TMT does not justify the desecration of Hawaiian places of worship

Many well-respected thinkers are advocating for the completion of construction of two major telescopes on Mauna Kea and Haleakala.

My initial reaction to the controversy was in line with their views — until I rode my bicycle up to the Haleakala summit last month and saw the construction site for the Daniel K. Inouye solar telescope first-hand.

The visceral impact was shocking, as the construction crane looked as if it was sitting in the middle of a heiau.

I then understood why the protectors are so adamant.

Although other telescopes were previously built there and the state Department of Land and Natural Resources has already issued permits, truly progressive and open-minded thinkers will understand that it is time to change direction under these special circumstances.

James Haught, editor of The Charleston (W. Va.) Gazette in his commentary piece, “Tide of history flows to the left” (Star-Advertiser, Insight, Aug. 2), stated that “the overall tide of civilization flows in a progressive direction” and “amid all the chaos and confusion of daily life, through a thousand contradictory barrages, the struggle for a safer, fairer, more secure, more humane, world never ceases.”

These protectors raise our consciousness of the special spiritual values at stake.

They teach us that notwithstanding economic, educational and scientific reasons for these telescopes, they do not justify the desecration of Hawaiian places of worship. While the sacredness of each site is more appropriately explained by Hawaiian kupuna, cultural practitioners and scholars, suffice it to say both sites are considered among the most spiritually revered sites on Earth.

Mauna Kea — or Ka Mauna a Wakea, as known in Hawaiian creation tradition — is held in high esteem as kupuna, and is the first born child of Earth Mother Papahanaumoku and the Sky Father Wakea.

Located within this sacred wahi pana are hundreds of heiau and other historic properties, including an ancient alpine lake, Lake Waiau, which is visited even today by native healers for traditional practices.

The summit of Haleakala is an ancient place for prayer, meditation and the drawing of spiritual wisdom by lead priests or kahuna po‘o.

When Pele first visited Haleakala, she dug a deep pit and made 16 pu‘u that form a sacred alignment from the summit into the ocean; this path features over 300 heiau, the highest concentration of heiau in the Hawaiian archipelago.

Like those leaders who went to jail advocating for many of the rights we take for granted today, the protectors understandably will never give up. I am hopeful that the leaders of our state will recognize that given the undisputed highly sacred character of both Haleakala and Mauna Kea, the scales tip in favor of preservation, and will take immediate steps to stop the construction and work out a fair settlement with the developers of the Thirty Meter Telescope and the Inouye solar telescope.