 I'm Mark Shklav, the host of Think Tech Hawaii's Law Across the Sea program. Today is my first program of 2021, and we're going across the sea to New York to talk with my friend, Audrey Kitagawa. Audrey is the president of the Light of Awareness International Spiritual Family. However, Audrey was originally a lawyer. She began to practice law in Hawaii about the same time as me, and she and I shared similar thoughts about bringing together the international legal community. In 1985, Audrey and I were part of a team that organized the first Hawaii, Japan Lawyers' Conference in Hiroshima, Japan. In 1996, Audrey left Hawaii and the law, and I've asked her to share her journey and message with us today. Aloha, Audrey. Aloha, and thank you so much, Mark, for having me on this program. It's wonderful to see you after all these years, and I wish to give my welcome to this program and my great fondness and aloha to all of my colleagues who I have not seen in years. And of course, it's wonderful to see you and to mention our convening in Hiroshima, which is a sister city to Honolulu, and the wonderful time that we had there with the Hiroshima Hawaii State Bar Association program that you so fabulously put together. It was an exquisite program, and I remember colleagues who went with us and the colleagues that we met in Hiroshima. It was a phenomenal, phenomenal program. So thank you, Mark, because you really were instrumental in keeping that program alive and well and being so productive. And that was when you were a lawyer, and you actually were born and raised in Hawaii and went into the practice of law from 1977 to 1996 with an excellent firm and doing a good job as a lawyer. But first, I want to start there. I want to ask you, why did you become a lawyer, and how did you feel about practicing law and being a lawyer in Hawaii? Let's start with that and we'll go on to what happened. Well, I knew from a very young age that I wanted to be a lawyer. Initially, I thought I would go into the medical profession, but I had to be realistic and math and chemistry were not my strong subjects. So I decided that I would help to enact laws that would be beneficial to society. And I was very idealistic. And back then my father ran for the House of Representatives when I was a freshman in college. So I actually took a semester off from college and helped with his campaign. I was actually his campaign manager with absolutely no experience. He ran on the Republican ticket. And I decided really that my route to politics was not to my liking, but I still wanted to be a lawyer. So I pursued that profession and pretty much kept out of the political arena, though many people thought that I should be involved in politics. At the same time that my father ran for office, Tom Rice, who was a state Republican party chairman at that time as well. So I got to know him because of his responsibility to help candidates on the Republican ticket. And besides helping my father, I was approached by the King Kiyosaki campaign to help with their youth component of their governor lieutenant governor's campaign. And initially I was approached by Ralph Kiyosaki, who was at the time that I was the student representative on the Board of Education, but he was the state superintendent of schools. And he was quite a visionary and a great gentleman, and he approached me to help on his campaign. And of course, everyone in Hawaii knows that Sam King was a federal judge. His father was the first governor of the then territory of Hawaii. And so they ran on the governor, lieutenant governor's ticket, the King Kiyosaki Republican ticket. And all of the Republican candidates lost that year, but I learned many things about politics. And of course, you know Ralph Kiyosaki very well. I believe he is uncle to your wife and such a phenomenal man. And all of the, and of course, Judge King, too, was quite a remarkable individual. And I was approached to work for the Republican Party after the elections were over, but Tom Rice told me that I should complete my education first and make that a priority and return to the political world once I receive my education if it's still appeal to me. He liked the way I worked and gave me a job every summer with his law firm because I told him I wanted to be a lawyer. And he hired me until I graduated from law school. And then I went to work for his law firm after I graduated from law school. You know, Tom was a consummate professional and a very great man. And I didn't realize at the time how really busy he was being the lead partner in a law firm, Rice Lee and Wong, and tending to being the chair of the Republican Party during the term of the elections. And I was always grateful to him to offer me a job during my summers and then hiring me upon graduation from law school. So, you know, I have many fond memories of that time in my life and the steep learning curve in being engaged in political processes in local government. Well, you know, and you were with a great guy, Tom Rice, great guy, good, good law firm. I remember it very well. And you were a standout attorney there and you were there for 20 years. Then you left. Why actually, I was with his law firm, not all that long. I launched my own office in the Hasegawa Komutan building after I departed Rice Lee and Wong, and I actually was offered a position with David Sharder's office. And of course, everyone knows that David Sharder was a very prominent attorney in Hawaii. And then I changed my mind after letting everybody know at Rice Lee and Wong that I was going to work for Dave Sharder. And then I changed the mind and decided to go out on my own. So I've learned a little bit about you that I didn't know, OK? OK. So in any event, I had my own law office. I did practice law for about 20 years. And I was very happy being a lawyer as that was the career path that I chose. And I really liked the discipline of practicing law. You know, I had a routine of getting up early in the morning to meditate and head off to do