Huna is Hawaiian

QUESTION: I love Huna, but lately I've come across several writers who say that Huna is not Hawaiian and that the ancients never practiced any form of it. What's the scoop?

ANSWER: Well, there's good news and there's bad news. The good news is that Huna was practiced by the ancient Hawaiians (please read my article "Huna and Hawaiians" at http://www.huna.org/html/hunahaw.html). The bad news is that Max Long's version of Huna was not practiced by the ancient Hawaiians. He created a very good system based on Hawaiian words from a nineteenth century dictionary - the only one available at the time - combined with ideas from psychology and theosophy. At the time he was here it was against the law to be a kahuna or call oneself a kahuna, so he was never able to learn from Hawaiians directly. In spite of that, his system is workable and has helped many people.

Unexpected Happiness

QUESTION: Since taking your course I feel little increments of happiness and I am grateful. But what makes happiness suddenly seep in? Is it a decision? I don't remember being able to make that decision.

ANSWER: Some people like to say that happiness is a choice, and to some extent that's true, but every so often feelings of happiness catch us by surprise. I believe that this happens when - for whatever reason - we are in total harmony with ourselves and our environment. If it does happen, treat it like a beautiful sunset, without regretting its passage, but appreciating the fact that it happened.