On June 21st, 2013  Konrad and I sold our home in Huntington and headed west. (See previous blog for pictures of that trip.) And July 1st will mark our first anniversary in Puna. I’ve kept you fairly well updated through January 1st, 2014 and then the blog has been silent mostly because my energy has gone towards activities that I call, “Sitting in Circles.”

I have a deep sense of gratitude for how my life has expanded since we headed west. When I started this blog almost a year ago, I knew I was charting new territory for myself. I felt impelled to make this move, as I have discussed before. (Click on link) But I had no idea of the riches that would show up in terms of the people, places and things in my life. Living in Puna has enabled me to discover what drives my passion in life: being connected to people and the land. This blog is about the former. A subsequent blog will focus on the latter.

January 1st is not a date to which I usually attach much significance. Yet this New Year marked a transition, as Konrad and I were moving into a new phase: we were no longer “newbies” on the block.  Returning to Hilo from my Christmas Vacation with my children and grandchildren in Oahu (see previous blog), I was coming home. The following weekend, I checked-in with my fellow MKP warrior brothers at our annual gathering that I was feeling  anxious about the next six months. I was fearful: Was my experience in Puna going to deepen?

I received a thunderous response in the coming weeks, as I plunged myself even more deeply into the passions that initially led me to Hawaii.

Conceptually, part of the answer came from listening to Harry Uhane Jim, a Hawaiian Kahuna (or wiseman) who had been holding twice monthly talks about Hawaiian culture at the Kalani Retreat Center. In one of these talks in January, he spoke about the difference of living in pyramid or circle cultures. The former is organized around hierarchy and status–where truth and meaning flows downward from the top; whereas in the latter, truth and meaning  is created by an on-going collaboration with members in the circle. For me the culture of the pyramid dominated most of my life in New York; however, the culture of the circle is all-pervasive here on Big Island.

 

Let me introduce you to the circles in which I sit on at least a weekly basis:

• My I-Group of fellow MKP warrior brothers: We call ourselves the Aloha Group, which meets  weekly  at the Hawaiian Sanctuary. (See previous blog for a discussion of my experience at my I-Group.) Our circle is also open to all men, regardless of whether they have participated in the New Warrior Training Adventure (NWTA), and on the first Monday of every other month to women. I have been sitting in I(integration)-groups since I first became initiated in MKP in May 2003. Here I have a group of men who  support me in my desire to live a life of integrity with my mission. At last night’s circle, the king or facilitator focused on mission. He gave us an exercise to see if we were  congruent with our mission. He had us list the most five most important things in our lives and then list the five ways we spend most of our time. (You might want to do this activity for yourself.)  The exercise showed me that I “walk my talk”–that what I hold most important is how I spend most of the time. The take-away from the evening for me was that I could bless myself as a man who lives his mission, follows his dreams, and lives a life of integrity.

• Monthly Elder Circles: One of the great pleasures of becoming an elder is that doing takes a backseat to being. At this stage in my life, the point of comparison is not above or below as in a pyramid culture, but rather horizontally with others who inspire and instruct and my Self that lies within. Sitting in elder circles of men over the age of 50 is a homecoming experience for me as an elder. Whereas my I-group contains a mix of energies, given the variety of ages and mix of initiated or non-initiated men, here I can feast on the deep wisdom and beauty of elderhood. These elder circles were very much a part of my life in New York, and fortunately, I was able to create monthly elder circles here on Big Island. The first one was at my home in December, and we rotate back and forth between the east and west side of the Island.

• World Elder Gathering, Oct 2015: At the annual gathering of Hawaii MKP at the Hawaiian Sanctuary in January 2014, I stepped up and was blessed with the role of  point man for the World Elder Gathering that will take place at the Kalani Retreat Center, Oct. 11-15, 2015. I am currently working with a group of elders on Big Island, the mainland and England to create this event.  We hope to draw 150 elders, both men and women from around the world, to learn from each other how to create sustainable communities for the benefit of the next seven generations. The website for this event will be launched by September 1st, 2014. Stay tuned.

http://youtu.be/YU6eJuqj5E4

Click to see what you can expect when you visit the Kalani Retreat Center.

 

• Boys to Men Mentoring Project: Last October I attended a Boys to Men Mentoring workshop in Honokaa, on the northern side of Big Island. (See this blog entry.) Since then I have become the point man to bring Boys to Men to Puna. We had a meeting of mentors at my home in January to launch this work, a subsequent training session for mentors at Hawaiian Sanctuary, meetings  with the principals of two local charter schools who want us to mentor their 7th and 8th grade boys in weekly circles starting this August, and plans for a second training session that is specifically focused on including Native Hawaiian men (kanaka maoli) in our training.

