Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 25, Number 6, 1 June 2008 — Fallen to Kauwā [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Fallen to Kauwā

By Mūke Kupihea In the following excerpt from my most recent released book, The Cry ofthe Huna, published and released by Inner Traditions in

May of 2005, I wish you to take note of the use of the word axle and spin, and it's play on the contents of the portion of the book that I have selected to share in relation to just a few words onee spoken to me by the elder Kala. "The story I have to tell is one of the present, and one of the past, one that finds fault, and one that seeks forgiveness, as I travel to the most ancestrally remote temples of Hawaiian spirituality, all the while seeking, the most ancestrally remote voices of my priestly ancestors. Yet the story I share is also a warning that speaks to the descendants of the hereditary spirit of Polynesia! For if the spirit of our ancestors continues to decline at its present rate of descent into the future, and the wheels of western minds are allowed to eontinue to burn the age-old oils of its proclaimed anointment at its present rate of consumption, the descending spirits of our ancestors will all but disappear from the forefront of our children's minds. It is a story that is not unique to Hawai'i or Polynesia, but one that has truly taken plaee time and time again throughout the history of the non-European world, following upon the 1492 datum of Christopher Columbus. It is one native's account of the spiritual genocide wreaked upon his priestly ancestors by the descendants of European kingdoms, that followed upon the 1778 datum of Captain Iames Cook, who claimed by titles, and demanded by force of anns, all the while betraying by religious indoctrination, to pave over the spiritual native pathways of old. With western roads of deceit, that led to the establishment of their own corrupted eulture, that deceived even the teachings of its own, the westerner's proclaimed God, by his own creation of separation between the morality of his State that governs from the morality of his State of Worship. To appear to make right, the wrong, of the building of his nation on the inheritance of another's peoples god-given genesis and inherit land of origin. "Thence the ehoiee in reality facing all native Hawaiians today, is what prison we wish to remain

in, one of western religion that divides us all by denomination into separate cells of spiritual eonfinement by decree. Or of the State that divides us all by social status into separate cells of eeonomie confinement by degree. "Henee; are we to heeome a Nation of Prisoners confined by separation, within a Nation of Prisoners built on separation. Or escape from both to heeome a Nation of One Hereditary Spirit, living off the Quality of the Life and not the Quantity of the Economy of the Land that will surely destroy its life. "For in the history of 'fallen gods' throughout the world, one will find that whenever a spiritual ingress has brought about a spiritual exodus, it has revolved on an 'axle' that 'spun' out the old native religions that turned the native societies of old, and 'spun' in a foreign religion that turned a foreign society. The 'axle' was always the establishment of a fraudulent new kingdom and church of state that turned outside of itself for legitimacy by inviting an ingression of foreign powers to run their new wheels of fortune until all native prizes were 'spun' away. "The native prizes, sadly, were always the land, culture and spiritual heritage of a victimized native people who were forced to make an internal exodus from their hereditary fortunes, to 'spin' the 'new axle' until all their native prizes were consumed by the eeonomie engines of foreign ingression. "Thus I believe the life-given breath of the elder Kala, somehow inspired the above line of thought to appear in my mind some thirty years later." Editor 's note: In thefirst installment ofthe essay Fallen to Kauwā, Kaua'i-based author Moke Kupihea described how parables of his elders were often wrapped in humor, thus helping to perpetuate them with the enjoyment and laughter its re-telling woukl bring. Here, his second of three installments takes a more serious look at story-telling, through the words of his elder Kala Kapahu. Fallen to Kauwā will appear in its entirety in the July online issue at www.oha.org/kawaiola. ^

MO'OMEHEU - CULĪURE

Moke Kupihea's most recent release, īhe Cry ofthe Huna. - Photo: Courtesy of Innei īraditions, Bear & Co.