Our Ancestors were lifelong students of the Universe, Existence and their place within it all. Everything they learned was transportable and transferrable to other parts of their daily lives.
They learned, understood and were 100% in the Knowing how their every breath had some kind of relationship to everything around them. They learned and understood breath as an element of common lifeforce with all around them…
It isn’t enough just to “know” of these things. The Ancestors taught was that we must know “the how”, “the why”, “the when” and so forth of the “what” we are doing. For example, many Lomilomi Practitioners and other Healers will use hot stones in their healing treatments.
…But they will not know “why” they are using them. The “why” goes way beyond the physical – the “why” is the Spiritual Practice of using stones in healing treatments. Just one example. An example that applies to all of us…
Our Ancestors studied Place, their Place and its relationship to other Places…and then they’re relationship to place and other Places. They knew they could not study one without studying another. Otherwise there learning would be fragmented, non-sensical and, because of their isolation, dangerous to the collective survival.
Spirituality is all about collective survival. It’s not an individual thing – although it does start with an individual’s decision. A decision that has its roots in a feeling, usually of “something just isn’t right here”…meaning “here” as “here within me”.
That’s where it always starts. Even if you’ve grown up in a family that practices some kind of spirituality – religious or otherwise. There’s always a feeling. Even in the most free-flowing families there’s still “the feeling” of “something”.
That’s where the enquiry really is. In the feeling. The feeling that there’s “something more, else, in addition to”. Some people will express it as a “call”… whichever way you name it, it’s still a feeling.
Feelings are our piko/our centre, very personal to us. Our place where very deep, insightful, intra-communication can form between ourselves and Other. However, if the inner space isn’t clear or understood, then the Feeling Piko can also be one of compromise. Turmoil. Entanglement. Deprivation. Horror. Self-hate. Frustration. Suffering. Repression. All expressions of conflict which arise from not having a firm relationship with Place.
Place, where you come from and where you live now, is not always at the forefront of spiritual thinking and living in these modern times. But they were very much in the Teachings of the Ancestors. We must understand Place because it is part of our singular and collective identity.
We must work actively to clear ourselves of anything that gets in the way of finding, discover, growing, nurturing, living our relationship with Place. If we do not find Place, we will never find our Place within it or the Universal Place of which it is a part. We cannot “half-do” our spirituality, which is what is happening large-scale across the world today.
You cannot cherry-pick Spirituality. It’s either the whole thing or not at all…
Sink into Place. Let it find you. Do you “know” what is happening beneath & within the land on which your currently sit? Do you have a pilina/a relationship with it? What about above the land as far as you can see right now? What is your pilina with it? And now above your head into the clouds – what’s that relationship like? And further into the inky darkness that you might call Space, where is that relationship?
Do you know the Winds of your Place, the Rains, the Moons, the Waters, the Stars – how they move and flow together and what that means for you? What is their name – they will have one. What is the quality of each Wind or Rain of your land – do they come from different directions, at different times of year, are some warm and gentle, or cold and brittle?
Where does the Sun rise and move to, and the Moon? What shapes are in your landscape – how do they move and change throughout the Seasons? What grows, what colours are they? Which insects and birds come? What about the Waters – fresh, rain, ocean…so much to observe, record and take in.
And then, YOU. Where do you fit into all of this – what does all of this observing tell you about you and your massive web of pilina/relationship? This is what the Ancestors studied, recorded, shared, lived by. Years and years of continual study and observance until it was lived moment by moment. And the people just “knew” and lived by that “knowing” and then they shared that “knowing” from generation to generation – keeping it clean, clear and accurate by living it.
Sadly, it’s not that way today. Spiritual Seekers want to cherry-pick, select the bits that appeal to them. It’s this dilution that can leave Seekers open to spiritual attack…
…why are you using hot stones…Aloha x
What next, Kumu?
- If you don’t know Place, get on out there and start observing it, sitting with it, recording your observations. Do it for a month at the same time and place. Get to know it. And then the next month, do the same things at a different time. And then keep going. Every month or two, sit and reflect on your notes – what do you notice? What can it mean? How are you feeliing?
- Get going in our Spiritual Intelligence 1 Course – it’s all about attuning. What we’ve been discussing is Spirituall Intelligence, a layer of it at least. So this course, fully DIY with learning resources and access to to me and the Wise Guides, will get you started
- If you feel all clogged, entangled and not sure of your “feeling” – book a 1:1 Ho’oponopono Session with Kumu or Deborah Rose Hālani + thereʻs the other Wise Guides with whom you can book sessions too…