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AS FEATURED ON FREE HAWAI`I NEWS - "WHAT SPEAKS THROUGH US?"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What Speaks Through Us?

Warriors, Akua, Ancestors & The Human Need For Meaning 

By Dr. Michelle Manu

 

Michelle Manu has 40 years in martial arts and over 20 years in metaphysics. She is internationally known for her accomplishments as a 10th Degree Black Belt, 'Alihikaua (General), and Kumu Lua (teacher) of the evolved indigenous Hawaiian cultural practice and warrior art of Lua (Kaihewalu and Manu lineages.)

 

 

Before battle, humans have always listened.

 

They listened to the wind, dreams, omens, ancestors, gods, silence, fear, and the body. Warriors across cultures prayed before combat long before modern psychology existed. Hawaiian koa invoked Akua. Many warrior cultures watched animals, weather, stars, blood, breath, and dreams. Mothers buried sons with ritual. Women sang over the dead. Men walked into violence carrying symbols larger than themselves.

Perhaps this was superstition. Or perhaps humans standing near death have always sensed something difficult to explain.

That question has followed humanity across every age: what exactly are we listening to? Are humans truly communicating with gods, ancestors, spirits, and unseen intelligences? Or are we speaking to ourselves through the language of symbol, myth, ritual, and projection? And if we are speaking to ourselves, why has humanity done so with such consistency across geography and time?

These questions matter to me because I move between many worlds: Hawaiian cosmology, Lua, modern martial arts, manmade legal systems, energetic legal systems, embodiment work, ancestral energetics, and modern public conversations about spirit, power, culture, and the unseen. I also move beside people whose language and beliefs of the sacred differ from mine.

Some speak of Akua: Kū, Kanaloa, Pele, Hiʻiaka, Laka, Kamapua’a, and others held in Hawaiian memory, chant, place, and genealogy. My own language often moves through Pō and Ao, field intelligence, Elemental Spirits, body-law, thresholds, consequence, and the body as an instrument of perception.

Some may see contradictions there. I no longer do.

Perhaps humans attempt to describe encounters with the mysterious using the symbolic architecture available to them.

The modern world often assumes ancient people were primitive because they explained reality spiritually. But as modern humans, we still externalize uncertainty. We simply use different names now: algorithms, institutions, experts, data, markets, political systems, credentials, technology, and AI.

Have we stopped outsourcing to gods, or have we simply replaced them with systems?

Historically, we appear deeply uncomfortable with uncertainty. We create structures to help us metabolize what would otherwise overwhelm us: death, randomness, suffering, intuition, consciousness, violence, grief, love, awe, and the terrifying possibility that existence may not provide clean answers.

Religion has often functioned this way. So has spirituality. So has science when treated dogmatically. So has ideology. So has technology.

We repeatedly transfer burden outward. We place sin onto saviors, fate onto gods, morality onto institutions, truth onto authorities, and identity onto systems (what appear to be) larger than the self. This

may be why sacrifice appears in so many cultures. Humanity seems endlessly drawn toward the idea that someone or something else can carry what feels unbearable.

But relationship with the sacred is not the same as outsourcing. This distinction matters.

Outsourcing occurs when a spiritual, cultural, religious, or intellectual system replaces personal responsibility instead of deepening it. Relationship with the sacred should make us more accountable, not less. More embodied, not less. More truthful, not less. More humble, not more inflated.

This is where the question becomes dangerous.

What if some of what we call spirit is projection? What if the voice of the ancestor is sometimes memory? What if a “download” is subconscious integration? What if ceremony regulates the nervous system more than it summons metaphysical beings? What if gods are symbolic architectures humans built to carry realities too overwhelming to hold directly?

But another question arrives immediately afterward: what if reductionism becomes its own blindness? Reductionism is the philosophical and scientific approach of analyzing complex systems or ideas by breaking them down into their simpler, more fundamental components. It operates on the principle that a whole is merely the sum of its parts, and understanding those individual parts explains the entire system.

