Huna Article

Huna International

Real Teachers
by Jo Danieli

It is a soft and calm spring-evening in Vienna, and my dog is staring at me from his cozy spot under a baldachin-curtain, his eyes gleaming with the certainty that in a short while I will get up and take him out for our evening walk. I will. But I just finished reading some articles I found on the Aloha International Homepage. And they touched me even more than usual because I just arrived back home from a one month's stay on Kaua'i. I know some of the authors personally, at least from seeing them at the Sunday morning Talk Story sessions in Princeville, or from email contact, and my feeling to "answer" to just the fact that people are sharing their thoughts concerning "Huna" is strong enough to keep me from walking through the warm evening with all the new leaves on the trees and the blossoms everywhere ...

The "Huna" teachers of the world are wise people. Wise, because they chose the most precious subject to work on: life. They can be sure that they do as much as they can for their planet: Help the inhabitants to learn to respect their material home which is part of themselves by means of learning to respect themselves. The "alaka'i" from Aloha International are even more special people, because they dedicated their lives to spreading an ancient "Hawai'ian" knowledge, "Huna". Special also because they share the same dream: That the place on earth where they are working on their goals of spreading knowledge is the source of their knowledge. But the source of the wisdom behind the term"Huna" is not only Hawai'i. It is everywhere "at home", everywhere, where human beings are, because it is concerning humans (in connection with the whole universe, yes, but humans are teaching humans for better understanding, no need to teach nature). I know many people practicing "Huna" who don't even know where Hawai'i is.

Who is not attracted to those islands in the middle of the Pacific? Some of us know the picture of "wild" people from remote islands living in peace and joy from our childhood: beautiful, soft-skinned, long-haired, strong and of ideal body-shapes, all the time dancing and singing in their paradise and being at the same time full of secrets because of their rituals. The strangeness of those people always turned on our fantasy. Mine also. And - yes! I love the thoughts of Hawai'i, the hula kahiko, the possibility to go there, and I feel blessed to have been able to get to know all the beauty of that place in the universe.

On the Hawai'i of today you don't find the "old"picture any more. The "real" Hawai'ians are rare beings all visitors look for. And tourists and non-insiders suspect Hawai'ian-looking Koreans or Japanese or even brown-tanned Europeans to be "real" Hawai'ians. Some real Hawai'ians are being educated to be interested in their own history and cultural roots again, because they have become used to "modern" ways for generations. The nostalgic western soul wants to see them still "alien" and full of secrets. They have their secrets - who know how they are thinking of their past apart from all educational programs? I myself have Celtic roots - do I care about the druids and druidic wisdom that once was alive in the areas I come from? Yes, I do, because I am interested in "Huna". But do the people of my country (Carinthia in the South of Austria) naturally? No. They don't know more about druidic wisdom than "the man on the street" in any place in the world - why should they? They are just living what their development - the evolution of their ancestors - brought them. And that has to do with old, old rituals. They developped in the minds, could be dug out to spread their original meaning and effects. Could. If people are interested and find out themselves that they are not acting and living to their full satisfaction. Like everybody in the world could. Like the "real" Hawai'ian could.

The name Hawai'i itself makes the visitor's heart beat quicker, it really, really sounds nice and comforting. You almost hear the sound of the ukulele when you say "Hawai'i", and you see white beaches, palms and flowers. There are not that many flowers and palms. Hawai'i is of wild landscape, dry and wet at the same time. I have travelled there a lot - Hawai'i means desert and jungle, beaches, stones, sunshine, rain, forest, waterfall ... so much beauty, like in other places in the tropics. And the ancient Hawai'ians didn't play the ukulele. The beauty of "ke kahiko" - the old ways - lies within the mystery of the unknown, covered with the sound of drums and the pictures of at the same time happy, free and respectful people - respectful for nature and the numerous gods and spirits. Whom they adored. Who they were themselves - without knowing! We know. But did they know that to the extent we want them to because it would fit in the romantic picture we established like from idols?

