Ua ao Hawai‘i ke ‘ōlino nei mālamalama.
Hawai‘i is enlightened, for the brightness of day is here.1
The Explorer looks over his shoulder toward the rising sun, welcoming the new day. The Explorer stands on the slopes of Mauna Loa surrounded by ‘ahinahina. He sees the first rays of the rising sun touch the highest peak of the Hawaiian Islands, Maunakea.
The ‘ahinahina surrounding the Explorer thrive in a cold harsh alpine climate. They are endemic to the highest peaks of the Hawaiian Islands.
The Explorer card is in the place of the Crane and Pine card in the Japanese Hanafuda deck. The red crowned cranes migrate to Japan in the winter. Cranes are a Japanese symbol of happiness. Mating pairs of cranes perform exuberant dances in the snow when they are in Japan. The evergreen pine and joyous cranes are symbols of the strength and resilience of life in the bleak cold winter.
Maunakea
Maunakea is the highest island mountain peak in the Pacific. Maunakea is also the largest mountain on Earth.2 Every dawn, the peak of the mountain is the first part of the Hawaiian Islands to receive the light of the sun. Daylight spreads down from Maunakea and across all of the Islands.
Maunakea means “white mountain.” It is named for its snow covered peaks in the winter. The white peak of Maunakea is home of the snow goddess Poli‘ahu. She is an adversary of Pele, the fiery goddess of the lava in Kīlauea volcano. The following legend shows how the two goddesses conflict and balance each other.
Mo‘olelo of Poli‘ahu and Pele
The snow goddess, Poli‘ahu, was sledding down the slopes of Maunakea with her friends, the misty rain, the mountain waters, and the springs of Hawai‘i. A beautiful woman who claimed to be visiting from the far south side of the island arrived and asked to join them. Poli‘ahu and her friends agreed to let the beautiful woman join their friendly competition.
They all took turns speeding down the side of Maunakea. When it was the stranger’s turn to sled down the mountain, fire flew down with her. Poli‘ahu and her friends then recognized the stranger as the volcano goddess Pele.
Pele did not win the sledding competition and became enraged. Earthquakes shook, and fountains of lava burst from the ground. Pele sent lava from Mauna Loa down the valley and up the slopes of Maunakea. Pele’s fire and lava chased Poli‘ahu all the way up to the top of Maunakea.
Poli‘ahu gathered her strength at the peak of Maunakea and cast her mantle of snow down the mountain. Poli‘ahu and her friends fought Pele back down the slopes of Maunakea. They extinguished Pele’s fire and froze the lava at the base of Maunakea. Pele was forced to divert her lava flow toward the sea. Pele, in defeat, retreated back to Kīlauea. From then on, her lava is always diverted toward the ocean at the base of Maunakea.
The mo‘olelo of Poli‘ahu and Pele describes complex relationship between the different mountains on Hawai‘i island. It illustrates how the misty rains and snow of Poli‘ahu supply a flow of water down from the top of Maunakea that blocks lava flowing from Mauna Loa. The lava is diverted toward the sea.
Pele and Poli‘ahu are both powerful goddesses who oppose each other with equal strength. Life is able to thrive in the space between them because they balance each other.3
The Explorer opens to awareness.
The Explorer turns around to look toward the rising sun. He is always turning toward the light seeking awareness. He opens himself to exploring different viewpoints by questioning his beliefs. The Explorer looks in the opposite direction to find knowledge that will balance his understanding.
Poli‘ahu and Pele oppose each other, and they are a pair. Together, they describe a dynamic system. Alone, they describe an incomplete part of the system. The Explorer is always looking for the truths that are oppositional to his understanding.
The Explorer lives pono. Pono is often translated to English as “righteous.” Like in English, Hawaiians recognize that righteousness and self-righteousness are two sides of the same coin. Pono can also mean to be careless and improper. The difference in meaning is indicated by whether the word pono comes before or after the word it is modifying. “Hana pono,” means work carefully. “Pono hana,” means work carelessly. “Mai pono hana ‘oe, akā e hana pono,” means, “don’t work carelessly, but work carefully.”4
The self-righteous try to force the world to be the way they think thing should be. They only consider their own half of the situation. We must constantly check ourselves with objective reasoning to make sure our righteousness doesn’t become self-righteousness.
Objective reasoning allows us to find the the truths that balance our beliefs and expand our awareness. We can develop objectivity by regularly seeking arguments that challenge our beliefs. Nature is a dance between opposing forces. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.The righteous live in harmony within the natural order.
The Explorer understands that knowledge is limited, and ignorance is infinite. He accepts that he can never know the full truth of anything. What makes him aware and enlightened is that his eyes and ears are open to receiving knowledge and experience when the objective evidence is compelling.
Footnotes
- Mary Kawena Pukui, ‘Ōlelo No‘eau Hawaiian Proverbs & Poetical Sayings (Honolulu: Bishop Museum Press, 1983) #2773 ↩︎
- Maunakea is 33,500 feet (10.2 km) tall when measured from the base at the bottom of the ocean to summit. About 19,700 feet (6,000 m) of the mountain is underwater. ↩︎
- W.D. Westervelt, Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes (Boston: G.H. Ellis Press, 1916) p.56 Westervelt gives a more detailed explanation of the participants and meanings in the legend. ↩︎
- Mary Kawena Pukui and Samuel Elbert, Hawaiian Dictionary (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1986), p. 340 ↩︎
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