• Tutoring: My teaching has always been about creating circles of learning. My one-on-one work with students continues via Skype with students in New York and I have been volunteering my services at the two local charter school and the public high school. This is  my favorite service activity, as few interactions give me as much pleasure as helping young men and women realize their brilliance of which they themselves are only dimly aware. I come the closest to realizing my mission in these sessions:  serving as a channel of divine love through my truth telling and compassion by which others and myself will experience our glory.

• Puna Mastermind Community: In January I brought together about a dozen men and women who wanted to create a mastermind group to raise the level of abundance for themselves and for the community here in Puna. Puna is the poorest district in the state of Hawaii, and yet it has one of the highest concentration of mindful, conscious, intelligent people I have yet encountered. I have documented our work on a website/blog (www.punamastermind.org) and we have been responsible for one of our members, Dr. Roy Lozano, running for a seat on the County Council of Big Island and plans for the creation of a Hale Aloha (Visitor Welcome Center) at the Pahoa Museum in Pahoa beginning this August. My involvement with the Puna Mastermind Community has led me to sit in two other circles.

• Campaign for Roy Lozano: I met Roy and his wife, Barbara back in July when I first moved here. He is a fellow MKP warrior and chiropractor, who lives in a beautiful house that he built with his family overlooking the Pacific, not far from the place where Konrad and I initially stayed when we arrived in Puna. Roy is a kindred soul. It was probably at the second or third meeting of the Puna Mastermind Community that he said he would run for the County Council, if I would create a website. I immediately said, “Yes!” This is an issues-driven campaign about how to raise and protect the quality of life in Puna. In May, Roy asked me to become the campaign chair.  Though I have no prior experience in organizing a political campaign (yet this trait might be “bred in the bones,” as my mom did this for much of her adult life), I accepted because the campaign was being driven by individuals who have a deep commitment and passion to support and nurture the way of life here in Puna.  Please see the website: www.lozano4puna.com for a  view of local politics in action.

• Puna Web of Trust: In March I went to a meeting at a neighbor’s house called by 37 year-old man, Daniel Levy, who has a vision of creating a currency of trust that could be used in lieu of dollars to exchange agricultural products, goods, and services. It took a couple of meetings to get my mind around this concept of Web of Trust, but from the first I have been most impressed with the depth of preparation, thought, and passion that Daniel continually brings to this endeavor.  I have made a commitment to help him broadcast his vision in order to reach a larger audience in Puna. Daniel’s project could have a significant impact on synergizing the energies and talents of the people of Puna to realize their dreams.

 

• The Two F’s: Family and Friends.  Lastly, the most important circles in my life are my family and my friends. This is the fifth home that Konrad and I have established since 1997 and our relationship is certainly the bedrock of my foundation. Love and joy flow easily between us. Fortunately, technology (the gift of pyramid culture) has allowed me to stay in close contact with my immediate family of children and grandchildren through weekly Skype sessions, and with my  my brother and sister, their children and my cousins. In May I flew to Tokyo for a week to celebrate “Golden Week,” a Japanese holiday commemorating their emperors, and to begin hopefully a yearly tradition of family time with Eric, Ayako, Leo and Marion in Japan. One of the reasons I decided to move to Hawaii was to be midway between my children (Rachel lives in Oakland) and have my grandchildren learn to surf in Hawaii. Fortunately, I have been blessed by a visit of friends in March and April. Hint! Hint!

Click to see me going the slide with Marion

 

Conclusion:

One man in my I-group said I was being an “overachiever” in taking on all these activities since I have been here. There might be some truth in that statement, but I feel more like I am learning to be resolute in only doing what I feel called to do. The above is not work; it is play. I have come to understand viscerally, Joseph Campbell’s injunction: “Follow your bliss.” I decided to step down from the Board of the Puna Community Medical Center at the end of my one-year term because I wasn’t adding nor receiving value from sitting in this circle.

I believe that circle culture is the way forward.  It’s interesting to note that Harry Uhane Jim, who is a descendant of a famous line of Hawaiian kahanas, recognizes the historical value of pyramid culture: it created the economic and technological basis of modern civilization.  Harry blesses pyramid culture because it has spread the idea of Aloha around the world. And in the homeland of Aloha, solutions are coming forth to meet the urgent challenges stemming from a global, competitive, materialistic culture that is no longer sustainable.

Circle cultures seek to create a sustainable way of life that honors the individual, the family, the community and Gaia, Mother Earth.  Pyramid culture will not solve the challenges we face today. It is the root of many of these problems. I believe that new ways of advancing life lie in the consciousness of the circle, in the culture of Aloha (Love & Respect) that pervades much of life here in Puna and elsewhere around the world. I know this is true for me because circle culture has provided a continual stream of wisdom, support and blessing.