I Wonder

Honoka’a is a little town in the northern part of Hawaii’s Big Island that overlooks the Pacific Ocean at an altitude of about 1,000 feet. It is named for the many caves which have been created by the ocean’s endless pounding of tall cliffs along this part of the Hamakua coast. Sitting here today in my ‘sea cave’ (honoka’a), breathing the ‘breath of God’ (hamakua), I wonder about the world.

I wonder why we have created such a busy world where the simple and profound acts of life (such as taking a single day off for deep meditation and contemplation) have become something we can only do by working, working and working to save for a ‘vacation.’ Ana reminds me that the word vacation means that one ‘vacates’ their routine place or way of living and working in order to find a more exciting or relaxing place to be for awhile.

I wonder why some so-called ‘primitive’ cultures (e.g., the Zuni of New Mexico) may have over 200 days of ‘vacation’ or ‘ceremonial celebration’ as a community, while we can only muster up a hand full of holidays (used to be ‘holy days’), and two or three weeks of personal vacation time per year.

I wonder why we think that happiness comes from complex, technology-crazy living and low-brow entertainment, rather than the ancient cultural dictum of ‘simple living, high thinking.’

It is said that five millennia ago in Naimisaranya, India, once believed to be the ‘hub of the universe,’ many seers gathered to perform a great sacrifice for the benefit of the people of our time. They were able to see what would be the lacks and needs of those who would take birth in this Winter Age of the Universe. That ‘Kali Yuga Age’ was just beginning, and the sages saw signs of a coming ‘spiritual winter’ when earth’s residents would become wrapped up in worldly affairs, working like animals just for material maintenance—thus missing the precious opportunity for spiritual evolution available in the human form of life.

Long ago, the sages foretold that such a time would come. Those great souls seemed to always spend their time by the river, a holy river such as the Ganges or the Jordan. Thinking thus, sitting here in the little seaside town of Honoka’a, I release my mind from wondering and worrying about the imperfections of this day and age and offer gratitude for the gift of this day---a day to sit by the Ocean into which all of the holy rivers flow.

So today, like our spiritual ancestors, I sit by the water, chant ancient mantras, feel the purity of God’s breath, and look out to where sacred rivers of all faiths have mingled together as one. And, in awe, I wonder.