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  • Question about "mana"

    This is something my wife thought of and I said I'd post it on here and ask. I mean this honestly, so my apologies up front if it comes out sounding offensive:

    I've heard of people saying a place has great mana. For those who believe in this, do you think that is a perception of the person seeing, or an inherent quality of the place? Is it something that, for example, day after day of full tour buses would destroy?

  • #2
    Re: Question about "mana"

    For me, it's a "chicken skin" factor. There are some places in Hawai'i where I can walk and get that "chicken skin" feeling. For instance, on Maui, there's a place within the Hawaiian Homestead in Waihee that has an incredible vista of Kahului and Wailuku. It just happens to be the site of 2 heiaus. I go up there to feel the wind blowing and for the quiet of the place (I've never visited there when there have been other people around). I feel that same thing whenever I go into Iao Valley. I felt that in Hana, when I visited Piihanahale heiau too, and hiking on the lava beds at Ahihi-Kinau Marine Reserve in South Maui. It isn't a creepy feeling, it's more like a warmth and is very comforting to me.

    The entire island of Moloka'i gives me chicken skin. Koke'e, the area around the alae salt ponds near Hanapepe and hiking near Haena State Park on Kauai give me the same feeling. Looking into Halemaumau Crater does the same thing to me. It's hard to explain, because going into a temple or church doesn't give me that same "chicken skin" feeling, so it can't be about religion.

    I don't think busloads of tourists could dilute mana, but I could say that most of the tourists wouldn't feel the same thing as those who believe a place has mana and therefore wouldn't respect the area as much as those who do feel it. And that disrepect comes from not knowing about the place and not out of maliciousness in most cases.

    Miulang
    "Americans believe in three freedoms. Freedom of speech; freedom of religion; and the freedom to deny the other two to folks they don`t like.” --Mark Twain

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    • #3
      Re: Question about "mana"

      Thanks Miulang. I wasn't even sure how to phrase the question really. It's something I don't have a very good vocabulary for but I think I know just what you mean.

      I don't know if it's the mana that I'm experiencing at these places, but they do feel more to me like what you'd expect to feel in a church than what I feel in a church. You go there and there's a sudden quiet, the sun seems a little brighter, and the wind seems to respond to your thoughts. It has more presence, like it would talk with you if it had speech, but it does the next best thing if you pay attention.

      The "dilution" question was sorta in relation to the mainland actually. For whatever reason it seems like there are more places like this in the islands. I was reading that God is Red book and he describes a similar sort of thing for Indians. So I had to wonder if all the colonizing and "manifest destiny" we'd performed had something to do with it.

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      • #4
        Re: Question about "mana"

        Originally posted by Bard View Post
        Thanks Miulang. I wasn't even sure how to phrase the question really. It's something I don't have a very good vocabulary for but I think I know just what you mean.

        I don't know if it's the mana that I'm experiencing at these places, but they do feel more to me like what you'd expect to feel in a church than what I feel in a church. You go there and there's a sudden quiet, the sun seems a little brighter, and the wind seems to respond to your thoughts. It has more presence, like it would talk with you if it had speech, but it does the next best thing if you pay attention.

        The "dilution" question was sorta in relation to the mainland actually. For whatever reason it seems like there are more places like this in the islands. I was reading that God is Red book and he describes a similar sort of thing for Indians. So I had to wonder if all the colonizing and "manifest destiny" we'd performed had something to do with it.
        You have to remember, Bard, that the kanaka maoli are very spiritual people. And like the Native Americans, they "worshipped" the land and nature. They believe that if you take care of the land and ocean, they will take care of you. When people stray from being the protectors of the natural resources, that's when she will betray them. And they believe that what we do today needs to result in positive things for 7 generations into the future.

        Another place with great mana is Sedona, AZ. New Agers claim that there are many vortices there. I haven't visited there yet, but my guess is that if I did visit the red hills outside Sedona, that same "chicken skin" feeling would wash over me.

