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Transcript: Earl Kawa‘a

One cannot separate well-being of the physical body, spiritual well-being, and intellectual well-being

[Lindberg:]
I think our viewers are interested in Hawaiian ideas of health and illness, and I’ve heard you use the term “ola.” What does that mean? How does that fit in?
[Kaawa:]
“Ola” —spelled O L A—“ola,” and it depends how it is used in context. But “ola” means life. Ola kino is the wellbeing of the physical body. “Ola ka huane” means that you’re spiritually well. Intellectual would be not “ola” but would be “akamai” or na-ah-wau (phonetic) so from a cultural perspective those three areas are very, very important, and they’re not separated. They’re part of and cannot be separated.