Collection: Makena Kiawes, 1984

Writer and philosopher Thomas Moore says that one of the things art does for us is to stop us - so that the world is not going on for a few minutes. "Art arrests our attention. Any art that arrests us, and doesn't lead us back into life with an opinion about it, is inviting us out and is performing a very important service. What it is giving us is an opportunity for contemplation."

I believe this to be true. There are many things that create an atmosphere for contemplation: a warm fire in a fireplace, a beautiful sunset or sunrise, a sleeping child. Makena does it for me. I turn into a monk at about Ahihi cove. Geographically speaking, I become Friar Cost.

Early one morning while swimming in Makena waters, I came eye to eye with a sleepy dolphin. He came up on my right and slowly circled in front of me by about 6 feet. We just gazed at each other as we lazed through the water. Then he cruised around my left side as I rolled over on my back to watch where he headed. He didn't leave. He just kept his 6 foot circle slowly going around me. I stopped moving and just glided along. I gazed in his eye as he gazed back. Three circles to the left and then three more to the right and I thought about nothing. I glided and gazed, and he glided and gazed. I think this was a case of mutually arrested attention.