Not For Centuries

ALOHA,

Glad to See

Y O U

click on the photos

Monstera

Don't pay any attention to the critics,

don't even ignore them."

Samuel Goldwyn

Interesting trunk

"The real voyage of discovery

consists not in seeking new landscapes

but in having new eyes."

Proust

"Remember that what you believe

will depend very much

on what you are."

Noah Porter

"I expand and live in the warm day

like corn and melons."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Imagine seeing something

that had all but disappeared

from the face of the Earth.

What if I could show you something like that?

The Hawaiians of old

discovered and inhabited

these islands

centuries ago,

While Europeans hugged their coasts

lest they fall over the world's edge.

The great double-hulled sailing canoes

brought people, animals, plants,

and culture.

But the canoes had long since ceased sailing.

The art of navigating by the stars and currents

was thought lost.

But inspired Hawaiians built the Hokule`a,

the first such craft seen by living eyes,

and launched her on her first eventful voyage

in 1975.

"Because no Polynesians knew how to navigate in the ancient manner, Mau Piailug, a traditional navigator from the Caroline Islands of Micronesia, was chosen to guide the canoe. His method of navigating by the stars and swells was closely similar to extinct Polynesian methods.

Navigator Mau Piailug used the rising points of the stars, supplemented by observations of the sun, moon, and ocean swells, as a natural compass to guide the canoe. Even when days of solid cloud cover hid the stars, sun, and moon from sight, Mau was able to keep the canoe on course and keep in his mind an accurate picture of the canoe's progress toward Tahiti. And, obligingly, small, white fairy terns skimming over the sea, told Mau the atoll of Mataiva, just to the north-northwest of Tahiti, was near before it could actually be seen. Once this atoll had been reached, it was easy to orient the canoe for the short sail to Tahiti.

The fact that the canoe sailed from Hawai'i to Tahiti and back, and that Mau had been able to navigate to Tahiti without instruments, effectively demonstrated how Polynesian canoes and traditional navigational methods were up to the task of planned, long-distance voyaging. This voyage served to turn the tide against the Sharp hypothesis of accidental voyaging, and to develop a new appreciation for voyaging canoes and traditional ways of navigation."

PBS, Wayfinders: Polynesian History & Origin.

I have blogged about the Hokule`a before, HERE.

To Hawaiians, the Hokule`a is a link with the past,

with the ancestors, with their pride.

A people who suffered a great, almost killing wound,

the loss of their culture and sovereignty,

showed the whole world,

themselves, and especially their

children

that they are a great people,

with accomplishments of which anyone

would be most

proud.

Hokule`a has been joined by other canoes,

built of great tree trunks

in the rediscovered

ancient way.

When they sail together

one can imagine the great

voyaging fleets of the past!

"It was amazing, Brah.

To see just one of the canoes sailing alone

on the ocean is super cool.

But to see all three sailing together

is super powerful."

Sam Kapoi,

Captain/Navigator-in-training

And now the youth are learning to sail.

They are growing in stature before our eyes.

Lately a new canoe, E Ala, has come home

to the Leeward Coast of Oahu,

where many Hawaiians live,

a place where homelessness, and poverty,

dance with amazing accomplishment

and aspiration.

Now the community will have it's own canoe to

prepare the youth for planned future voyages,

and for the voyages of their lives.

Something not seen for centuries,

(until very recently)

the greeting of a landing canoe,

awaits you below.

These kids who play video games,

who drive too fast,

who text and all the rest

are shown below

welcoming the new canoe.

What you will see

is not the organized pageant

of a chamber of commerce,

but the spontaneous and deep

behavior of souls maturing

and awakening.

"It was the best experience of my life.

I could feel all the energy from the sea

going through the canoe.

It was a great honor for me

to help bring it home."

Christian Razo,

Kamaile Academy Seventh Grader

Ride 'Um!

ALOHA!

:)

Click on the pictures

Ted Trimmer photo

"I travel a lot; I hate having my life disrupted by routine."

Caskie Stinnett

"Trees are your best antiques."

Alexander Smith

"Like all great travelers,

I have seen more than I remember,

and remember more than I have seen."

Benjamin Disraeli

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Some people are old at 35

Jim Rawlinson of Kauai is not one of them.

At 68 he works as a carpenter,

and he loves to surf Hanalei Bay.

On Monday he was in the line up as usual

when a tiger shark estimated to be 14 feet long

hit his board, taking an iconic chunk out of it.

The board and Jim were catapulted into the air

and the carpenter became a Paniola (Hawaiian Cowboy)

when he came down right on the predator's back,

riding the bucking creature for a good ten seconds.

Coolly, he decided to remove the surf leash from his ankle,

after all, the board was still in the creatures mouth.

"It was relatively calm at that point." Rawlinson told a reporter.

So he swam to the shallow of a nearby reef

where deep-water sharks usually don't patrol.

When he saw his board floating

he swam to retrieve it

and deciding "What the heck"

spent another hour surfing,

albeit as an instant celebrity to his fellow surfers

who had seen the whole adventure.

"It was quite an experience,

but nothing that should have interrupted what was otherwise a relaxing,

late afternoon surf session." He was reported to explain.