Just because we interpret spiritual experiences psychologically does not mean those experiences originate only within humans. Across cultures, humans report visions, dreams, synchronicities, intuitions, near- death experiences, altered states, unexplainable knowing, and encounters with energetic presence. These reports do not prove every claim, but they also should not be dismissed.

The body itself complicates certainty.

Before organized religion, we had breath, heartbeat, instinct, dreams, grief, hunger, fear, ecstasy, pain, sexuality, birth, blood, illness, and death. Perhaps the body was humanity’s first oracle. Perhaps many spiritual systems began as attempts to explain what the body was already sensing.

This is where warriors become important.

A serious warrior cannot survive entirely inside fantasy. Combat brutally punishes illusion. A fighter learns quickly which ideas collapse under consequence. And yet nearly every warrior culture developed some relationship with ritual, spirit, ancestor systems, omens, cosmology, or altered states.

Why?

Because violence places us at the edge of ordinary consciousness. The warrior stands close to mortality, fear, instinct, silence, blood, uncertainty, and the fragility of the body. Under pressure, time changes. Perception sharpens. The body knows before thought. Breath can determine survival. Silence can become information.

Perhaps warrior cosmologies emerged not simply from superstition, but from repeated encounters with states we did not fully understand.

Women warriors carry another dimension. Historically, women often preserved continuity itself: children, memory, ritual, mourning, food, healing, oral history, and community survival. Women frequently became keepers of invisible continuity between worlds — between life and death, body and spirit, past and future.

This may be why women across cultures are so often associated with prophecy, intuition, dreams, medicine, and spiritual transmission. Not because women are less rational, but because women have often lived closer to the continuous realities of embodiment itself.

Atheists also belong inside this conversation.

Atheists ask necessary questions: how do you know? Could this be projection? Could this be trauma? Could this be pattern recognition mistaken for divinity? Could this be neurological? Could this be social conditioning?

These questions matter because we are capable of profound self-deception. Atheists, agnostics, and skeptics often protect intellectual hygiene. They challenge dogma, manipulation, magical thinking, spiritual inflation, and unchecked metaphysical “authority.”

And yet many atheists still experience awe. They stand before oceans, stars, death, birth, music, grief, or love and feel something immense — even if they refuse to call it God.

Perhaps the divide is not truly between believers and atheists. Perhaps the divide is between those who can stand humbly before mystery and those who require absolute certainty to feel safe. Because certainty itself may be the greatest danger.

Absolute religion becomes tyranny. Absolute scientism becomes reductionism. Absolute spirituality becomes delusion. Absolute skepticism becomes starvation. Any system can become dangerous when it removes humility.

So, the question may not be, “Are the Akua real?” or “Are the Kūpuna speaking?” or “Is this all psychology?” The better question may be: what does the relationship produce?

Does it produce humility, responsibility, embodiment, ethics, courage, reverence for life, care for land, and integrity under pressure? Or does it produce dependency, delusion, hierarchy, performance, fear, avoidance, and outsourced accountability?

Honua (earth) still speaks, whether we interpret it spiritually or materially. Moana (ocean) speaks. Makani (wind) speaks. Ahi (fire) speaks. Ma’i (illness) speaks. Pōloli (hunger) speaks. Māluhiluhi (exhaustion) speaks. Kaumaha (grief) speaks. The kino (body) speaks. Hopena (consequence) speaks. The question is whether we are quiet enough, honest enough, and disciplined enough to listen without immediately turning mystery into ego. Attempting to describe non-physical pohihīhī (mysterious) matters with physical language.

I no longer think the deepest human task is proving whether the sacred exists entirely outside us or entirely within us. I think the task is learning how to stand responsibly at the edge of mystery without surrendering discernment, embodiment, humility, or awe.

We have always been listening. The question is whether we are listening clearly.

