community
October 2008 
Hawaiian Chant for the Whole Truth
tajmahalo
I've been talking with some friends lately about creating a "Truth Summit" - a conference whose theme is truth in all of it's diverse manifestations - spiritual truth, psychological truth, as in not lying to oneself or distorting perceptions with defense mechanisms, truth telling in relationships, in business, in medicine, in politics, truth and love, truth and integrity, truth and ethics - you name it.
It occurs to me that truth in all it's forms is the basis for sustainable community. The following chant was written by one of my Hawaiian teachers, Keala Ching, kumu of Pu'u Honua o Honaunau (Place of Refuge) on the Big Island of Hawaii. I love this simple chant which says it all - and is easy enough for me to have learned it! - and want to share it with you all.
Ho mai ka ike ike papalua e
Bless us with the truth that stands in light
Ho mai ka I’ini I’ini papalua e
Bless us with the truth that stands in the shadow
Ho mai ka mana, mana papalua e
Bless us with the truth that stands in light and shadow
Ho mai, ho mai, ho mai ka papalua e
Bless us with the complete truth
E ola
Access: Public
And ultimately our highest spiritual pursuit is truth, thank you for this, Taj.
Thank you for this.
Not long ago my partner realised that that the Holy Spirit was calling her into Church Ministry as a priest, and she has started taking a theology course. She has in her life used a wide range of tools to help foster empowerment in herself and others. Many of these tools are “frowned upon” by “committed Christians” and held to be “instruments of the devil” by fundamentalist believers, some of whom are studying theology with her. But she declares both by her actions and her words that she “must dare to be the whole of who I Am” - for, as she says, if the church that is said to follow the radical-Truth-sayer/liver Jesus, cannot be a place of unfettered investigation and Truth-seeking, then there is no point to its existence, nor to its ministry. Indeed such ministry will be utterly hypocritical.
I notice in my own life how easy it is to “go back and hide behind” old half-truthful ways, subconsciously to be loved and approved of, even if I KNOW that this is the way to destruction of all I hold dear! Those “approval needs” are SO strong in me (in us/in society) fostered by generations and milennia of adapting/survival. (I thought I'd dealt with this!!!!)
Having safe spaces where we can just be and are accepted, going through the truth-process with all its halting progress, is, for me, one of the most pressing needs of today!
Thank you for this post
John O