everything falls apart. When more and more people start doing this it's usually called "inflation." Again, this has nothing to do with supply and demand.

Prices may also be lowered by people for several reasons:
a) Because the cost of producing good or services has been reduced. Sometimes this happens when sufficient demand inspires and stimulates a search for more efficiency and is not necessarily related to supply.

b) Because the producer wants to expand his or her market. One way to increase demand is by making the product or service more affordable to more people, and it may be done in conjunction with "a)" above. Examples are the early automobile industry and the electronics industry. My first car, a 1937 Chevrolet (used, of course) cost me $40.00. The first laser printer I bought for Aloha International cost $5000.00, and the latest one was about $500.00. Again, This has little to do with supply.

c) Because supply is greater than demand. Producers of goods with too much inventory may lower prices just to get rid of it. Usually this happens when the cost of maintaining the inventory begins to be more than the value of the goods. In terms of services, providers may lower their prices when there is too much competition. On the other hand, in the same market some people will create a brand name and raise their prices in spite of the supply on hand.

d) Because the producer wants to attract customers for other products or services. This is sometimes called selling a "loss leader." The price is purposely lowered on a particular product or service, perhaps at a loss for the producer, for the explicit purpose of creating an opportunity to display more expensive products or services. Special sales or bonus services of all kinds are used in this way, regardless of supply and demand.

e) Because not enough people are willing to pay the price that is being asked, no matter what the supply and demand are. Another economic myth that used to be popular was "Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door." Sounds good at first, but the hard fact is that it all depends on what you are charging for it. The intrinsic value of goods or services, the perceived value by the producer, the perceived value by the potential customer, and the psychological value of the most the customer is willing to pay may all be very different. If you think your product or service should be worth $1000, even though the cost of producing plus a reasonable percentage of profit makes it worth $200, and your potential customer agrees that it might be worth $500, but isn't willing to spend more than $300 for that type of product or service, you might have to lower your price to make any sales, no matter how many people like the product or how much of it you have.

The long and short of it is this: people raise prices, and people lower prices. And supply or demand may or may not be factors in making their decisions. Prices do not raise or lower themselves.

A Destressing Plan

The following is from a response I gave to someone who needed guidance, and I hope many others will be able to use it as well.

"I would sympathize with your plight, but my sympathy isn't going to help you. Below is a simple plan that will get you out of the mess you're in and lead you to a brighter future. It worked for me, and it has worked for thousands of others. However, although it is simple, you may find it extremely difficult. The stronger your motivation to change your life, though, the easier it will be. And note that this plan has one big flaw: it only works if you use it.

Part One - Reduce physical stress.
The Plan: Breathe like a dolphin. Dolphins do not breathe automatically, every breath has to be conscious. The best way to breathe consciously is to put your full attention on something you are holding in your hands as you breathe. Start with one minute out of every hour and work up to five, until doing it frequently is a habit. You may be amazed at how much physical stress this relieves.

Part Two - Reduce emotional stress.
The Plan: Take responsibility for your stress. No one else causes you stress. They never have and they never will. What happens is that someone does something you don't like and you react by stressing with some variation of fear or anger, which affects your body and your mind. Which makes you less healthy and less effective. As long as you blame others for your stress you put yourself in an endless trap. Start by taking responsibility for your reactions, then do something to change those reactions. If Dynamind seems like too much, use TFR - think about what upsets you, feel the reaction, then relax the area of your body where you feel the reaction. Begin with small things and work up slowly to the big ones.

Part Three - Reduce mental stress.
The Plan: Change your expectations. Most people create expectations by remembering negative events from the past and projecting them into the future, which produces confusion, discouragement, and despair. The fact is, the future is wide open and absolutely no one can predict it with certainty. Nevertheless, another fact is that if you expect the worst, you will subconsciously help to bring it about, and if you expect the best you will subconsciously help to bring that about. The problem is not that negative expectations appear; the problem occurs when you dwell on them and treat them as truth, when all they are is fantasy. The best solution is to rigorously change every negative expectation to a positive one as soon as it appears. The positive expectation is also a fantasy - a product of your imagination - but it helps you feel better and helps you prepare for success.

So that's it. Very difficult, I know, but I emphasize again that it works. If you find a better plan, then use that, but if you don't do anything, nothing good will happen."

On Prayer

First of all, you should realize all that prayer is telepathic. In other words, prayer is a concentration of thought which puts your mind in contact with the object of your prayer. It is not the same as meditation. The main difference between prayer and meditation is that prayer is specifically seeking an effect, while the goal of meditation may be pure understanding or the joy of contact. Also, meditation may be undirected, while prayer never is.