Yes, there is something about the Hawai'ian islands. Like about many special places in the world. Possibly in very ancient time a very highly-developped spiritual race with very, very powerful beings lived there who left their tracks that are to be felt and found by some humans of today. Whose knowledge can be reactivated by some of their "great-great- grand.children." Possibly only by those whose genealogic roots are among those old beings. But the old real Hawaiians the documentations tell about did not live the way the modern "children of the rainbow" do or want them to have done, with that deep understanding of the human's innermost being and all the "aloha-spirit" and the actively used power of spirituality. It is not our right to tell they did. Some of them, maybe. But we cannot make the "nature of a race" of our beliefs. At least they accepted what could happen by intervention of spiritual aspects, of spirits - just phenomena today's people try to explain through physics and measurable means. The ancient Hawai'ians and many other people of the world had a big respect of the "unseen". They knew, it was existing - something that the modern world tried to deny. Of the very old time we simply don't know. The common old Hawai'ians of some centuries ago did not know more about their own powers than we do, they knew about power in things,and they strongly believed in those powers and in being affected by them. But possibly not in their own roles in making the powers work. According to old documentations, the common "old" Hawaiians lived with their goods and spirits, making them or specially gifted people, kahuna, kaula, kahu-akua and how they all were named, and not themselves responsible for all and everything; they lived with their "kapu" and wars under the rules of their keepers of their kinds of "law and order".

What was before the times when people wrote their history down - nobody knows. Consciously. Nobody? I am sure that many people know a lot of very old times, they even use and "live" their knowledge without knowing even that they do. But that's the same all over the world. The old Hawaiians lived in no lesser or no closer contact with nature than any other people in old days. In a way, modern people, who worship their cars and declare their expensive apartments "kapu" for special people, who have the doctors remove the effects of odd "prayers" (possible out of TV-advertisements) live in the same close relation with nature and spirituality like old Hawaiians, it is "natural" for them to just live their lives, being influenced by what is "trendy".

Is living with nature a matter of being outdoors? Alternative teachers often give their students the unpleasent feeling of never being really linked with nature because they live in big towns. The sunset on Ke'e Beach is wonderful. But the sunset in Frankfurt behind industry chimneys is, too. The ancient Hawai'ians in their paradise did not know they were in a paradise, they could not compare. They did not possess a special kind of happiness, we don't have. We can love and respect people of old and compare what we know of them with what we know of us, but lets keep in mind: None of us is better or worse. And is only outdoor-nature "healthy"? No. Nature is healthy if you know and feel you are a part of it, no matter, where you are. Like every human being is a result of all former decisions she or he made, the whole world is that, too, living and responsive as it is. One of the earth's and her related energy form friend's "decisions" was to bring up human beings ... And those beings started make use of what they became aware of. Finally they found themself on dead-end "streets" and found out that they had to turn round and look for better routes. Good. That's nature. It is natural that there are wise human beings who know more about some aspects of being humans than others.

People might be equal concerning their rights. But they are not at all equal concerning their inner being. "Na po'e kahiko" - the people of old - didn't consciously practice the aloha spirit, they just were where they were and experienced what they experienced, felt what they felt, and most of them did not understand more of spirituality like it is taught today and the inner values and power ALL people have than any other human beings in the world that are not gifted with special "insight" in the basic functions of the human spiritual nature. (Uff, what a sentence.) The "Huna"-people all over the world - no matter of being members of Aloha International or Huna Research Inc. or of any other organization or institution or other formation - feel safe in their elite-societies, because they know, that not many people of the world (compared with the total of inhabitants of this planet) are aware of their intrinsic spiritual nature and use the related tools. It feels safe and warm to be among people who feel the same. To be an alien among aliens. "Huna"-people know how important it is to really care of what one is thinking and imagining. And that people in fact influence their future. And how they are doing wrong with the tools they carry along in their being without knowing how to use them rightly. Found out what a hammer is? Good. 've got a hammer? Fine. Use it? Wow! But not learning how effective it could be to hold it the other way around ...

The Aloha-International-"alaka'i" dedicated their lives to telling people about themselves, according to what they learned from Serge Kahili King (and other sources, of course). And Serge might be one of the most-knowing, most charismatic, most unapproachable living "aliens" on this planet. "alien" because he is more human than the common humans. He deserves all respect people are able to give. People love him. So much, that they respect and worship his qualities more than they believe in themselves. So much, that some visitors on Kauai cannot understand, how a "Huna"-student can NOT be on Kauai to learn from Serge King personally. I met some people during my visit who where really surprised when I said that I was here because of "Huna" but not because of Serge. To learn "Huna" doesn't mean to me to get to know Serge. Or any other famous teacher. To learn to be effectively human in a positive, fruitful way does not mean to be able to recite what teachers said and wrote.

