la_belle_laide | Mark Keali'i Ho'omalu's Question:

Question:
What is "po"?

"Po" is described as night, or darkness.
In the early times of Hawai'i, Hawai'i ran on the lunar cycle;
the Hawaiian day started at midnight,
hence the days of the week:
Po'akahi is Monday, Po'alua is Tuesday, and so forth.

Question:
What does Po, beyond the horizon, imply?

Po also means obscurity,
or things not understood.
Mythically, it was the time of the divide,
the Time of the Gods.
For some it's a sacred period for
ancestral connections.

Question:
Where is Po?

Po is beyond the horizon.
It's the last step to Destiny.
It's a tangled web of mystery no one can escape.
It's the realm of the unconscious.

Ao means light,
and that belongs to the living.
Po and Ao are just two sides of the same coin;
a coin we all carry.
Neither exists without the other,
and that's a fact.

Question:
What does "beyond the horizon" mean?

It means the limits to one's understanding.
Many people think I push the boundaries,
which also means "horizons."
I don't think so.
Yet maybe that I'm not on the same side of the boundaries as others.
I'd rather not limit myself to others' beliefs and fears.

Question:
Where do Hawaiian spirits live?

Hawaiian spirits live in those of us who are Hawaiian.
It's a mindset.
It's the idea of being Hawaiian,
and identifying with things Hawaiian.
It's the Hawaiian consciousness.
It doesn't matter where we go,
Hawai'i is in us,
and being conscious of that
keeps the spirit of Hawai'i alive.

Question:
If you're not in Hawai'i, how do you malama 'aina?

Malama 'aina refers to caring for the ancestral lands.
It means to tend and maintain its wellbeing.
Our ancestral lands doesn't necessarily mean the ground,
or the earth we walk on;
it also means you yourself,
the living 'aina.
You can trace your ancestry from geneological records,
and now thanks to science,
you can trace your lineage through your DNA.
It now seems that in your bones
lies the traces of your ancestors,
and you, the living Earth--
It's this 'aina that you should care for.
If you malama your 'aina,
it will take care of you.

Question:
As a Hawaiian, where do you go after life?

I go to Po.
With so many cultural beliefs, the obvious is overlooked.
Hope, faith and trust
are all factors of belief,
yet it all takes consciousness.
This seems to be the idea of comfort,
thoughtful ways to accept the inevitable.
You can change your religious beliefs,
but you can't change who you are.
You are the descendent of your ancestors,
and the ancestor of your descendents.
Hawaiian spirits go to Po.

When you sleep,
your unconscious mind is allowed to venture with your ancestors.
It's then that you are most able to connect with yourself.
Even then we sometimes become afraid of what we dream;
yet we are the creators of our dreams,
so why be afraid?

These are the obscurities of Po.

Question...

Question.
Question.
Question.
Question.