In prayer we are trying to do something or to get something done, either for ourselves or for someone else. We pray to get an effect, mentally, spiritually, emotionally, or physically. Since an effect is involved, energy has to be involved, and all prayer involves the transmission of energy, either toward or away from the one who prays.

Most commonly, prayer is directed toward a spiritual being, however the individual conceives that being. This is natural and proper, but unfortunately many people get discouraged because their prayers are apparently not answered. Certainly this may be partly because they have complexes or beliefs which prevent them from making contact, but the major reason is that they are not praying for the right thing.

I am not suggesting that they were praying for things they didn't need or for something that was contrary to the will of a spiritual being. The problem was that they were praying for that being to do something which it is not in its nature to do.

In the prayer form known as the Lord's Prayer that is found in the Christian Bible, Jesus states that we should ask for energy ("our daily bread"), cleansing (forgiveness), and guidance. A little further on in the chapter of Luke (11), Jesus makes the famous statement about, "Ask, and it shall be given unto you...." This has been taken to mean that you can ask God for anything you like and you will get it, although in practice it obviously doesn't work out that way. The reason is revealed only a few lines further. What is to be given is the Holy Spirit. In other words, energy, ideas, and inspiration. We find this same idea in the Old Testament, in Sufi, Hindu, and Chinese writings, as well as in Hawaiian - namely that what we receive from above is the wisdom and the power to act. But it is we who must do the acting.

This brings us to the point of fact that there are essentially two types of prayer: vertical and horizontal. By vertical prayer, I mean that which is directed toward God or the Higher Self or toward someone in spirit. From this type of prayer we can only get inspiration, knowledge, understanding, and energy. Note carefully that the guidance we may get is in the form of ideas and inspiration. We do not actually get the kind of guidance that tells us exactly what to do and how to do it. That kind of guidance implies the making of choices, and that is our sole prerogative.

Horizontal prayer is that directed toward our everyday life, either to heal or help ourselves or others, or to change the future. This type of prayer is accomplished by us, and its effectiveness is determined by our beliefs and by the amount of energy we put into it. We each create our own experience of reality, the circumstances we find ourselves in, and through prayer properly understood we can change those circumstances. But it is the individual who changes the circumstances, not God and not any other spiritual being. From them we only get the tools; they will not do the work for us.

What About Me?

"What about me?" is a common cry among people who feel that they have given too much of themselves to others and have neglected their own happiness or development. Sadly enough, this cry, however heartfelt it may be, is based upon some serious misconceptions about the relationship between Self and Other.

Let's begin with the fact that a large number of people in many different cultures have been brought up to believe that the welfare of other people is far more important than their own. The usual result of this is that such people spend a large portion of their lives - and some spend all of it - suppressing their own emotional needs and desires while trying their best to ensure that the needs and desires of others are fully satisfied. The inevitable result of this is a great deal of psychological, emotional, and even physical pain.

One reason for this is that suppressing one's fundamental emotional needs and desires always leads to psychological, emotional, and physical disharmony of some kind or another, depending on the degree of suppression. This is because emotions are forms of energetic movement whose nature is to be expressed in thoughts, feelings, and actions. Suppressing this movement causes tension, and unrelieved tension causes disharmony. The fundamental emotional needs and desires - to feel connected and to feel effective - are energetically creative when they have an outlet, and energetically destructive when they do not.

A second reason for the pain is that one can never fully satisfy the needs and desires of others, no matter how hard one tries, because needs and desires are subjective, not objective. This means that no matter how much you do for other people, or how well you do it, they always have the option to decide that what you've done is not enough. This increases your feelings of disconnection and ineffectiveness and increases the pain or discomfort of your own suppression.

A third reason is simply that the whole concept of putting the welfare of others above one's own is based on an assumption that there has to be a choice between you and them, between total selfishness and total selflessness. I wonder who made up that stupid rule. I say "stupid" because either way the result is disharmony.

Total selfishness leads to feelings of isolation and despair, and total selflessness leads to feelings of isolation and despair. It's a lose-lose proposition. Even when the choices are less than total, for some people these pathways have a tendency to produce increasing cold-heartedness and inhumane behavior on one end, and increasing resentment and violent behavior on the other.

