Death

          In the “things I have learned from my Huna studies” category, I offer one of the most rational and simultaneously comforting perspectives on death that I have come across despite widely diverse explorations into a variety of spiritual and cultural vistas.

          It just so happened that the last time I studied one-on-one with Serge Kahili King on the Big Island, one of my dear friends was at home in the end stages of her battle with a rare and deadly cancer.  She and her family were under the expert care of hospice when I made my journey to Hawaii.  She did, indeed, pass away while I was with Serge and Gloria King.  Needless to say, the day she died was not a particularly good one for me.  Here I was in a Hawaiian paradise studying with my most revered and beloved mentors but my heart was broken and my mind was miles away.  Gloria, with a warm and generous embrace, explained to me that in Hawaii death means that the soul has simply turned its attention elsewhere.  

          So simple, poignant and empowering – just like everything else I have learned from my studies of Hawaiian culture.  Yes, I was still grieving over the death of my friend but I somehow felt lighter about it all.  Rather than feeling overwhelmed with helplessness, I felt a sense of adventure for my friend and her new journey as her “soul turned its attention elsewhere.” 

          That simple and yet profound change in perspective made all the difference for me that day on the Big Island of Hawaii.  It is now a permanent and consoling part of how I choose to interpret the great mystery of death.  Mahalo, Gloria King. Mahalo.