~Insert Kumu’s reflection.~

Editors’ Notes

~ Insert Kumu’s note.~

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The values and traditions shared in the Articles of Aloha are some of the most precious and poignant aspects of our collective human traditions.

These values and ethics of our cultures are an opportunity to embark on a journey of continual learning and relationship.

Each language is a way of engaging with all things, every thought, the entire Universe.

Some of the most precious aspects of words or wisdom can be lost simply because of our lack of understanding of their paradigms.

Our understanding of these values will evolve as we individually and collectively commit to practicing them. The journey will be imperfect and human, but we must constantly recommit to them everyday.

We must humble ourselves to the awareness that we may only understand what we are ready to have revealed to us even if they are the most superficial elements of certain values and traditions shared in the Articles.

Acknowledging that one can never fully comprehend Aloha, it provides us an opportunity for each of us to embark on a personal journey that will ideally be a lifelong commitment. Only as we grow and heal will our path of awareness and understanding of Aloha become more brightly illuminated.

Aloha is an opportunity to be in relationship. It is a choice to not dull reality and be present with the world around us, one another, and ourselves. It is a path towards empathy versus choosing the apathy that comes from trauma, the constant bombardment of stimulation, and an attack on our social bonds and happiness.

Choosing to ignore the impacts of our actions and the reality of our lifestyle choices and business dealings has been a matter of convenience and even a livelihood for some. When we do this on a global-scale, it has devastating impacts on the lives of everyday people.

Globalization is causing us to lose our culture and the way of life I’ve grown up with. Hawai’i has become a microcosm of globalization, being the most isolated inhabited islands on Earth. Food, energy, water, housing, and the cost of living are skyrocketing. Currently, there are now more Native Hawaiians or Kanaka Maoli living on the continent than in Hawai’i for that very reason.

We must acknowledge where we’re at. And to do that, we must first be honest with ourselves before we can be honest with the world. Our political paradigms are concepts that we can only use to measure how far away we truly are from them.

We must aim towards a way of being and civilization where what is true for the individual should also be true for the collective.

To heal ourselves collectively, we must also heal individually, and it is perhaps only through collective healing that we can ultimately heal individually.

I believe Aloha and living with gratitude and compassion in harmony with all living things is the most precious resource on our planet, and we’re losing it. Aloha is the opposite of apathy.  Apathy is the greatest issue facing humanity right now.

As we reveal this path for ourselves, we must remain grateful and continually focus on gratitude. Only through this appreciation of the journey towards Aloha and having empathy for ourselves can we fully realize our commitments to one another.

A lack of empathy leads to war, terrorism, environmental and cultural disintegration, and our potential extinction. Returning to business with the heart component, human relationship, is the only way to return to a lifestyle in harmony with the Earth.

As a young man, I traveled the world doing international aid work and community building, and I realized the only way to reverse the negative effects of globalization is by creating local market security and creating resilient communities. And as I explored that, I learned that the best way to create sustainable GDP and resilient communities is through local food systems. It’s a return to being in relationship with the foods, products, and businesses in our lives.

Exploring economies where the primary capital is relationship and gifting versus a paradigm of selling and using money is important to juxtapose and integrate with community-based business.

Returning to a relationship with the various aspects and impacts of our lives and having empathy for the people that our decisions affect is the key to preserving our various cultures and the natural world.

Applying the Values and Practices of Aloha can brings us together. It can mend bridges and build new ones. It is the doorway to preserving life as we know it.

Returning to the community relationships where we know and support each other on a daily basis is a part of our collective nature that must be reclaimed. It is a constant recommitment. We must move through the noise in our lives back to being in relationship with one another and the Earth, Sea, and Sky that sustain us.

The Articles of Aloha are aimed at being stepping stones for the ethics and best practices that each of us, our businesses and organizations, and our governments can collectively agree to and constantly strive

Christopher Spezzano, EmpathyX, Founder & President