Remove that one assumption and it's amazing how things can change. It's entirely possible to take care of yourself and take care of others if you want to. You can be happy and share happiness, be rich and share the wealth, empower yourself and empower others. Amazingly, you can even discover - if you remove the above assumption - that sharing happiness increases yours, sharing wealth increases yours, and empowering others empowers you.

There is another side to the problem, however, and that is when the need for connection and effectiveness so great that one is always looking for signs that others don't care enough. It could be a friend who doesn't write or call often enough or when you want them to; people who don't appreciate what you do for them in the way you want to be appreciated; strangers who don't pay attention to you when you want to be noticed; and many other forms of behavior that seem to demonstrate that other people don't care enough about you no matter what you do. Some people with this problem get depressed, and some get angry enough to make themselves sick.

The real problem here is that a person with this kind of need doesn't care enough about himself or herself. This lack of self appreciation can become so great the responsibility for appreciation is thrust onto others, usually with strict rules about how they should behave so that the lack of appreciation can be monitored and quantified, thus justifying the rules. Besides the physical, emotional, and mental stress this can cause, the demand that other people behave correctly has the effect of making them want to avoid you, rather than get closer. Trying to solve the "What about me?" crisis by this method is like trying to attract flies with vinegar instead of honey. The solution, when you are ready to take responsibility for your own experience of course, is to start practicing unconditional love for yourself as far as you are able. That means starting with 10% if you can and increasing from there, with no need to ever reach a hundred. And reducing your rules for others by 10% as well.

There are still choices to make, of course. You'll have to decide when and where and how you will express your own needs and desires, and you may have to decide when and where and how to help others fulfill theirs. Finding a harmonious flow between taking responsibility for your needs and desires while NOT taking responsibility for the needs and desires of others and still being willing to help them, may prove to be a challenge. But a challenge is not a duty, being good to yourself does not require guilt, and doing good for others without expectations on either side can become a source of joy.

The Age Of Electronic Shamanism

A very subtle, quiet, and pervasive revolution of sorts is in progress all over the world right now. It's happening in homes, schools, and offices with the help of computers, game systems, and electronic devices of many kinds.

What is quite remarkable about this revolution is that most of the people involved in it aren't even aware of it. They are conscious participants without being conscious of participating.

Let me increase your awareness of this revolution by relating it to some of the practices of shamanism, a general term for using the powers of the mind and the forces of nature to increase knowledge and influence material reality. Some of the things I'll discuss are practiced by people who would not think of what they do as shamanic, but using shamanism as a basis makes the discussion more simple and clear.

Let's begin with telepathy, usually defined as mind-to-mind communication with someone or something in the absence of physical contact. Modern scientists love to debate its existence, but virtually any group of three or more people willing to talk about it will have personal experiences with telepathy to share, whether with another person, an animal, or something else. In addition, every culture in the world has stories of telepathic experience as part of its lore. Scientists tend to deride these accounts as being "anecdotal,' meaning based on personal experience rather than research, but personal experience of telepathy is as real as personal experience of love, and research does not make it more real.

So, let's take a closer look at telepathy, the experience of knowing the thoughts and/or feelings of someone or something at a distance without a physical connection. In many shamanic and other cultures this is accomplished on purpose with the help of physical tools, like crystals, pendulums, and patterns formed by symbols of various sorts, such as Tarot Cards, I Ching coins, or the knuckle bones of sheep. In modern times the same thing is being accomplished with the help of radio, television, computers, and cell phones.

I can hear some people crying, "Wait! That's not the same thing. Those things are physical!" And I reply, "Crystals, pendulums, and symbolic patterns are physical, too." And these people cry out again, "But radio and television waves, electromagnetic fields, and microwaves are also physical, and they can be measured." And I reply, "It's time you learned that those waves and fields you just mentioned are no more physical than what we might as well call 'telepathic' waves and fields."

The fact is that radio and television waves, electromagnetic fields, and microwaves cannot be measured directly. The only measurements that can be made in relation to them are measures of the physical effects they produce on devices designed to respond to them. The waves and fields themselves are as non-physical as anything can be. Furthermore, let's examine what actually happens when you listen to a radio program, for instance. Someone speaks into a microphone. Something in the mike vibrates in response to the sound wave pattern, and this vibration generates a non-physical electrical signal that somehow retains duplicates of the original voice patterns. More physical equipment processes this signal and converts it into non-physical radio waves of a certain measured frequency that also somehow retains duplicates of the original voice patterns. These waves are broadcast from the station in, apparently, a 360-degree, three-dimensional ripple. The antenna of your radio, attuned to that particular frequency, converts the radio wave to an electrical signal that eventually stimulates the vibration of a membrane of some type that generates sound waves carrying duplicates of the original voice patterns to your ears. Amazing, isn't it?

