The
word Aloha means much more than words could ever express, and certainly
much more than "hello" and "goodbye" or "love." Aloha is a concept that
is all encompassing as a way of being in the presence of Spirit. Aloha is used as a greeting and parting because it is
also said to mean..."love surrounds us," or "may love be with you," to
present an atmosphere of friendly acceptance and blessings.
Until the
middle of the thirteenth century before a man named Pa'ao came to conquer
and rule, the islands old Hawaii were a very peaceful place to be, a garden
of Eden, where each child was raised by the entire village. The Ohana--family
tradition is still carried on in some places throughout the islands, where
the child regards all the male adults as "Uncles", all the female adults
as "Aunties" and all the elders as "Tutu" (grandmother/grandfather). This
open system provides a wide body of relationships, knowledge and skills
for the growth and enrichment of the child.
"The Way of Aloha" is a path that emphasizes acceptance,
forgiveness and cooperation through the development of hyper-awareness,
the cultivation of Mana--inner power, friendship and unity, the practice
of survival/exploring skills, and an ethic of "love and be loved." The
typical ideal is to act in such a way as to get the best results for everyone
in a given situation with the emphasis on enjoyment and creating peace
and harmony. Aloha is a very active, nonviolent path. We practice non-judgment,
and an attitude of "what can I give?" rather than "what can I get?" Aloha
also neatly encompasses the golden rule..."do unto others as you would
have them do unto you."
The Way of Aloha is to perceive all life as a series of
circumstances we attract to ourselves so that we'll have lots of opportunities
to make choices of how to act more consciously and effectively than before.
To ask ourselves continually "what would Aloha do now?' becomes a life
in service to all humanity. Chances are that if you do not ask yourself
this question, you will act as you always have before, and the situation
will go the way it has always gone before. If this gets you the results
you want, then GREAT! Because a re-action requires little or no thinking.
In order to do what Aloha would do now, you will want to bring a new response
to your life that creates Pono--harmony and balance in your relationships.
Pono is the idea of being open and flexible in your thinking of how you
will receive the answer to a prayer or a desired outcome. Sometimes it
requires that you don't think, and you just hold the focus lovingly, then
give it up (or pray about it), and let the universe do it's thing! It
seems that we are all so busy getting in the way of the miracle with our
old ways of thinking and re-acting. To effectively make a change in our
behavior that is lasting takes a constant monitoring of our thought/action
processes. Through practicing this we learn the great value of not dragging
the past into the present, and the huge value in forgiveness to set us
all free from the past.
Mana is the principle of inner power that is essential
to the Aloha philosophy. It encompasses the idea that each one of us has
the authority to think for ourselves, live our own truth, and there is
no power outside of us. There isn't a need for protection when one's root
belief about life is "the world is a loving place." Each of us can choose
to refuse anything or anyone into our personal space to which we do not
resonate with. Within us is the center of the universe and this is where
we find the living God, or Aumakua, and when we truly tune into this Source,
we find it to be without limits. Now, once again we have the choice of
how to use this awesome power once we find it within us. The warrior will
use it to destroy enemies, within and without. The way of Aloha is to
find or create ways to use it for the benefit of society, and to heal
ourselves and others. Interestingly enough the way of the warrior and
the way of Aloha can accomplish the same goals using entirely different
approaches. If you were to meet the highest masters of each path you could
not tell them apart.
Essential to creating a life of loving cooperation is the
idea of Kahi--Oneness... To practice Aloha, we need to give up our deeply
rooted assumption that "we are all separate," in order to feel our inner
connections with all people, places and things. If a hunter felt his inner
connection with the deer or any other wild life, he could not kill it.
If a logger felt his inner connection to the trees, he would not slaughter
them. It's this belief that we are all seperate that enables us to dump
raw sewage into our beloved oceans, and spill each others blood in wars
fighting over boundaries or differences of religious beliefs. Hate and
war is our ultimate miscreation because it goes against the basic truth
of our abundance in all that we are, and all that we have. It goes against
our most basic human need; to love and be loved, which is the spiritual
law of Aloha
Aloha is that feeling of a smile so big it cracks your
face from your heart, the fragrance and color of a beautiful flower, the
sound of children laughing and playing, and the taste of ripe tropical
fruit and their juices. Aloha is also the Spirit behind all creation.
The Way of Aloha can be practiced and experienced anywhere, anytime and
with anyone. It is a path of love , harmony and appreciation for the beauty
in all things and people, and it's available only in this eternal moment
of NOW! There is a saying in the book Conversations with God-book 1, that
helps me to remember where to find paradise: "When I don't go within,
I go without!".
E ho'omaika'i
i kea la'a kea me ke aloha mau loa Blessings of sacred light and everlasting
love.
Excerpts from The Way of Aloha by Kealohi Powell
http://www.hawaiiheart.com/wayne.html