        Miulang
        "Americans believe in three freedoms. Freedom of speech; freedom of religion; and the freedom to deny the other two to folks they don`t like.” --Mark Twain

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        • #5
          Re: Question about "mana"

          Originally posted by Miulang View Post
          You have to remember, Bard, that the kanaka maoli are very spiritual people. And like the Native Americans, they "worshipped" the land and nature. They believe that if you take care of the land and ocean, they will take care of you. When people stray from being the protectors of the natural resources, that's when she will betray them. And they believe that what we do today needs to result in positive things for 7 generations into the future.

          Another place with great mana is Sedona, AZ. New Agers claim that there are many vortices there. I haven't visited there yet, but my guess is that if I did visit the red hills outside Sedona, that same "chicken skin" feeling would wash over me.

          Miulang
          I know one couple who got engaged there, and another who got married there...right in the hills. I hear about how magical Sedona is all the time.

          I doubt I'd like it as much as hawaii tho
          http://tikiyakiorchestra.com
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          • #6
            Re: Question about "mana"

            This subject is the exact reason why I live where I do. I feel an "energy" along the Waianae Coast that I feel nowhere else. It begins, oddly enough, at the Kahe power plant! How appropriate, huh? I get a similar feeling at Kona Village Resort but it's more of a previous lifetime kinda déjà vu. Makaha for me is more, as Miulang puts it, chicken skin...comingled with a sense of serenity and fulfillment. Hard to explain, actually.

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            • #7
              Re: Question about "mana"

              Originally posted by Miulang View Post
              You have to remember, Bard, that the kanaka maoli are very spiritual people. And like the Native Americans, they "worshipped" the land and nature. They believe that if you take care of the land and ocean, they will take care of you. When people stray from being the protectors of the natural resources, that's when she will betray them. And they believe that what we do today needs to result in positive things for 7 generations into the future.
              All sounds entirely sensible to me!

              Originally posted by Miulang View Post
              Another place with great mana is Sedona, AZ. New Agers claim that there are many vortices there. I haven't visited there yet, but my guess is that if I did visit the red hills outside Sedona, that same "chicken skin" feeling would wash over me.
              When I lived in Tucson we used to laugh a little at the New Agers in Sedona -- we drove through once and we saw a gas station that had been converted into a crystal shop. "Drive-through crystals" is what we called it. It's true though, it's a pretty awesome place. Sadly it's now going through what a lot of parts of Hawai`i are going through: we could hardly even stop in town because there was a continuous line of cars coming down into the canyon, gridlocked in town, and back out the other side. And lots of real estate businesses on the main drag. You can probably guess.

              There are places like that if you look for them. We used to take moonlight hikes in Sabino Canyon in Tucson, which was really incredible. Last time I was visiting they had put in a tour bus to take people farther into the canyon and started charging admission. Figures -- people seem to be able to intuit these places but often don't know why.

              Grand Canyon, Enchanted Rock near Austin, TX, Box Canyon Falls near Ouray, CO,... I run into places that feel that way to me but it's never been like the places I've been in Hawai`i. Thus the question. Could all our years of neglect of that aspect of things have caused it to be less? Or is it just like a dusty picture that needs some TLC? Or is it even just my personal perception?

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              • #8
                Re: Question about "mana"

                Originally posted by Bard View Post
                ...You go there and there's a sudden quiet, the sun seems a little brighter, and the wind seems to respond to your thoughts. It has more presence, like it would talk with you if it had speech, but it does the next best thing if you pay attention.
                Maybe it is you that has more "presence" at these moments, in these places. I feel it too now and zen.
                “First we fought the preliminary round for the k***s and now we’re gonna fight the main event for the n*****s."
                http://hollywoodbitchslap.com/review...=416&printer=1

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                • #9
                  Re: Question about "mana"

                  Originally posted by sinjin View Post
                  Maybe it is you that has more "presence" at these moments, in these places. I feel it too now and zen.
                  "Now and zen" -- nice Yeah, I've given a lot of thought to that possibility. That's what I meant in the top post about whether it's a perception of the person looking or a quality of the place. It seems like the answer is probably (IMO) "a little of both", since people seem to congregate at these places sometimes.

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