Now, the brain can be considered as an organic device designed to respond to telepathic waves and fields, which would include the conscious awareness of thoughts and emotions from others without the use of eyes or ears or mouths or gestures. And just as a radio cannot pick up a station it isn't tuned to, so a brain does not pick up thoughts and feelings it isn't tuned to, either. A thought or a feeling is broadcast out in all directions from someone or something, maybe using a brain and maybe not. 

Assuming your brain is tuned to that particular telepathic frequency, something in you picks up the signal and converts it into electrical impulses retaining some degree of duplication of the original source pattern and these go to various parts of your brain, depending on the content of the pattern, where, again depending on the content, you end up with some kind of sensory, emotional, or kinesthetic awareness accompanied by measurable chemical and physical changes in your body. Because most people are not used to tuning their brains to telepathic input, there can be a lot of distortion in the final interpretation of the signal. That's why physical devices like crystals, pendulums, and symbolic patterns can be useful in keeping the reception closer to the original pattern, by converting the input into visual and kinesthetic output. I think we still have a long way to go in developing more accurate devices for receiving telepathy, but then early radios weren't so great, either.

This is all leading up to my contention that the electronic devices that we now use to transmit thoughts and feelings are not, as some think, leading us away from the development of our natural telepathic abilities, but are instead serving to subtly train us in those abilities, especially as they become smaller and more efficient and more accurate. They are helping to create a subconscious expectation of how easy it is to communicate with someone halfway around the globe, so much so that fewer and fewer words are becoming necessary to communicate our thoughts and feelings. Just think about the fact that a simple emoticon like :) can make you feel good, and a few letters like AOS can, if you are a teenager, let you or your friend know that an adult is at your shoulder looking at what you are doing, so be discreet (AOS = Adult Over Shoulder). Adding to this effect is the now standard 5-second clip used in advertising. You often hear that it's because the attention span of the audience is getting less, but since people still watch much longer segments in normal programming, it is actually increasing people's ability to get more information from less input.

Another electronic technique is training people to absorb more information from what at one time would have been an overwhelming amount of information. Here I'm speaking of the common practice of many television news programs, especially those devoted to financial news, of presenting multiple, simultaneous inputs of information. CNBC, for instance, will have one or more people speaking as two lines of type at the top of the screen give current market results for stock funds and commodities, while two lines of type at the bottom - one moving faster than the other - give current quotes of various types of stocks, and another small screen above those two displays information or news that may or may not be related to what the speakers are saying. Since our brain is constantly receiving far more information that we are usually consciously aware of, this may be helping to prepare us for paying more attention to telepathic input that we would usually ignore.

I have emphasized telepathy up to this point, but practically every shamanic skill is being practiced by more and more people today without them fully realizing it, especially by those many millions who are joining virtual worlds through a computer connection. To demonstrate my point, I will use only one such world as an example, that of Second Life. For those not familiar with this kind of experience, the standard operating procedure is to use your keyboard and a mouse to manipulate an "avatar," meaning a digital character that represents you in a virtual three-dimensional environment.

In a typical Second Life session, here are some of the shamanic skills you are likely to engage in:

• Telepathy: this is usually done by "instant messaging" someone who may be anywhere in the real world.
• Clairvoyance: you do this with a "camera view" that lets you see things around corners and far out of the line of sight of your character.
• Levitation: whenever you wish, in most virtual locations, you can leap into the air and either float or fly to a destination of choice.
• Astral Travel: just open a map, choose a location, press a Teleport button, and "whoosh!" you're there faster than a Star Trek transporter could take you.
• Shape-shifting: as you will it, you can change your body shape, your skin, your eyes, and your hair to suit your own fancy. You can even turn yourself into an animal.
• Materialization: with a beam of energy projecting from your avatar's hand, you can cause a wide variety of fundamental shapes to appear out of nowhere, and then you can turn them into houses, boats, planes, clothing, jewelry... nearly anything you want.
• Healing: this is one of the most amazing effects, because the results produce actual changes in your living mind and body. To understand this, you have to realize that we all have a subconscious tendency to mimic the state or action of anything we put our full attention on. One of the ways this tendency is used in Real Life is to have athletes watch videos of experts in their field, and then practice what they've seen. Experiments demonstrate that the performance of the viewers increases significantly after the viewing. Another way, used in many, many areas of Real Life, is to imagine vividly what you want to do or be, and then do it or practice being it.Back to Second Life. When you immerse your avatar in a steaming hot tub, your physical body begins to relax. When your avatar meditates in a forest or a temple, your real mind and emotions calm down. When your avatar stands in a field of energy, your real body feels energized. In some cases, when another avatar uses healing touch on yours, or gives your avatar a massage, your real pain can go away.