my workout at the Hana Lulu Club, which used to open in those days at 4.30 in the morning. I don't know if it still does, but, you know, there was a small group of type A personalities who stood by the elevator promptly at 4.30 waiting for it to open. And I would do my workout and head off to the office to start my day. But often my spiritual mother would call me to come and meditate with her before I went to work. And, you know, so those 20 years of practice really were the practice of discipline, hard work. And, of course, I really enjoyed my career and my law practice. OK. So by the way, the Hana Lulu Club is closed because of the pandemic, as I understand it. And so that has changed. Now, let's go back and I think we have a hint of maybe what happened. But after 20 years, why did you leave the practice in Hawaii? What motivated you to make that life change? Well, that is a very long and involved story. But suffice to say that I was chosen to lead a spiritual community that arose from, you know, those who came to listen to the beautiful, pure stream of what I would call sacred transmissions that emanated from my spiritual mother, who was my predecessor and we all called her Divine Mother. And she gave the most exalted spiritual messages that one could have the privilege to hear. And many people came from all walks of life to hear her words of wisdom. You know, there was a great peace that one felt being with her. And she had this incredible, you know, it's like as if you were the only person there and she had a laser focus on you and understood you. And there was just this union with her that just filled you with a lot of love. And her words of wisdom moved us from this self-centered kind of preoccupation of the little me to the bigger world of being coming thoughtful and mindful of others. And I'll give you an example. Before I met her, I was chronically tardy. I mean, I was always late. And in fact, some of my friends used to give me a different time, way in advance of the actual time of the event, knowing that by the time I showed up, I would be on time if they gave me an advanced, you know, time with the event. And being with my spiritual mother, I got to see how she was always so mindful of others. And she never wanted to waste people's time. They didn't want to keep people waiting. So just through the process of observing her behavior, I became a very prompt person because she was meticulous in her mindfulness of others and never imposing on wasting people's time. Or, you know, she was just so thoughtful in every way and just through the observation because it's not something she ever lectured me on or ever scolded me about. But just by observing how she behaved, I became a very prompt person because promptness was important to her because of her practice of being mindful of others. And when you consider that time really are units of our life and how we spend our life, it is very important that we become mindful of not imposing our time frame on other people's, you know, life and cause them to be unhappy, waiting. And, you know, so I got to see that in this tardiness, this loveliness, I should say, that was, you know, quite extreme that I was being very thoughtless of others. And so I really got shaped up just by being with her. So in that fashion of how she lived her life and the example that she set, I got straightened out in many ways. And the whole purpose is really to have consideration of others, greater mindfulness of others. And in that whole process, the development of the heart to really care for others and to see how our conduct impresses upon the lives of other people and that we should do our best to bring the benefits of your presence in other people's lives rather than all of the grief, heartache and negativity. So we do have a choice in how we live our lives. So, you know, at the time I learned so many things from her and, you know, the motivation to make the change in my life came about when actually she had chosen me to take over for her as the head of the spiritual community that had grown around her because so many people wanted to hear her beautiful transmissions that were quite extraordinary. I mean, she spoke in a spiritual language that was not common language. And it was very uplifting and elevating and quite remarkable. So when I first met her, I had graduated from college. I was on my way to law school. She was the last person in Hawaii who I was going to meet. A friend of mine said, Audrey, I know you are a sincere seeker after God and you really must meet this lady. And in fact, she changed my life. So I had an appointment to see her, knocked on the door and she opened the door. She took one look at me and she pointed at me and she said, you cannot serve two masters. And somehow in my heart, I knew exactly what she meant. Not that I could articulate, you know, what it was that I understood at that time. But I just knew what she was telling me was true. So her having said that, you know, I felt that the day would come when I would have to choose between the career that I chose and to do what I had chosen to do as opposed to what she ultimately would ask me to do, which I promise to undertake what she asked me to do. And that was to fulfill a mission. And I gave my word to her that I would do so before she left her body. So she actually gave me a special, shall we say, power of attorney to undertake this, what I call a sacred mission. And so the day did come when I would have to give up my law career. But I also understood in my first year of law school that this day would come because I had a very interesting experience in my first year of law school that indicated to me that I would actually give up my legal career to undertake my spiritual mission. And that while I was not told specifically the date or the year when I would have to do that, I was left with the knowing that I would be crystal clear that the day had arrived and that I would have to close my law practice. And it turned out exactly like