Message-ID: <Pine.NEB.4.63.0608201322030.19669@panix3.panix.com>
From: Alan Sondheim <sondheim@panix.com>
To: Cyb <cybermind@listserv.aol.com>, Wryting-L <WRYTING-L@listserv.wvu.edu>
Subject: Horizon and Phenomenology
Date: Sun, 20 Aug 2006 13:22:24 -0400 (EDT)
Horizon and Phenomenology >From The Works of the People of Old, Na Hana a ka Po'e Kahiko, by Samuel Manaiakalani Kamakau, 1869-70, translated by Mary Kawena Pukui, edited by Dorothy B. Barrere, 1976 HORIZONS There are two kinds of _kukulu_ which are horizons - the visible and the invisible. If a person stands on a height - a hill or a mountain - he sees the "wall" (_paia_) of the sky, the meeting place of the dome of the sky and the ocean and the puffy clouds at this meeting place. This is the horizon, _hekukulu_; it is the visible horizon. An invisible horizon "pushes out" (_pane'e_); its only boundary is where it adjoins the solid walls of the sky. Here are some terms for the horizons of the earth, the _kukulu o ka hanua._ On the "sides" (_na 'ao'ao_) of the ocean, at the edge of the ocean next to the base of the sky that lies around the platform of the earth, the circle or band (_po'ai_) is called _kukulu o ka honua_ [variously translated as the borders, or the ends, or the pillars, of the earth]. At the lower edge of the firmament, above the encircling horizon of the earth (_ma ka huina aouli maluna a'e o ke kukulu po'ai honua_) the circle is called _kukulu o ka lani_ [the borders, or pillars, of the sky]. The circle seen as the eye traverses land and sea to the firmament where it meets the sea (_ka huina aouli_) is called Kahiki-moe, and all the lands "below" (_malalo_: within) this circle are called _'aina o Kahiki-moe,_ lands of Kahiki-moe. The [first] band of the firmament where it ascends upward is called Kahiki-ku. Its "back" stretches to the base of the sky (_a moe aku ma kona kua a hiki i kumu lani_) and all the lands that might be found within this circle are _'aina o Kahiki-ku,_ lands of Kahiki-ku. Places where the land is large, or where there are many islands, are called _'apapanu'u_ (high strata) and since there are many lands to be found in Kahiki-ku, it is also called _'apapanu'u,_ or _'apapalani._ Heer are some terms for the _kukulu o ka lani,_ the "borders of the sky," or _kukulu o Kahiki,_ "borders of Kahiki." These are what _ka po'e kahiko_ called all the lands beyond the Hawaiian archipelago - the lands beyond the circles of Kahiki-moe and Kahiki-ku. These lands were called the lands of _kukulu o Kahiki_ or of _kukulu o ka lani,_ or of _na paia ku a lani,_ the standing walls of heaven or of _kumu lani._ The upper extremity of the _kujkulu o ka lani_ was called _lani,_ "heaven," and beyond (_ma ke kua aku_) this heaven was the _lani pa'a_ (fixed heaven) also called _lani kuaka'a_ (highest heaven), or _lani kuakolu_ (triple heaven) - all names for Kapa'ailuna (The "solid" above). In these ways _ka po'e kahiko_ designated the _kukulu_ - the directions and horizons of the earth and of the skies. We of today can compare these terms with those used now and see how much alike they are. SPACE The highest stratum of space, _lewa,_ is the _lewa lani_; the place below the _lewa lani_ - equidistant from the sky downward and the earth upward - was called _ka ho'oku'i,_ the juncture, or _ka ho'ohalawai,_ the meeting; this was named Kamaku'ialewa (The joining place of space). Below Kamaku'ialewa, and close to the circle of air that surrounds the earth [the atmosphere] is Keapoalewa (The ring of space). Below (_malalo o_) Keapoalewa, in (_maloko o_) the atmosphere where birds fly, is the _lewa nu'u._ The space in which a man's legs dangle as he holds onto a brach of a tree is called the _haka-a-lewa_ (ladder to space). If a man stands on the ground and lifts up one foot, leaving the other on the ground, this is called _lewa ho'omakuo_ (a space established), because of the one foot remaining on the ground. (1869) ...the absent body, air body, the virtual body, transparent body, body swallowed by space, inundated body... ...body of sides and pillars, body of the indefinite, indefinite body... ...looking where ones is looking and seeing, looking where one is looking and not seeing... ...one foot, no jump, one foot...