If we look at this phenomenon with the concepts of Rupert Sheldrake, hundreds of millions of people all over the planet are generating and sustaining behavioral and mental morphic fields that will make it easier and easier for more and more people to begin expressing shamanic talents and abilities that are usually associated with legends, fantasy, or science fiction. The talents and abilities area real, however, even though up until recently they have only been practiced by a few. Now, however, millions and millions of people are involved, and the training of the whole human race has begun.

Will this revolution happen easily? Most probably not, because so many people's lives are based on fear. The most common potential areas of resistance are these:

• Fear of anything electronic or electromagnetic. This is based on ignorance of how such devices work, and many people don't want to learn.
• Fear that people will become addicted. This is based on ignorance of what addiction is. People of very low self esteem can become addicted to anything at all that brings them any degree of pleasure. If you take one source of pleasure away from them, they'll simply find another.
• Fear that people will become so dependent on electronic devices that they will lose their natural abilities. This is based on ignorance of human nature. Human beings are tool-using creatures. We always have and we always will use tools to enhance our natural creativity.

I just remembered a story I was told a number of years ago about a white Australian and an Aborigine who were hiking together in the Outback and got lost. The white Australian said to his companion, "Hey, why don't you use some of those powers you're supposed to have and get us some help?"

"Okay," said the Aborigine, and he pulled a cell phone out of his back pocket and called some relatives.

"Wait a minute," said the white Australian. "I thought you people were able to communicate with your minds!"

"Oh, sure, we can do that," said the Aborigine, "but this is so much easier!"

Self Mastery

Back when Aloha International was first being formed, we listed one of our goals as being "To provide the means for individuals to attain self-mastery." This sounds very well and good, but it means nothing until we have defined what we mean by "self-mastery."

There are connotations to the word "mastery" that may lead some people to the wrong conclusions. If this word is taken in its sense of controlling or ruling, or exercising power over someone or something, then it is easy to imagine a kind of relationship with ourselves in which we use our will to browbeat our "self" into submission, put a leash on our emotions, and forcibly repress all our bad habits and tendencies. Such a course will unerringly lead to catastrophe. 

Mastery of this kind is nothing more than an ego trip based on a false premise. The false premise, of course, is that a person or thing can be beneficially controlled through the use of direct or implied force. Such an approach always generates fear and anger and the least amount of compliance possible. It amazes me that in spite of massive evidence showing that this is the most inefficient and ineffective way to get anyone to do anything, governments keep on doing it to to their people, and people keep on doing it to themselves.

Those who suppress and repress with force do so because of their own fears. When the people running a government do this it results in a neurotic society, and when an individual does it personally it results in a neurotic individual. Sooner or later, that which is held in check through force of will is going to explode in destructive fury. Self-mastery of this type is closer akin to slow suicide.

When Aloha International speaks of self-mastery, we are using mastery in its sense of having the ability to apply expert skill and knowledge. With respect to the self, this means having the knowledge and skill to properly direct the tremendous energies and talents of the self. It must of necessity include an understanding of yourself as a functioning entity in relation to the rest of the universe. This is self-mastery of the highest type: Knowing what you are, who you are, why you are, and where you are going; and also knowing how to get there.

The last sentence above defines the individual goal. The goal of Aloha International, then, is to provide road maps, guidebooks, compasses, walking sticks, and hiking skills to individual men and women trodding their individual paths of life.

What Does That Mean?

"Knowledge must always be expressed in the lifestyle and language of each different culture for it to be accepted and believed." This is a statement by Dr. J.R. Worsley in regard to acupuncture, but it can be applied to any other field as well.

Just recently I was counseling a woman from India who had been living in California since her youth. A while before calling me she had consulted an Indian guru who had advised her to read the fifteenth chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, a Hindu holy book. The woman read the chapter over and over, but was completely confused because she didn't know what she was supposed to learn from it. She understood that it was about non-attachment, but it kept talking about a banyan tree, and although this woman was originally from India, she had never seen a banyan tree, so the metaphor made no sense to her.

