Posted by Marie on June 19, 2001 at 09:48:35:
In Reply to: Re: Haole Huna posted by Vince on June 18, 2001 at 18:42:13:
Aloha Vince!
Perhaps before I respond could you please tell me why Max Freedom Long named his book "The Secret Science Behind Miracles"? Did Max Freedom Long believe that he was witnessing miracles?
I read "The Secret Science Behind Miracles" about 3 years ago, when I was temporarily living in Boston. He may have been a schoolteacher but the concepts were based on psychology- higher self, middle self, lower self, subconscious, conscious etc. I see him as a psychologist because he used the concepts of psychology to articulate HIS understanding.
There is a big cultural difference between haole and Hawaiians (I do not use haole in a negative sense). Let me speak for myself. My partner is Native American. I could never go to the shaman and medicine men or women of his tribe and do research on their practices and rituals. I could not live with myself creating my own religion based on the things I learned, through my own understanding of the world... or even calling myself a "shaman" or "medicine woman".
We find words in Modern Hawaiian that can be directly translated into the English language. There is no such word as "thank you" in the old Hawaiian. Mahalo is not thank you. There is no such phrase as "good morning" in old Hawaiian. Aloha kakahiaka is a phrase that was created after the arrival of white men in Hawai`i. To say ?Aloha Kakahiaka? means ?I only give to you my aloha during the morning hours.? The use of words such as "Mahalo? or "Aloha Kakahiaka" had been created to satisfy the haole. The modern Hawaiian language has been shaped by the English language. We see many errors in the modern Hawaiian languages?
How about ?Kahuna?? ?Kahuna? can be KA-HUNA or KAHU-NA. According to Mary Kawena Pukui
1. KAHU-NA:
Kahu ? master, expert
Na- abbreviation of ana, particle indicating present or continuing action
Kahu-na are experts who actively practice their profession. A kahuna lapa`au is an expert of healing. His (or her) job is to heal whatever a person is having problems with. A healer, heals. He does not perform miracles. He is doing his or her job.
2. KA-HUNA:
Ka- an article (the).
There are two words for h-u-n-a. Huna (pronounced hoonaa) means hidden, disguised, secrete (not secret), confidential, or convert. When pronounced differently (pronounced huna), it means minute, particle, grain, crumb etc. ?Huna? is used with a noun. Example ? lua huna or hidden cave. For the word Ka-huna to make sense, we need to put a noun. Ka - huna ___(noun)___.
Talk about hidden and confidential - Hawaiians were hush-hush for many reasons. Maybe one reason is that they were fearful of the haole with the big black book. It was illegal by law to practice the traditional ways. If there is such person as a ka-huna, it is a person who is hiding from the haole AND practicing as a kahu-na behind the haole?s back.
Malama pono
Marie