Deeper meanings of "Aloha"

Today my family attended the Hanalei Branch in Hawaii for church. Now there has been a Polynesian family in my home ward for quite a while, and whenever they are assigned a talk to sacrament meeting they always start with "Aloha," and the congregation responds in turn. Well today I found out that in Hawaii the speakers/meeting conductors/teachers all really do say "Aloha" before they begin into their material.

Anyway, during gospel doctrine the teacher, after saying "Aloha" mentioned that not only does it mean "Hello," but it also means "I love you." Well as you may know, I love love. I mean there's a heart just to the left of this post so come on. Naturally I had to look this up.

Aloha in the Hawaiian language means affection, love, peace, compassion, and mercy. It actually wasn't until the mid nineteenth century that English speakers began to use it in place of "hello" and "goodbye".

Aloha can be broken down into a compound of Hawaiian words: "alo" meaning face, presence, or share, "oha" meaning joyous affection or joy, and "ha" meaning life or essence. Using the Hawaiian language grammatical rules it translates literally into the joyful sharing of life energy in the present or joyfully sharing life.

I love that! Joyfully sharing life! It's a great way to approach everyday.

"Aloha is a way of living and treating each other with love and respect. Its deep meaning starts by teaching ourselves to love our own beings first and afterwards to spread the love to others. Aloha is more than a word of greeting or farewell. Aloha means mutual regard and affection. It extends warmth in caring with no obligation in return. Aloha is the essence of relationships in which each person is important to every other person for an interdependent collective existence. Aloha means to hear what is not said, to see what cannot be seen and to know the unknowable."

The spirit of Aloha was an important lesson taught to the children of the past because it was about the world of which they were a part. One early teaching goes like this:

"Aloha is being a part of all, and all being a part of me. When there is pain - it is my pain. When there is joy - it is also mine. I respect all that is as part of the Creator and part of me. I will not willfully harm anyone or anything. When food is needed I will take only my need and explain why it is being taken. The earth, the sky, the sea are mine to care for, to cherish and to protect. This is Hawaiian - this is Aloha!"

"As the child grew, the need for a fundamental code of ethics was taught. This code is found within a deeper layer of the meaning of the word Aloha. The code is derived from one of the acronymic meanings of Aloha."

"A, ala, watchful, alertness
L, lokahi, working with unity
O, oia'i'o, truthful honesty
H, ha'aha'a, humility
A, ahonui, patient perseverance"

"The kahuna David Bray interprets this code as "Come forward, be in unity and harmony with your real self, God, and mankind. Be honest, truthful, patient, kind to all life forms, and humble." He also stated that to the Hawaiian of old, Aloha meant "God in us."

Hasn't anyone noticed that most Hawaiian people you meet are happy and friendly? Now it may be because they live in paradise, but even paradise has its pitfalls. The Aloha Spirit can do wonders for a community.

Later this week I may discuss Ohana, but until then: Aloha members of the cyberspace community.

To read more about Aloha check out this article The Deeper Meaning of Aloha.