It’s been more than a month since my last post and the universe has been screaming at me to write something and keep you all abreast of my journey, which has been chugging along.

A few weeks ago, I was blessed to be able to go on a trip with my Daddy and Kekoa to Japan. All of us, at some point in our lives, have lived there, but it’s been 15 years since my father’s been. The last time he was there was when he was dropping me off for my study abroad program in Kansai and he really wanted to go back before age made traveling difficult for him.

Our trip was free-flowing-ish. We knew what days we’d be in what cities, and we knew of some of the sites we wanted to visit while there — and many of them were Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines.

As I’m sure many of you know, Japan has maintained thousands of holy sites, often amidst the growing hustle and bustle of the city. It’s not unusual to find the smallest sacred space nestled in between two skyscrapers.

I didn’t know what to expect from this trip from a spiritual perspective. Would I be bombarded with requests for assistance from spirits of the dead, much like I was the last time I lived in Japan in 2011? Would I be asked to do a special ceremony or make a special offering or go to a special place, as happens here in Hawaii or like during my trip to New Zealand?

Instead, what I found myself doing by request of the universe was… campaigning. I never thought myself to be much into politics, but as I went from temple to temple, shrine to shrine, and made my offerings to the deities of those holy spaces, I found my higher self saying, “hey, if you’re going to be successful in bringing back balance, you’re going to need the support of other powerful beings.”

 

And so I found myself at hundreds of altars, in front of literally more than a thousand representations of deities, saying in my heart along the lines of, “I come before you today to ask for your support and guidance in my quest to bring balance to this universe. I ask that you share your energy to help me be successful. And I promise that I will do my best to Become and Grow and Bring Balance. But I can only do that with your support.”

 

What I was shocked about was that in all cases but one, the deities all said yes. It was like going door-to-door to get a petition signed and only one household was like, “no thank you, I’m not interested.” Every other being seemed to think that the petition was for a good cause. And while not everyone showered me with blessings, just knowing that I had their support made me feel better about the goals before me. Because they wouldn’t put their stock into someone who couldn’t achieve it, would they?

You might be wondering who was the one deity who was not interested in supporting my cause. It was Brahma, Hindu God of Creation. There was no animosity, no hard feelings, and no disrespect. He simply said he wasn’t interested in what I had to offer. I suppose that because bringing about balance may also bring about chaos and destruction of the current status quo, it’s no wonder that one of the beings that created this reality might be hesitant to support an effort that might upset it.

So, to all the beings and deities that agreed to support me and put your faith in me to bring balance to this existence, thank you. I will try my best; I just need to figure out how exactly I’m supposed to do this. But I know that all of you will help empower me to Become, Grow and Do. And to Brahma, thank you, too, for your honesty and the respect you showed me in your decision not to support the work I do.

Now, to get the job done.