Susan Floyd is a great teacher, too. Beautiful. Charismatic. Wise. Loving. Warm. I know people are so much longing to be near her because she also radiates wisdom and "aloha-spirit". That can never be the taken from her by hugging her. That can only be developed by taking Susan as a good example. Or Serge. Like all "Huna"-teachers. (I got to know others and saw them jumping and almost crying of excitement when they were talking about "Huna", and yes, they are great, wise people, too. Spreading the gifts of knowledge. The same with Yogananda. Krotoschin. Einstein. Hahnemann. Chopra. With the daughter of a friend who wrote to her daddy that "a smile is better than electricity, because it gives more light.")

My time on Kaua'i was too short to talk with all the famous "alaka'i" available, because that month I spent much time with all the other teachers. And I am not talking of the wonderful sessions with Paul Waters, who taught me so much in his wise patience and who gave the most true answers to all my questions. I am not talking about the great adventure of the Lomi-Lomi-introduction-class with Fern and Janet and the five other students, when I experienced that I rather "remembered" doing that kind of massage than getting to know it and slipping into "Hawai'ian" ... And I am not talking about the fascinating evenings with Bev and Lois and Earl at the Healing Circles with shaman stones and string-figures ... I am talking about the dolphin that stirred me up on Anahola beach because he possibly sent me his thoughts and, waking up, I found him at five meters (!) distance in the one meter shallow water, looking at me. About the stones I found, I am talking. About the dreams I had. The birds I saw. The hours in the Pacific ocean I heard myself talking to me while swimming. The hikes I did all by myself. The views over the islands that gave me views into myself. The infection I've got, that warned me not to go on like I was doing in some respect, due to that I had to go to the hospital and got to know a doctor, who had studied the old arts of healing - I otherwise never had got to know this man! About the people I met on Kauai I was talking to, through whom I got the opportunities to find out a lot about my beliefs, my life ... I am talking about all the details that led me to understanding. About every bit of experience that turned out to have a special clear meaning. The wisest teachers teach people one thing: that everybody is his own teacher. It is only a matter of trust. "Huna" is not only Hawai'ian. "Huna" is just a way of looking to the nature of mankind, and it includes highly effective ideas and techniques. The Hawaiian framework makes "Huna" special, exotic, the Hawaiian rituals and symbols and traditions, all connected by that wonderful language. When I was on Kauai, a little boy came to me and started talking to me in Hawaiian. I understood and could answer. Then he suddenly stopped, realizing that I was no local ... but I had a natural experience talking Hawaiian, and that makes me very proud. Yes. Proud. I am proud of myself like I learned to be, freely, as my "ku" or whatever you call it in cooperation with my "kane" or "lono" or "aumakua" or whatever you call it bring me ALWAYS in the situations I focus on. I love the Hawaiian language. I like the Hawaii of today, because it is as it is. I love the wilderness of Kauai, but I also love strolling along Waikiki, waving to the wizard stones and feeling a certain 'okakala, if you know, what I mean (goosebumps) among the tanned hurrying or sunbathing colourful tourists, ... like I really like to go for the evening walks in the park near the street I live in Vienna, watching the Turkish and Viennese children play. I like to drive my car. To work on the computer. I have learned to make decisions. "He pono keia."

Mahalo, I say to the island that it had called me, that I got the opportunity to become sure of what I had found out long, long ago:

I am my own teacher.

I go everywhere I need to go to achieve my goals. I find everything I have to find to be able to be effective. I trust myself. "'o ia ka mea nui." "Huna" told me that I do. I always did. Now I know it for sure. Found it out through the help of a journey through several worlds. Mahalo to the "Huna"-staff all over the world for teaching people how to find themselves being their own teachers. If you don't teach that, - whatever you teach might be of great value -, you are not teaching "Huna".

To teach "huna" means to help to dig out a tiny precious thing, that radiates all over and through the whole life. Self-trust. But you really have to find exactly that tiny precious thing, nothing can substitute it: It is the understanding what kind of forceful spiritual beings humans are. And: "Huna"-teaching can tell what to do with that new old knowledge. How to apply it and make the best use of it. Sometimes it is scary to get hold of a very sharp tool. And imagination is one. There is need for guidance. Real "Huna"-teachers are ready to give that. Sometimes simply be saying "Whatever you experience, it is always you. Don't be scared. Smile. Trust. You are stronger than you know. But you can get to know. Go on. Because you are everything. If you want."

Please, you, in the middle of the Pacific: "E aloha aku 'oe ia Hawai'i" - have love for Hawai'i, one of the homes of our really wise ancestors.

Copyright Huna International 2000