At first I tried to explain what a banyan tree was so she could understand it, but with no memory to relate to it still didn't make sense. Then I switched metaphors, first using an example of rain, then of a mirror, both of which she'd had experience with, and both of which enabled her to understand what the book was really teaching. What she had to learn is not important here. The point is that in order for her to learn the lesson, the knowledge had to be "expressed in the language and style" of her existing culture for it to be accepted and believed.

I just read a Dilbert cartoon in which he tries to explain to his mother that he is neither a railroad engineer nor a typewriter repairman, but a software engineer. When she asks him what he does, he says something like "Well, today I debugged a TCP/IP network with a system analyzer," and she replies with something like, "You mean all you did was start a bot to search out bad packets?" The fact that she knew immediately what he was talking about was quite funny, especially since she knew that he was using "computerese" to cover up the fact that he really didn't do very much. It was even funnier IF the reader also knew the special language of computer geeks. On the other hand, as far as my wife was concerned the cartoon might as well have been written in ancient Sanscrit and she couldn't understand why it made me laugh.

Like many fields and systems, Huna has its own specialized terms, based on the Hawaiian language, but when trying to relate to people unfamiliar with Hawaiian or Huna we need to use words and descriptions that nearly everyone can grasp. Remember, one of our purposes is to strip away the veil of unneeded mystery from the things we are teaching.

Those of us who are teachers of Huna often take it for granted that other people already know what we mean when we use terms like "Lono," and "Ku," and "Aumakua," and we may get so involved in our teaching that we ignore the blank faces in front of us. And shockingly--to us--there are billions of people out there in the world who haven't the faintest idea of what we are talking about when we mention "The Aloha Spirit."

The point of all this is that communication is not merely the imparting of information, it is the exchange of information. The exchange does not always have to be verbal, however. It can also be in the form of behavior. If you teach someone a healing technique, and the person is able to apply the technique in the way you have taught, then the behavior of that person is their part of the communication exchange. If the person is unable to apply it, then it is up to the teacher to change his or her side of the communication. In a different, but related field, someone whose name I do not recall once said, "There is no such thing as a resistant client; there is only a therapist who doesn't know what to do."

Climate Change

Not too long ago I received the following cry for help, mirrored by many similar ones from others:

"Since I saw the Al Gore movie about the Global Climate Change I can't stop thinking, feeling, and experiencing this Change and all that is coming with it. I feel quite discouraged and pessimistic about the human destiny. Although I was aware of the situation I wasn't aware of the magnitude of the imbalance humanity has created and the short time we have to do something about it and if we really have enough time, determination, unity, will etc. to do something effective to preserve life on Earth.

What I most fear is the way I imagine we are all going to disappear. I know that everything changes constantly and that the climate has changed lots of time before, but the speed in which it's changing is what I fear most, and the catastrophes that are already occurring and making lots of places uninhabitable for plants, animals and people. I find myself thinking very often that no action would be enough at this moment because the disharmony is gone too far. I would appreciate any advice or enlightenment you could give me about it."

First, please get back into the present moment. In very practical and realistic terms, neither the past nor the future exist. The real world is the world that you are experiencing in this moment. If there is any good in it, bless it to strengthen it and help it to endure and grow.

The global climate is obviously changing, but then it always has. We know from geology that the Earth has gone through a number of dramatic climate changes over great periods of time as long as humans have been on the planet and before. According to the geological record there were times when glaciers covered most of the Earth (even in Hawaii!) and other times when the arctic was tropical. More recently, in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries in the area of Belgium and Holland, major climatic changes produced catastrophic floods from a rise in the sea level, costing the lives of a hundred thousand people. It is common for people to think that bad weather in their own lifetime is the worst there ever was.

Nevertheless, no one knows what direction the current changes will take, how long it will take, or how much influence human behavior is having on the changes. During a trip to Alaska we cruised into Glacier Bay. A shipboard talk on the subject produced the startling information that when Captain James Cook sailed there most of the bay was blocked by ice, and when we were there most of that ice had melted away. So there is no doubt that the Earth is experiencing a change of climate, but there is great doubt as to whether we can do anything about it.

The Gore movie was very well done and helps us to be more aware of what humans are doing to contribute to environmental pollution. It does not prove that human behavior is causing all the changes in climate, nor does it prove that the earth as we know it is doomed to destruction. What it does is offer scientific speculation.

