Spiritual versus sacred

Kālepa Baybayan has been an active participant in the Polynesian voyaging renaissance since 1975. In 2007, he was one of five Hawaiian men initiated into the order of Pwo, a three thousand year old society of deep-sea navigators. Most recently, Kālepa participated in the 3-year Malama Honua Worldwide Voyage.

During the recent Native Hawaiian Perspectives webinar presented by HIEDB, he explained why, when talking about the secular nature of Maunakea, the word spiritual is more appropriate.

As defined, "spiritual is that which moves the human spirit. It's about a relationship to place, environment, solitude and peace. It's not about a religious relationship."

Take a moment to listen to Kālepa Baybayan's comments on the spiritual versus sacred.
TMT
The Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) Project has been developed as collaboration among Caltech, the University of California (UC), the Association of Canadian Universities for Research in Astronomy (ACURA), and the national institutes of Japan, China, and India with the goal to design, develop, construct, and operate a thirty-meter class telescope and observatory on Maunakea in cooperation with the University of Hawaii (TMT Project). The TMT International Observatory LLC (TIO), a non-profit organization, was established in May 2014 to carry out the construction and operation phases of the TMT Project. The Members of TIO are Caltech, UC, the National Institutes of Natural Sciences of Japan, the National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Department of Science and Technology of India, and the National Research Council (Canada); the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) is a TIO Associate. Major funding has been provided by the Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation.

For more information about the TMT project, visit tmt.org, or follow @TMTHawaii.
Sandra Dawson
TMT Manager, Hawaii Community Affairs
808-934-0160
 111 Nowelo Street,
Hilo, HI 96720
Phone (808) 284-9922