Nurturing Our Inner Selves, a Huna Approach to Wholeness
Arlyn J. MacDonald


INTRODUCTION

To nurture is to love, nourish, educate and train.

We are all nurturers and parents, whether we have offspring or not, for within each of us dwells two intertwining younger spirits or minds. These two minds or selves were known to the ancient kahuna, the priests of Hawaii, as the 'Unihipili (Oo-nee-hee-pee-lee) and the 'Uhane (Oo-haw-nay). The kahuna also knew of a third mind or self, the 'Aumakua (Ah-oo-mah-koo-ah), who resides in the world of Spirit but is always connected to the other two selves by a golden cord of energy. The 'Aumakua is our older and wiser mind, our Divine Parent. These three separate Selves or minds are united both molecularly and spiritually. They form the cohesive unit of consciousness of the Self. This is our Inner Family of a Mother/Father Parent, an older brother or sister, and a younger brother or sister. We are both parent and child on the inner level.

Modern psychologists name these parts of the Self, the subconscious mind, the conscious mind, and the superconscious mind, respectively. These are also known as the emotional mind, the rational or logical mind, and the spiritual mind. Scientists continue to search for the dynamic power that animates or brings life to the human being. The kahuna understood this dynamic power to be the living spirits of the 'Unihipili and the 'Uhane born into the physical body and the living spirit of the 'Aumakua connecting them to the spiritual dimension. These three Selves together form the whole human being.

The ancient kahuna had a much better understanding of the psychological Self. To become a whole person they believed it was important to understand the characteristics of each Self and to establish a loving and trusting relationship of open communication between them. They also believed the spiritual world helped to integrate and sustain this wholeness. This is the art of nurturing in its highest form.

The kahuna spent centuries carefully observing human life and discovered that each Self has certain characteristics and talents. Modern scientists are validating the findings of the ancient kahuna as the understanding of the human psyche grows. The emotional age of the 'Unihipili is 3-6 years and it never gets any older, no matter the chronological age of the person. The 'Unihipili is sometimes referred to as the Inner Child and it is always a child. The intellectual age of the 'Uhane is 12-20 years and it never gets any older. The 'Uhane is our older reasoning mind.

The 'Aumakua is ageless, since it resides in Spirit outside of time and space. The 'Aumakua is our spiritual or Higher Self. It is defined as our "utterly trustworthy parental spirit," by Max Freedom Long, who recovered much of the ancient Hawaiian secret knowledge of the kahuna. Long termed this ancient knowledge Huna, which means "secret. Our Higher Self is our Holy Mother and Holy Father. The kahuna believed that this part of us has already learned how to be both mother and father. We draw on this wisdom to help nurture our other two Selves.

This book explores the phases of human development from the perspective of the Huna knowledge. We first learn about the characteristics of each Self and then study their growth through the various phases. We focus on the rapid development of the Infancy phase and see how the Selves learn the basic skills to master the world. We look at the traditional family values of the Hawaiian and how they apply to the modern family. We see how both the 'Unihipili and 'Uhane mature and grow through the phases of development from conception to death. We also explore the gender characteristics and energies of women and men in relationship to the characteristics and energies of the 'Unihipili and 'Uhane. We see how these characteristics shape our perspective on the world and our perspective on nurturing. We realize that each human must embrace the qualities of the female and the male to become whole human beings. We investigate good parenting skills for each phase of development and how to apply these skills to nurture and strengthen our Inner Selves. We learn how being a good parent prepares us for our new role as a Divine Parent, an 'Aumakua.

Most of us have not mastered all of the skills of the developmental phases. We can use imagination, the wonderful talent of the 'Unihipili and 'Uhane, to return to the phase we have not yet mastered and recreate the proper circumstances and elements for learning those developmental skills. We use our imagination to recreate the ideal parental influence we needed at that age. The 'Unihipili does not know the difference between fantasy and reality, so this is a great tool to use in accomplishing our task. We ask for the guidance and inspiration of our 'Aumakua as we move forward toward new wholeness.

The techniques for reclaiming and mastering developmental skills are easy. The techniques include acknowledgement, forgiveness, reconstruction, ritual, experimentation and repetition. They require commitment, time and persistence. They also need the cooperation of both your 'Unihipili and 'Uhane and the guidance of your 'Aumakua.

The information and theories contained in this book come from my research of human development and parenting, and my study of Huna for the past 30 years. They come from my own experiences in nurturing my Inner Selves. They also come from my experiences as a lay midwife and childbirth educator, mother of four children and grandmother of eleven grandchildren. And they come from the wisdom and inspiration of my Higher Self, my 'Aumakua, my Divine Nurturer.

I believe the study of Huna offers a practical approach to wholeness. As you become more aware of the qualities, characteristics, and talents of each part of you, and learn how they progress through the phases of development, you will be able to nurture and love your Selves in a new way.