I invite you to resist the temptation to simply agree or disagree with what you have just read. The value of these questions is not in arriving at the “correct” answer, but in examining the assumptions, beliefs, experiences, and uncertainties you carry about the sacred, the self, and the unseen. Some questions may challenge long-held convictions. Others may reveal tensions you have never fully explored. Sit with them honestly. There is no requirement to choose between spirit and skepticism, faith and reason, ancestor and self. Instead, allow yourself the rare opportunity to become curious about what shapes your understanding

of reality, where you place your trust, and what ultimately speaks through you. The goal is not certainty. The goal is deeper awareness.

• Where do I place responsibility when life becomes frightening, uncertain, or painful?

• Do my spiritual beliefs make me more accountable, or do they give me language to avoid accountability?

• What do I call “intuition” that may actually be fear, projection, trauma, desire, or pattern recognition?

• What has my body known before my mind could explain it?

• Where have I mistaken certainty for truth? (No shame.)

• Do my beliefs produce humility, discipline, reverence, and ethical action?

• Where do I outsource discernment today — to religion, culture, politics, experts, technology, ancestors, algorithms, or identity?

• Can I remain in relationship with mystery without needing to explain or control it?

• What kind of human does my worldview produce?

• And when I say I am listening, what am I truly listening to?

  As you reflect, consider not only what you believe, but why you believe it—and whether those beliefs have brought you closer to truth, responsibility, humility, and wonder.

RESTORING HAWAI`IʻS CORAL REEFS ON “VOICES OF TRUTH - ONE-ON-ONE WITH HAWAI`IʻS FUTURE"

“Restoring Hawai`iʻs Coral Reefs - A Visit With Alika Garcia"

For years, Alika Garcia was a fisherman on the ocean and during that time one thing kept bugging him. He realized that in fishing, he was taking from the ocean, but he was never giving anything back. And thatʻs how Kuleana Coral Restoration, a group of fishermen, surfers, and ocean advocates working to restore and protect Hawai`iʻs coral reefs, was born. As he told us, what happens to the fish in the ocean directly affects what happens to us. Join us in our visit along the beautiful west coast of O`ahu as he explains why the health of Hawai`iʻs reefs are connected to the health of our people - Watch It Here

Now you can become a fan of Voices Of Truth on Facebook by clicking Here and see behind the scenes photos of our shows and a whole lot more.  

Voices Of Truth interviews those creating a better future for Hawai`i to discover what made them go from armchair observers to active participants. We hope you'll be inspired to do the same.
 
Voices Of Truth airs throughout Hawai`i on all islands and reaches over 24 million households across the US and throughout the world. Check your local cable TV listings.

For news and issues that affect you, watch Free Hawai`i TV. 

And for news from a kanaka point of view, watch Free Hawaii News.

All a part of the Free Hawai`i Broadcasting Network.

Please share our Free Hawai`i Broadcasting Network videos with friends and colleagues. That's how we grow. Mahalo.

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SEPTEMBER FREE HAWAII NEWS -DO HAWAIIANS HAVE MORE POWER OVER THEIR LANDS SINCE THE LAHAINA FIRES?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Do Hawaiians Have More Power Over Their Lands Since The Lahaina Fires? Also, Did The US Do Hawaii A Favor By Occupying It? Plus Do Your Ancestors Speak Through You? How Can Solving We Vs. Me Return Hawaiian Values? And A Timeline Of The Invasion And Overthrow Of The Hawaiian Kingdom Government You Wonʻt Want To Miss. All This & More Plus Kumu Hinaʻs Mana`o.

The September 2026 “Free Hawaii News” debuting tonight, Friday, September 4th airs at 7 PM on `Olelo Television Channel 53 on O`ahu, on all neighbor islands and also at FreeHawaiiNews.com

“Last month we passed the three year mark since the Lahaina fires. Do Hawaiians have any more power now over their lands than before? For years the problem has been outsiders and profit-driven individuals beholden to the American system extracting value for themselves out of our `aina or land. To find out what progress has been made we checked in with Autumn Ness and Kapali Keahi of the Lahaina Community Land Trust and what they said frankly surprised us,” states Free Hawaii News co-host Hinaleimoana Wong.

