I don't know whether Hale Kealohalani Makua, the revered Hawai'ian shaman, leader, and teacher of Polynesian wisdom traditions, ever read Dante, but I don't think I have ever come across a better or more succinct summary of the Poet's central message than is reported by the anthropologist Hank Wesselman. Wesselman was a long time friend and cofidant of Makue, until the latter's death in 2004. Wesselman's book The Bowl of Light describes their friendship and Makua's teachings, including this:
"If we choose to follow the cosmic impulses projected into us through the dreaming of our ancestors and through our 'Aumakua [the immortal part of each of us] , what will happen during our life is what our immortal spirit self actually wants. And as we embrace those ancestral impulses that our Higher Self dreams, our 'uhane, our conscious mental soul, can then choose to transform those impulses into reality. When we walk this path, we are in control of our destiny. We actually create our destiny.
"However, if we identify with those impulses that are originating in our human body, those that originate from within our body soul, then what happens to us is no longer what spirit wants but rather what our physical body desires, even though we may be convinced that this is what 'we' really want. When this happens, we lose control of our destiny, placing ourselves squarely on the receiving end of the forces of fate."
Truly, as Daniel Christian says, Dante is everywhere.
