Official website for Hawaiian Slack Key Guitarist, Singer and Composer Makana » Blog

Makana LA Slack Key Festival

Thu, 17 May 2012 19:53:01 +0000

When: January 20, 2013 @ 8:00 pm - 9:00 pm

The Developing Mind

makana — Thu, 17 May 2012 08:32:53 +0000

The greatest handicap a person can foster within is a propensity to avoid critical thinking. I believe the American federal education system does precisely that; it encourages young people to avoid critical thinking through a binary system of right and wrong, rather than interpretive solutions; it goes further to convert the student’s mind into a virtual landfill of useless, ill-informed data. Rather than nurture the understanding of how to critically think, the system works to condition the developing mind with what it should think, essentially resulting in a mind that can be directed and even controlled utilizing the framework installed during the formative years of education.

- Makana

The Invisible Government

makana — Thu, 17 May 2012 08:16:05 +0000

“Those who manipulate the unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. We are governed, our minds molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested largely by men we have never heard of. In almost every act of our lives, whether in the sphere of politics or business, in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires that control the public mind.”

-Edward Bernays, Pioneer of Corporate PR and Propaganda

A Good Place to Start Learning About FOOD and How It Affects The Body

makana — Wed, 16 May 2012 11:36:38 +0000

Start here: The Weston A. Price Foundation

Activism or Adaptation?

makana — Wed, 16 May 2012 11:08:16 +0000

You can either work to expand individual freedoms and opportunities (activism) or you can expend increasing amounts of energy adapting to the decreased freedoms and opportunities afforded individuals. Either way, whether you acknowledge it or not, public policy affects you.

- Makana

Emotional Well Being through Radical Forgiveness

makana — Wed, 16 May 2012 10:58:36 +0000

Holding onto old emotional injuries is an effective way to manifest physical disease. Forgiveness may release the pain, but comprehensive healing can only come through RADICAL FORGIVENESS: the realization that no wrong ever occurs, that the unfolding of experiential reality is inherently balanced beyond the human view, and that the concept of “victim” is a byproduct of contracted consciousness.

- Makana

I recommend reading the book Radical Forgiveness by Colin Tipping. I’ve read it twice and it has gifted me indispensable perspective on healing my emotions.

The Real Value in the World Economy

makana — Wed, 16 May 2012 10:47:30 +0000

Money isn’t the real value in the world economy. It is your mind. The great battle is for your mind, and more often than not the mega corporations (whose sole purpose is to increase profit margins, often requiring a misinformed consumership) win this battle through distraction, veiling their true threats (like inflation, GMO and fascist legislation) that are at first mere abstractions with no specific appearance, until they inflict the greatest of damage, undetected, misunderstood and even defended by those whose lives they claim. In ancient times a threat appeared as direct and imminent; today, it comes as a friend, cloaked in convenience and security, provided by a brand or body that only exists as an aggregation of capital and deflection of liability. This is our current world: the corporation, the husk of community absent love. Ignorance is no inoculation to its danger, which is increased by advanced technology monopolies. Only individuals working together can bring about the idealized world we envision. Sensitize yourself. Reclaim your mind.

Why is classical Hawaiian music so significant to the lifestyle of the Hawaiian culture?

makana — Wed, 16 May 2012 10:36:25 +0000

In a culture that has experienced so many transformations, expanding through assimilation and contracting under suppression, where language has been altered and often forgotten, where values have been buried with past generations, where a once strictly sustainable and natural way of life has become mere antiquity, there is one thing that lives on undistorted and true in its genuine expression: the essence of aloha. Aloha is the mutual sharing and receiving of one’s spirit, one’s affection, one’s fundamental nature; it is the act of celebrating the breath of life with one another. Where do we experience this phenomena? In the application of cultural practices: planting, hunting, fishing, weaving, lei making, tapa making, chanting, healing, hula, singing and playing instruments. Of all of these, music transcends the space between; it is accessible by all who may hear it. Upon hearing the music of Hawai’i in all its assorted styles (there are many) one’s spirit is immediately immersed in that place we call Hawai’i, that place that remains untarnished unlike its physical representation, for that place is to be found in the hearts of those who love Her, protected and eternal. We slack the strings, we raise the voice in falsetto, and wherever we are, Hawai’i and it’s unique feeling surrounds us… this is why we play traditional music. To bring us home.

- Makana

On Happiness

makana — Wed, 16 May 2012 09:44:14 +0000

The biggest contributor to unhappiness is some choice made in the past continuing to exude influence over the present. The biggest contributor to happiness is acceptance of having to make choices every moment. Agreements and beliefs can only serve to mask the symptoms of unhappiness; they cannot create happiness. Happiness is created moment to moment in the heart of the observer that chooses to celebrate what is.

What Creates a Harmonious Society?

makana — Wed, 16 May 2012 05:22:56 +0000

The deeper the sensitivity, the less need for morals. The stronger the morals, the less need for laws. The stricter the laws, the more need for enforcement. A harmonious society must in actuality evolve beyond force, lawfulness and morality toward individual sensitivity. No belief or agreed upon structure of behavioral form can exceed the effectiveness of a society comprised of sensitized individuals. Violence can only emerge from desensitization. To be sensitive is to increase empathic awareness; further, to expand one’s definition of “self” to transcend the immediate flesh to include all sentient beings. To attempt to force civility and security with force is merely to breed disharmony. As we begin to perceive our expanded selves in all of humanity, we increase our sensitivity through such awareness.