Huna Article

Huna International

The Daisy and the Oak Tree
by Graeme Kapono Urlich

Not so long ago a beautiful spring daisy was born. She was full of awe and wonder at the beauty of the world and as she grew she asked questions about her wonderful world. Sadly many of those around her had fallen into a mundane life and lost their awe and wonder.

“How does the rain fall from the sky?” she asked the passing bee.

“I don’t know and I don’t care!” the bee answered gruffly. “My wings are tired and they hurt and I still have a lot of pollen to collect today. If it rains I won’t be able to finish.”

“Why does the wind come and tickle my petals?” she asked the beautiful butterfly.

“I don’t have time for silly questions” the butterfly replied, sounding tired. “The summer is here and I really need to find a place to lay my eggs and the strong wind makes it hard to fly straight.”

“How did I get here?” she asked the passing sheep.

“The same way everyone else did” mumbled the sheep, chewing a mouthful of grass and staring at the ground. “Ask someone else. I have to eat lots of grass so I can grow back my wool. I’ll be cold in the winter if I don’t” said the sheep as she hurried off to a nice patch of juicy grass she had spotted.

The little daisy’s questions began to annoy them so they ridiculed her as being foolish and fanciful. Didn’t she know that life is short and there is a lot that must be done? She didn’t lose her wonder and love of fairies, angels and magic but she did begin to gradually withdraw into her heart placing a fence around it to protect herself from the cold logical world. It was safe there but there was a longing for something that seemed just out of reach and she still searched and searched for her answers but her questions grew quieter and quieter as time passed. She just wanted to be.

In another time and place an oak tree was born. His heart was also full of awe and wonder at the beauty of the world but those around him had grown cold and without affection. Theirs was world of logic and duty where the oak’s job was to grow tall and strong and support the birds and animals that nested and played in his branches. “You must learn the rules of the world and stick to them. Listen to us and we will teach you” they insisted and he followed diligently.

As time passed he became very analytical. Others began to show appreciation for his skills at solving complex problems and this made him feel good. He enjoyed the recognition and it gave him great pleasure solving problems, working out better ways to for people to do things, making their lives better. All the while though, he felt lonely and isolated, sensing that a part of him was lost and was callingto him from somewhere unknown.

As time went by he began to grow ill as he continued to ignore and suppress the inner voice that called to him louder and louder. The more he resisted moving towards the voice, trying to work things out only with logic, the more unwell he became until one day he became so ill that he was left with no other choice but to stop and rest or collapse completely.

After a while he discovered that his mind held the key to unlocking his heart and that he had to learn a new way of thinking, a new language of symbols and feelings, so he could awaken and communicate with his heart. He had to learn that the heart used a different kind of logic from the intellectual linear logic he was so used to and so good at but he struggled to do this alone. He decided he would start to teach what he was learning so he could get feedback and learn even more.

The beautiful daisy came to one of the oak tree’s lectures one day and he saw in her the warmth and love that he sought to awaken more fully in himself. The beautiful daisy recognised in the oak something that she had long forgotten and that frightened her a little as it began to stir. She felt annoyed and tried to push the feelings back down but the part of her that longed to become more than she was would not lay quiet any longer. She had happily skipped through life just being in the moment not noticing that each new moment was much like the last.

As the oak tree and the daisy became friends and learned more about each other the oak tree learned to listen for and to trust the inspiration that he got from his heart. He learned that things don’t always have to be logical and make sense, that it is ok to be spontaneous and do things just for fun and that things can magically work out without having to be reasoned through and made to work.

The beautiful daisy in turn learned to use her mind to observe her feelings and reactions to her world. She learned that by making conscious choices she could influence the direction her heart took her by understanding what she enjoyed and didn’t enjoy. She learned what she feared and how to let go of it. She learned that she could change her rules rather than being restrained by them.

Together they were able to awaken the parts of themselves that they had lost as the grew from childhood for it is only when the mind and the heart work together that imagination, beauty and love can truly blossom in the world and allow the soul to shine in its full glory, to become all that it can be.

Graeme Kapono Urlich (July 2011)

Aloha New Zealand - School of Huna and Hawaiian Shamanism