“Also on the September Free Hawaii News, we interview Hawaiian elite athlete and master martial artist Dr. Kumu Michelle Manu, PhD about how we as Hawaiians can open our listening and allow our ancestors to speak through us,” reports Free Hawaii News co-host Leon Siu. “We urge everyone not to miss this.”

Plus Hawaiian historian and writer Adam Keawe Manalo-Camp delves into the often heard excuse that the US did everyone a favor by occupying the Hawaiian Islands before Russia, China, or Japan could. He shows why thatʻs false and only the US had plans to invade and topple the Hawaiian Kingdom government.

Free Hawaii News co-host Leon Siu then presents a not to be missed timeline of the invasion and overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom government.  And also this month we debut a brand new Kumu Hinaʻs Mana`o.

Free Hawaii News presents Hawaiian or kanaka maoli perspectives on a broad range of issues and topics affecting the Hawaiian Islands, the Pacific and the world.

Brought to you by the Koani Foundation, Free Hawaii News airs every month on `Ōlelo Television on O`ahu, on all neighbor islands and on stations around the world as well as online on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Substack, Pinterest, X, BlueSky and over thirty different Facebook pages and other online sites.

Hinaleimoana Wong is a kumu hula, filmmaker, cultural activist, Hawaiian language speaker, preservationist and community leader. She has served in the past as a member of the O`ahu Island Burial Council.

Leon Siu has for many years served as Foreign Minister of the Hawaiian Kingdom. He is active in that role at the United Nations in both New York City and Geneva, Switzerland. Besides being a diplomat, he is also an award-winning musician, composer and political analyst.

TOMORROW ON THE SEPTEMBER FREE HAWAII NEWS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Do Hawaiians Have More Power Over Their Lands Since The Lahaina Fires?

Also, Did The US Do Hawaii A Favor By Occupying It?

Plus Who Are You Listening To - Do Your Ancestors Speak Through You?

How Can Solving We Vs. Me Return Hawaiian Values?

And A Timeline Of The Invasion And Overthrow Of The Hawaiian Kingdom Government You Wonʻt Want To Miss.

Find These Answers & More Plus A Brand New Kumu Hinaʻs Mana`o On The September Free Hawaii News.

Join Hosts Hinaleimoana Wong & Leon Siu As They Give The Kanaka Perspective On Issues In Hawaii You Wonʻt Get Anywhere Else.

  

7 PM TOMORROW ON `OLELO TELEVISION -CABLE CHANNEL 53 ON O`AHU - FreeHawaiiNews.com

FREE HAWAI`I TV
THE FREE HAWAI`I BROADCASTING NETWORK  

 

"TOURISM IN HAWAI`I IS DYING - NOW WHAT?"  

 

If It Seems Like Thereʻs Less Tourists In Hawai`i These Days, You're Right.

But Thereʻs More Going On Than Declining Tourism.

More Residents Than Ever Are Moving Elsewhere To Live.

Watch This To See What Comes After Tourism & How We Can Stop Residents Fleeing.
 

DONʻT MISS THIS - LEARN WHY ITʻS SO IMPORTANT TO HEAL & RESTORE THIS SACRED `ĀINA

BECOME A FAN OF "VOICES OF TRUTH - ONE-ON-ONE WITH HAWAI`I'S FUTURE" ON FACEBOOK 

See Behind-The-Scenes Shots Of Our Shows

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Click HERE To Become A Fan

GIVING BACK TO HAWAI`IʻS OCEANS ON “VOICES OF TRUTH - ONE-ON-ONE WITH HAWAI`IʻS FUTURE"

“Restoring Hawai`iʻs Coral Reefs - A Visit With Alika Garcia"

For years, Alika Garcia was a fisherman on the ocean and during that time one thing kept bugging him. He realized that in fishing, he was taking from the ocean, but he was never giving anything back. And thatʻs how Kuleana Coral Restoration, a group of fishermen, surfers, and ocean advocates working to restore and protect Hawai`iʻs coral reefs, was born. As he told us, what happens to the fish in the ocean directly affects what happens to us. Join us in our visit along the beautiful west coast of O`ahu as he explains why the health of Hawai`iʻs reefs are connected to the health of our people - Watch It Here

Now you can become a fan of Voices Of Truth on Facebook by clicking Here and see behind the scenes photos of our shows and a whole lot more.  