Scientists are not super-wise. All they can do is to gather data, interpret that data according to their own rules, and use a computer to process that data into a probable outcome--based on the data they gathered, their interpretations of that data, and the rules they programmed into the computer for processing that data. That's not even prediction, it's speculation based on limited information.

When Gloria and I were in Africa in the late sixties and early seventies we got newspapers and magazines from the USA that were full of dire warnings about environmental pollution and how it was destroying the country. The impression we got in Africa was that the whole USA was covered by a cloud of soot, that all the streams were muddy brown and clogged with dead fish, and that walking outside was to risk one's life. When we returned to the States in 1971 it was a shock to see bright blue skies, clear streams with healthy fish, fully living forests, and people walking everywhere without dropping dead from bad air.

Human behavior clearly has an effect on the global climate. In addition to the pollution caused by industry and transportation systems, agricultural practices cause deserts and destroy animal habitats, land and ocean waste dumping affects sea and land animals and environments, and clear-cutting of forests and urban development alter things as well. And each of these has an effect on climate. However, let's not forget the effects of volcanoes, earthquakes, hurricanes, and tsunamis, which are produced by the Earth herself. While there is no doubt that humans are part of the problem, we still don't know how big a part.

Nevertheless, it is very important that we take steps to clean up and improve our systems of transportation and industry, to work for a better and healthier environment for ourselves and the rest of the natural world, and to support those who are working for this. It is just as important not to give in to fear and panic or doom and gloom based on what other people are saying about the situation.

Huna philosophy says we are never helpless, because we have more resources than just physical ones to make changes. After all, the physical world is only a convenient illusion. We are spiritual beings in a spiritual universe first of all. As shamanic healers our role is to heal, what we can, when we can, where we can, and how we can. If we bless the present, trust ourselves, and expect the best while we are taking whatever positive action is possible, then we are doing the most that can be done. There is no point in getting upset because we think we could or ought to do more and do it better. There's a Hawaiian pidgin expression that sums it up very simply: If can, can; if no can; no can.

By the way, the Earth is not helpless, either. She has a life of her own and a will of her own. As a living entity she can choose to be happy as a desert, a waterworld, a ball of ice, or the incredible mixture that she is today, with or without the same variety of life that exists now. We do not have to worry about saving the Earth, but we do have to concern ourselves with saving human beings and all the other living beings we care about that inhabit her if we want them to continue. So, do your best and rely on a Higher Power to make sure that everything works out perfectly, even if it's different from what you might think that means.

"Huna" means "The Secret"

There really is a secret process that allows you to achieve just as much health, wealth, happiness, and success as you can ever desire. The funny thing is, it's never been a secret.

As some people discovered an unimaginably long time ago, the best way to keep a secret is to tell everyone about it, over and over and over again in many different ways until they stop paying attention and forget about it. Then someone "rediscovers" the secret and everyone gets excited about it until it's old news and it gets forgotten again.

Possibly the oldest form of the secret process is found in Huna, a name of convenience given to the very ancient esoteric knowledge of Polynesia. As a word in Hawaiian, ka huna actually means "the secret." Interestingly, this particular word has the connotation of something hard to see, not something intended to be kept hidden. The process itself is described in the Hawaiian proverb, Makia ke ali'i, ehuehu ka ukali (literally, concentration is the chief, energy is the follower), which I first translated in my 1985 book, Mastering Your Hidden Self, as "Energy flows where attention goes."

In other words, to achieve all your desires, keep your focus on what you want, and not on what you don't want, a version of the secret expressed frequently in the Seth Books by Jane Roberts. Other versions of the secret process can be found in the Old and New Testaments of the Bible, in Buddhist and Taoist writings, in Yoga sutras and Sufi poetry, and of course in the works of more modern writers such as Wattles, Hill, Emerson, Holmes, and many others. One nice thing about the Hawaiian version of the secret is that it includes specific instructions for putting it into practice. These instructions can be found in the roots of a little-understood Hawaiian word, haipule.

The Pukui-Elbert Hawaiian Dictionary defines haipule as meaning "religious, devout, pious, reverent, to worship,, to hold prayers or service, to consecrate a heiau, and a church service," but this is obviously a Christianized interpretation of this very Hawaiian word. More likely, it's original meaning as a whole word was based on the word hai (to offer) plus pule (prayer, blessing, spell). That is, haipule is a term relating to a process for making good things happen.

The actual process, according to my Hawaiian uncle, William Kahili, is found in root meanings of the word. More accurately, the roots describe four ways to maintain a positive focus, which is the key ingredient of the secret.

