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Huna Kupua
The Aloha Spirit
Your Power To Bless
The Eye of Kanaloa
Territoriality
Ku and Lono Dancing
Why There Is War
The Rules We Live By
A Friendly Love
Getting Centered
A Lateral Perspective
A Tiny Flower
Decisions
How To Love
Rituals and Society
Home
Terry Kuehn
Tacoma, Washington |
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Ukuli'i ka pua, onaona i
ka mau'u
"Tiny is the flower, yet it scents the grasses around it"
The quotation above is a proverb from
Hawaiian tradition. In English we would call it the "ripple effect." In French
it would be tache d'huile, or "drop of oil."
The concept is one that has been
recognized all over the world, but somehow the Hawaiian is more poetic and
three-dimensional. It says that small things can have large effects. A modern equivalent
is chaos theory. As used by meteorologists it says that a butterfly flapping its wings in
Japan can cause tornadoes in Texas.
Another concept from Hawaii, the most
powerful idea in its tradition and one which has spread its influence around the world,
meeting and merging with its counterparts in other cultures, is the simple idea of what
Hawaiians call "the aloha spirit."
Usually translated as "love,"
the aloha spirit includes the ideas of friendship, acceptance, compassion, mercy,
gratitude, assistance and cooperation. So we say a person shows aloha when they greet you
warmly, when they give you a smile, when they help you out if you are in need, when they
remember to thank you for a favor, when they act like a friend, and when they forgive
wrongs done to them. There is a sexual side to aloha, too, but it always implies a loving
sexuality. The association between flowers and love is more than coincidental, since
flowers are actually the sexual organs of plants.
It is obvious that the ideas and actions
behind aloha are not exclusive to Hawaii, and that is the point. Flowers grow in other
places besides the Hawaiian Islands. The flowers of love grow wild, and it is wonderful to
encounter them by surprise. However, they can also be cultivated and shared more
abundantly.
Just as we raise flowers with the
conscious intent to distribute them as widely as we can, so can we cultivate the practice
of love for wider distribution.
The idea behind the tiny flower is that
it doesn't really matter how small you are, whether in size or numbers. It doesn't matter
how much you know, or how skilled you are. It doesn't matter how much education or how
many credentials you have. What really matters is how you affect the world around you.
You are like a tiny flower, and
everything you do affects your world. When you smile, others feel better even when they
don't acknowledge it or you aren't aware of them. Have you ever smiled in response to
seeing two other people smile at each other? Or laughed quietly along with a laughing
child? When you help one person, many others feel uplifted. Those others might be some who
have benefited from the help, some who have seen the help, some who have heard about the
help, or some who have responded in a positive way to the good feelings of those who were
helped.
Each time you act with loving intent you
are sowing seeds for the growth of others in ways you may never see and among those you
may never know.
Like the perfume of a tiny flower, the
effects of your actions spread far beyond the area of your immediate perceptions.
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