Voices Of Truth interviews those creating a better future for Hawai`i to discover what made them go from armchair observers to active participants. We hope you'll be inspired to do the same.
 
Voices Of Truth airs throughout Hawai`i on all islands and reaches over 24 million households across the US and throughout the world. Check your local cable TV listings.

For news and issues that affect you, watch Free Hawai`i TV. 

And for news from a kanaka point of view, watch Free Hawaii News.

All a part of the Free Hawai`i Broadcasting Network.

Please share our Free Hawai`i Broadcasting Network videos with friends and colleagues. That's how we grow. Mahalo.

FREE HAWAII NEWS SHORT

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

KUMU HINAʻS MANA`O

FREE HAWAII NEWS SHORT

WATCH IT HERE

Want More? Watch The Full Episode Here - FreeHawaiiNews.com

 FREE HAWAI`I

 

FREE HAWAI`I TV
THE FREE HAWAI`I BROADCASTING NETWORK  

 

"HOW TO THINK HAWAIIAN"  

 

Do Hawaiians & Westerners Think Differently?

Yes They Do & The Difference Will Probably Surprise You.

Itʻs A Completely Different Mindset About Success & Wealth.

Watch This To Discover The Differences & Why Youʻll Want To Think Like Them Too.
 

 FREE HAWAI`I

 

KE AUPUNI UPDATE - AUGUST 2026

 

 

 

 

 

 

State Ignores Its Biggest Holiday 

As the Hawaiian Kingdom’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, I constantly get announcements, pictures and videos from countries celebrating their Independence Day. It is usually the country’s most important holiday. Since 1843 the Hawaiian Kingdom has celebrated its Independence on two days, Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea (July 31) and Lā Kūʻokoʻa (November 28). But the State of Hawaii is different.

On August 21, 1959 when the Hawaiian Islands purportedly became the “50th State of the United States”, Hawaii erupted with dancing in the streets, parties, news coverage, speeches and fireworks at Iolani Palace.

But today, 67 years later, other than state and county workers having the day off, and token ‘Statehood Sales’ by a few stores, there is no wide-spread celebration or even acknowledgement of what should be the State’s most important holiday — Statehood Day.

The last real celebration was in 2009. It was the “50th Anniversary of statehood”. Fearing counter demonstrations by Hawaiian sovereignty activists, the state-appointed commission to coordinate the jubilee celebration, downplayed the event reducing it to… a closed-door joint session of the legislature; a few TV and radio public-service announcements; a few lack-luster speeches and proclamations; and a by-invitation-only conference at the convention center to “envision the next 50 years”.

Meanwhile, advocates for Hawaiʻi’s independence conducted numerous, highly public, media-grabbing events exposing the “State of Hawaii” for the fake that it is, hijacking the State’s sorry events and generating news stories about the State’s strangely reluctant celebration in over 130 mentions in papers wire services and broadcasts around the world (including the New York Times, USA Today, Reuters, AP, and so forth).

The 2009 50th Anniversary Celebration was such a debacle that the State never mounted another official celebration.

It’s the same with another major event that is ignored by the State of Hawaii: August 12, the so-called Annexation Day. That is the day in 1893 that the Republic of Hawaii (a fake entity) supposedly became a Territory of the United States (another fake entity).

Why are State of Hawaii leaders so reluctant to make a big deal about celebrating “statehood” (or “annexation”)? It is because the truth about the illegitimacy of Hawaiʻi’s statehood has come home to roost. The state knows its days are numbered.