Ha, meaning "life, breath, spirit." 

Breathe deeply and get emotionally excited while thinking about what you want, or at least feel as positive and happy as you can. When you lose your focus, breathe deeply to get back into the present and start over.

I, meaning "to speak." 

Speak the words that describe what you want, aloud or silently. When you find yourself speaking negative words related to what you want, stop, breathe, and go back to saying what you want instead.

Pu, meaning "to issue forth, to appear like smoke." 

This is a poetic description of imagination. Imagine what you want in as much sensory detail as you can. When you find yourself imagining what you don't want, stop, breathe, and imagine what you want again.

Le, a short form of lele meaning, basically, "to move." 

Whenever you are thinking or speaking about what you want, assume a positive posture and move in confident ways. When you find yourself feeling depressed, helpless or disillusioned in relation to what you want, stop, take a deep breath, and change your posture or the way you move into a more positive and confident mode.

You don't have to do everything every time you think of what you want, but each method reinforces the other and helps you to maintain your positive expectation.
So that's it. The secret is out. Or, as the ancient Hawaiians would have said,

Ahuwale ka nane huna
"That which was a secret is no longer hidden"
(from 'Olelo No'eau, by Mary Kawena Pukui)

The Identity Imperative

As we listen to and look at national and world news reports we see evidence of enormous conflicts between people who have identified themselves with very different ways of thinking and feeling and behaving. People who identify with different religions are at war with each other; people of the same religion who identify with different interpretations of it are at war with each other; people who identify with different political systems are at war with each other; people who identify with different interpretations of the same political system are at war with each other.

On a more local level, people who identify with different athletic teams in the same sport seem to be getting into sometimes serious fights with each other more frequently; people who identify with specific groups called gangs often have serious fights with each other, as well as with non-gang members of the society around them; and identity conflicts of a serious nature often arise between families or even individual strangers.

Two important questions that come out of this observation are: "Is there a fundamental urge to identify with something - an 'identity imperative,' so to speak - that is more powerful than other urges?" and "why does such identification so often lead to conflict?"

To answer the first question, the urge to identify with something--an idea, a belief, a philosopy, a religion, a way of life, a political system, a group of some kind, a territory, or even another person--is no more nor no less than a combination of the two fundamental urges of all human beings to connect and to be effective.

We have an initial urge to connect because feeling connected, feeling ourselves to be part of something else, is a source of pleasure. By itself this leads to pleasurable relationships with people, animals, plants, and other aspects of the world around us. When the thing we connect to also helps us to feel more effective or powerful, another source of pleasure, then we have a strong tendency to identify ourselves with that thing, to consider it and us to be virtually identical. That's why so many people proudly declare that they are "members" of something or other (the word "member" means a "limb" or an integral part of something). It's also why people like to wear clothing, costumes, badges, pins, and tatoos that help them feel more connected and powerful.

The answer to the second question above is that the more insecure we feel about our connection and our effectiveness, the more fearful we become about their loss, which leads to painful feelings of isolation and helplessness. When this insecurity and its related fear become intense enough there may be a very strong suppression reaction. A common effect of this reaction is to perceive contrasting or opposing forms of identity as a threat to one's very existence. 

So a losing sports team, or its fans, may feel compelled to fight the winners, or their fans, and even destroy anything associated with them. Do something that an insecure identifier interprets as an insult to his or her source of identity and you may receive a death threat, or worse. In some cases people become willing to sacrifice their lives to maintain their own identity as well as the "life" of what they identify with. That will not happen, however, unless such people have decided that their own lives have no worth in any other context. Self sacrifice with the intention to harm members of another identity is therefore a desperate attempt on the part of extremely insecure people to maintain a sense of belonging and personal power.

The more secure you feel about your identifications, the more tolerant you naturally are of other identifications. If you have no doubts about the goodness or rightness of your ideas, beliefs, or behaviors, then you tend not to care about the ideas, beliefs, and behaviors of others (as long as they don't physically threaten you, of course). 

On the other hand, the more insecure you feel about your identifications, the more you will react with fear and anger and the desire to destroy anything and and anyone that doesn't agree with your way of thinking, feeling, and behaving. Unfortunately, although this is essentially a position of weakness, it can cause great damage among those who are basically more tolerant, but not yet secure enough or wise enough to realize that tolerance is not the same as unbounded permissiveness.

Nevertheless,

Ma'alahi ka ha'ina, pu'ika'ika hana
"Simple the explanation, difficult the execution