“It is not happiness that makes you grateful, its gratefulness that makes you happy,” says Benedictine Monk David Steindl-Rasti who will soon pay a visit to Kauai. On March 1, Steindl-Rasti, also called Brother David, the co-founder of A Network
“It is not happiness that makes you grateful, its gratefulness that makes you happy,” says Benedictine Monk David Steindl-Rasti who will soon pay a visit to Kauai.
On March 1, Steindl-Rasti, also called Brother David, the co-founder of A Network for Grateful Living and the Center for Spiritual Studies, will speak at the Native Hawaiian learning and community center founded and funded by the nonprofit Waipa Foundation.
Joanna Carolan, Waipa Foundation advocate, had been emailing Brother David who was traveling and speaking throughout Argentina. When she heard he would be speaking at the Wisdom 2.0 conference in San Francisco in February, she figured he’d have fairly easy access to Kauai.
“I greatly admire his work,” said Carolan. “I said, ‘Since you’ll be close to Hawaii, would you come and speak or will you be vacationing?’”
Brother David responded by volunteering to meet with people on behalf of the Waipa Foundation.
The 30-year-old nonprofit’s mission is to connect people with the Hawaiian values and lifestyle, as well as the land. With the management of the Waipa foundation, the concept thrives on Kauai’s North Shore, where land divisions totaling 1,600 acres are managed by the community and owned by the Kamehameha Schools.
Recently, the Waipa Foundation, reached their $1.7 million goal to construct a new community poi mill, kitchen and hale imu. Work at the new compound will expand food distribution and make room for continued training and education about sustainable living.
After studying with the Zen Buddhist masters the idea of many hands working together is in line with his teachings. Being a monk for over 60 years, Brother David has been published extensively and has written that, “A human being cannot survive without community. Nor can one be truly happy unless one finds the particular type of community that will fulfill one’s needs for solitude and togetherness.”
Additional words of wisdom about community, gratitude and joy can be heard at the March 1 event at the Waipa Community Center from 2 to 4 p.m. Besides the talk by Brother David, the afternoon will feature music by the Waipa Serenaders and locally grown pupus from the Waipa Gardens.
Tickets are $10 and can be purchased at the Waipa Foundation, Banana Patch Studio or by visiting info@bananapatchstudio.com, waipafoundation.org/visit or retreatkauai.com. Scholarship tickets are available as well on the website.