A basic principle of law, ex injura jus non oritur means, unjust acts cannot create lawful ones. This applies especially to our situation. Since the initial seizure of the Hawaiian Islands in 1893 was categorically unlawful, each successive government in the Hawaiian Islands, the “Republic of Hawaiʻi,” the “Territory of Hawaiʻi” and the current U.S. “State of Hawaiʻi,” were, and still are, categorically unlawful. This explains the non-celebration Statehood.

The people of Hawaii, those in America, and globally, have become keenly aware that Hawaii wasn’t adopted into the U.S. family… that Hawaii was kidnapped and forced to live with an abusive, greedy abductor pretending to be a caring and loving parent.

The way things are going, the United States’ criminal enterprise, the fake State of Hawaii, is headed for a day of reckoning. And the genuine, sovereign, independent nation, the Hawaiian Kingdom, is about to step out of captivity.

No wonder the State is nervous.

Aloha ʻĀina —
“Love of country is deep-seated in the breast of every Hawaiian, whatever his station.” — Queen Liliʻuokalani

Ua mau ke ea o ka ʻāina i ka pono.
The sovereignty of the land is perpetuated in righteousness.
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For the latest news and developments about our progress at the United Nations in both New York and Geneva, tune in to Free Hawaii News at 7 PM, the first Friday of each month on ʻŌlelo Television, Channel 53.

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"Remember, for the latest updates and information about the Hawaiian Kingdom, check out the twice-a-month Ke Aupuni Updates published online on Facebook and other social media."

PLEASE KŌKUA…
Your kōkua, large or small, is vital to thi s effort...
To contribute, go to:

• GoFundMe – CAMPAIGN TO FREE HAWAII

• PayPal – log in to PayPal and pay to the account, info@HawaiianKingdom.net

• Other – To contribute in other ways (airline miles, travel vouchers, volunteer service, etc...) email us at: info@HawaiianKingdom.net  

Malama Pono,
Leon Siu
Hawaiian National
Minister of Foreign Affairs for the Hawaiian Kingdom (since 2001)

KOKUA JUNKIES ON “VOICES OF TRUTH - ONE-ON-ONE WITH HAWAI`IʻS FUTURE"

“Kokua Junkies - A Visit With Rick Rutiz"

Kokua is the Hawaiian word meaning to help and no one turns more kids into kokua junkies, those who enjoy helping others, than Rick Rutiz who heads the non-profit Ma Ka Hana Ka `Ike in Hana, Maui. So much so in fact that he trained the students at Hana elementary and secondary school to construct all the classrooms themselves. As if that wasnʻt enough his students also go out into the community and build homes at no cost whatsoever for Hanaʻs elderly population. Join us in our visit with Rick as we tour the school campus and hear the story of this remarkable man and his students who love to help others - Watch It Here

Now you can become a fan of Voices Of Truth on Facebook by clicking Here and see behind the scenes photos of our shows and a whole lot more.  

Voices Of Truth interviews those creating a better future for Hawai`i to discover what made them go from armchair observers to active participants. We hope you'll be inspired to do the same.
 
Voices Of Truth airs throughout Hawai`i on all islands and reaches over 24 million households across the US and throughout the world. Check your local cable TV listings.

For news and issues that affect you, watch Free Hawai`i TV. 

And for news from a kanaka point of view, watch Free Hawaii News.

All a part of the Free Hawai`i Broadcasting Network.

Please share our Free Hawai`i Broadcasting Network videos with friends and colleagues. That's how we grow. Mahalo.

FREE HAWAII NEWS SHORT

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WHATʻS YOUR KULEANA? IS IT THE RIGHT ONE FOR YOU?

WATCH THIS & FIND OUT

FREE HAWAII NEWS SHORT

WATCH IT HERE

Want More? Watch The Full Episode Here - FreeHawaiiNews.com