Jim described the experience as unfolding in slow motion

and one of being in "survival mode."

Boaters came by to take pictures of his board.

"Everybody was totally cool about it.

Everybody on the beach was was so supportive and sweet."

Jim won't let his experience chase him from the waves.

"I don't want fear to hold me back from doing what I'm doing."

Something to ponder. . .

ALOHA, cloudia

You Never Know

Aloha

&

Welcome Back

Dear Friend!

click on pics :)

“The golden moments in the stream of life

rush past us, and we see nothing but sand;

the angels come to visit us,

and we only know them when they are gone.”

George Elliot

"A bird does not sing because it has an answer.

It sings because it has a song."

Chinese Proverb

"Change happens by listening

and then starting a dialogue

with the people who are doing something

you don't believe is right."

Jane Goodall

"Curiosity has its own reason for existing.

One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity,

of life,

of the marvelous structure of reality.

It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery every day.

Never lose a holy curiosity."

Albert Einstein

><>

She missed her senior prom last Saturday.

But Sheryl Wolfe missed little else

that life has to offer.

The Mililani High School senior,

a model, friend, daughter and sister,

was to relinquish her title:

Miss Hawaii Teen United States

early next month,

but there was so much more to look forward to.

Partial to the beach, to her modeling,

and to athletics,

Sheryl always felt especially drawn to

those with developmental disabilities.

"She had a special place in her heart for them

and was thinking of a career

along that line,"

her father, Alan, told a reporter.

But life is what happens

while we are busy making other plans.

Last week,

Sheryl collapsed in class

and was rushed to Queens Hospital.

A stroke had felled this young girl.

Her organ donations

are her gift

to four Hawaii people

who will now be able to

continue

with this life

thanks to the choice

that she expressed on her driver's license. . .

"She was just so loved and full of energy.

She always has been that person who was

there for you in a second,

the most important friend

I've ever known in my life."

School Mate Laura Bunner

None of us is guaranteed one day more.

It is called the

"Present"

because it is a gift.

Thank YOU for sharing

some of it here with us! cloudia

Gazed!

Aloha!

please remember to click on the photos :)

"Don't wait;

the time will never be 'just right.'

Start where you stand,

and work with whatever tools

you may have at your command,

and better tools will be found

as you go along."

George Herbert

"A wise woman

puts a grain of sugar

into everything she says to a man,

and takes a grain of salt

with everything he says to her."

Helen Rowland

Leaf litter? Leaf GLITTER!

"The soul that can speak through the eyes, can also kiss through the gaze." Gustav Adolfo Becquer

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I got GAZED!

Braco (pronounced Brah-tzo)

came to Hawaii this week.

"Who is Braco," I wondered,

when I saw the story about him on KITV.

(video below)

As a REIKI practitioner,

my mind has already been opened to the

seemingly incredible idea that

pure, loving, healing energy

can be felt, and can reliably be

(for lack of a better word)

channeled.

I started out as a very logical,

grounded, materialist thinker.

Accepting unprovable things as true

always struck me as as an intellectual

and moral

sell-out.

Dangerous.

But slowly,

year by year,

I have learned that there is much in this world

that is yet undreamed of in our conceptions.

And in my lifetime

I have seen those conceptions grow in scope.

When I was a kid, acupuncture was mocked,

and lot's of physicians were smokers.

What we "Know"

changes every day.

REIKI is illogical,

but it is undeniable to me now.

I don't understand HOW it works,

just that it DOES.

(Like my car, and the internet)

I have worked with Dr. Hong,

a physician and Qi Gong master

who is attached to the University of Hawaii

John A. Burns School of Medicine;

My results are undeniable,

and launched a whole new phase of life

for me.

I have attended Soul Singing sessions

with Dr. Sha

whose books are New York Times best sellers.

The energy there was familiar too.

It has been hard intellectual work,

and prayer,

and life experience,

that has brought me to the point

of utilizing these things.

So how was it at yesterday's gazing session?

The first thing I noticed was a real

glow

around the people running the event.

I've learned to recognize a certain

beauty

as the result of being well atuned

to the loving, healing, forces of the universe,

and these people had it.

Not fake smiles,

just a discernible, genuine, and attractive

"glow"

like I have observed growing in myself.

I recognized the feeling

when Braco came out.

Yes, he just stands there,

gazing.

Not making eye contact,

not sweeping the room,

just standing and gazing.

It felt good.

I was especially relaxed the rest of the day,

slept even better than usual,

and my sore shoulder is almost

completely without twinge.

Worrying about the why's

and hows

of life,

sometimes prevents us from

simply experiencing it.

REIKI taught me how very much I lived from the neck up,

I have discovered my body

and am much more comfortable in my skin,

and in life,

than I have ever been.

I keep learning, and growing,

understanding just comes easily

now.

All of this is coming to the world's surface-thinking lately.

Trust your instincts to warn you

of charlatans.

Beware of sales routines.

But thousands of people in Europe

have gone numerous times

to be gazed at by Braco,

Many around the world

have sung with Dr. Sha.

Something is afoot

and I'm very happy to be dancing along.

Free your mind;

and the rest will follow.

Warm Aloha, cloudia