“Aloha mai e”
Journal diary entry – 17 September 2017 – As I sit with coffee in hand, gazing out the French doors to the morning garden outside. I am thinking about the kind words and remembrances shared byPatrice Rohmer and Hugh John Malanaphy about my Hawaii Journal article. These thoughts somehow, which is not uncommon for me, move quickly to entertain larger concepts pertaining to the vital aspect of Storytelling and its relationship to Self, Community, and the World. My computer is on and to capture some of the fleeting thoughts I start to type.
On my flight going to Hawaii, in September 2017, there was a Disney movie offered to the passengers called “Moana”, but with the excitement of the trip, I did not watch it on the plane. Once back home, having a little free time I decided to watch it. It was visually creative, fun, and as hoped done in the tradition of the great Storytelling tradition. A Tradition I came to learn from through coursework that Prosperos Student Sue Beck and myself attended the Center for Story and Symbol held at Loyola Marymount University in May of 1999 by Jonathan Young, Ph D., Dr. Young was an associated of Joseph Campbell and a founding curator of the Campbell Library in Santa Barbara, Ca.
The movie Moana bore all the earmarks of the mythic journey from Self to Soul, of the Hero’s Journey. The interesting thing is, that this time the Hero is female and is only eight years old. The story tells how she had to let go of who people wanted her to be, for who she was. But To become who she was, she had to learn the old ways, the practices that her people had put away, even forgotten. Once she took up the old ways and practices she was able to learn to navigate the symbolic maps of her inner journey. In the movie, it showed that we do not do it alone. Our helpers may not look or act as we would think they should, but to get to where we want to be, it is important to acknowledge and work with them.
My thoughts, move then to the concept of the Inner-Child, and from there to the book “All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten: Uncommon Thoughts On Common Things” by RobertFulghum.
In Closing I want to share some favorite quotes by Robert Fulghum :
“These are the things I learned (in Kindergarten)”:
1. Share everything.
2. Play fair.
3. Don’t hit people.
4. Put things back where you found them.
5. CLEAN UP YOUR OWN MESS.
6. Don’t take things that aren’t yours.
7. Say you’re SORRY when you HURT somebody.
8. Wash your hands before you eat.
9. Flush.
10. Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
11. Live a balanced life – learn some and drink some and draw some and paint some and sing and dance and play and work every day some.
12. Take a nap every afternoon.
13. When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together.
14. Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup: The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.
15. Goldfish and hamster and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup – they all die. So do we.
16. And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned – the biggest word of all – LOOK.”
“Think what a better world it would be if we all the whole world had cookies and milk about three o’clock every afternoon and then lay down with our blankies for a nap. Or if all governments had a basic policy to always put things back where they found them and to clean up their own mess.
And it is still true, no matter how old you are when you go out into the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together.”
“Without realizing it, we fill important places in each other’s lives. It’s that way with the guy at the corner grocery, the mechanic at the local garage, the family doctor, teachers, neighbors, coworkers. Good people who are always “there,” who can be relied upon in small, important ways. People who teach us, bless us, encourage us, support us, uplift us in the dailiness of life. We never tell them. I don’t know why, but we don’t.
And, of course, we fill that role ourselves. There are those who depend on us, watch us, learn from us, take from us. And we never know.
You may never have proof of your importance, but you are more important than you think. There are always those who couldn’t do without you. The rub is that you don’t always know who.”
“Every person passing through this life will unknowingly leave something and take something away. Most of this “something” cannot be seen or heard or numbered or scientifically detected or counted. It’s what we leave in the minds of other people and what they leave in ours. Memory. The census doesn’t count it. Nothing counts without it.”
“I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge. That myth is more potent than history. That dreams are more powerful than facts. That hope always triumphs over experience. That laughter is the only cure for grief. And I believe that love is stronger than death.”
May this be useful to all my companions on the Mythic Journey.
Me ka aloha pumehana
Aloha
Calvin