that. And that once that day came, I would have to live by divine providence and will alone. And I was meant to go wherever it was the divine will to take me to go. So it was a very kind of deeply intuitive way of living to not be attached or fixed to any of my attachments and to be able to leave Hawaii, leave my career. And because if I was extremely attached, which I was, I mean, I love my career, then it would be very difficult to give it up. So the day came, I closed my law office very quickly. And then I proceeded on to the next step, which brought me to New York City. I don't think many of us who are your friends and law colleagues, where did she go? Where is she? What's she doing? Well, okay, where did you go? What did you do? Well, you know, as you know, I didn't say goodbye to anybody. I made no announcements. I did select an attorney, Tim Luria, actually, to take over whatever cases I had and my staff, and he agreed to do that at the same benefits. And then I quickly closed my law office. It was so fast, I didn't even have a chance to tell my family. I intended to tell my family that weekend, but in the meantime, my mother found out when she tried to reach me at the office. And my phones were all disconnected. So I left so quickly. And it was, you know, I didn't want to have to do any explaining because I didn't want anybody to say what my mother said to me, which was after our phone call, initial phone call, you know, inquiring how come my phone was disconnected. And I explained to her that I closed my law office. And I actually intended to see her that weekend to do the explanation because after all, she worked very hard to send me to college and law school. And she listened and, you know, then we hung up and I thought, wow, you know, that wasn't so difficult until the next morning. She called me early in the morning and she said, have you lost your mind? She said, I couldn't sleep all night long. What have you done? And I guess because, you know, I was so committed to the practice of law and my career, you know, it was like incredulous that I would actually give it up. So I went from Hawaii to New York City after I closed my practice to help with the State of the World Forum, which is an organization founded by Mikhail Gorbachev. And it was doing an international conference, you know, it has been doing international conferences in San Francisco. But since they wanted to have a conference for the first time outside of San Francisco in New York City to align with the opening of the UN General Assembly for the Millennium Gathering of the Heads of State, I offered to go to New York City to help them prepare for this international conference. And, you know, I helped with coordinating the outreach meetings, the morning meditations with spiritual religious leaders because it was about a week-long conference. And having members of my spiritual community also help out by manning a call center, which is located in a law firm to do the outreach. And I also attended a lot of meetings with the head of the forum and we met many interesting people as part of this outreach to have keynote speakers present at this conference. And we did have Mikhail Gorbachev attend, President Waheed of Indonesia, President Obasanja of Nigeria, several department heads of the UN and many other eminent persons presented at the conference. And through that outreach, I met Olara Atunu, who was a special representative of the UN Secretary General for Children and Armed Conflict. And he brought me into the UN to help in his office as an advisor. And initially, my plan was to stay in New York City for only six months to help with this state-of-the-world conference and then return to Honolulu. But since I found myself in the UN immediately after the conference, I continued to stay in New York City. So this year will make my 21st year here in New York City. But of course, I still retain my homes in Honolulu and my families in Honolulu. And I always made it a point to return to Honolulu for the holidays especially. And to be with my mother and host the family gatherings for the holidays once she turned 98 years old. She passed away at age 99. And she always said, hard work never killed anybody. She was a very hardworking lady. And since she lived to be 99, I take her at her word. And she was just wonderful. So you were given a relationship with a spiritual person who directed you and gave you some idea of where you to go. And you kind of took that journey. And now, where are you now? I mean, you're the head of the Light of Awareness International spiritual family. And the people there call you divine mother. What do you do? What does that mean? What are your present plans and where are you going? And we have about five minutes left. So tell us where we're going. Five minutes already. Wow, time really flies unbelievable. Well, the spiritual community, as I share, sprang up around divine mother. And so when she passed on and chose me to head the spiritual community, then that designation was passed on to me as well. And I've traveled to over 50 countries, several countries many times over, and had the privilege to meet some of the world's most fascinating people and continue to meet and work with amazing people. And I do continue to lead the spiritual community. And I just concluded, in fact, on Saturday, six international broadcasts with my spiritual community for the holidays, which I've been doing for years now during the holidays. And so the Light of Awareness International spiritual family is a name that I gave the community that sprang up around my spiritual mother. And so I've been continuing to travel, speak about the sacred messages that she gave to us, and to work with the spiritual family to be able to develop their inner life, their spiritual lives, and to see how in the context of being householders, we can have the actualization of the reality of the divine in our daily lives. Because she always said where we are is our holy ground, and we must be able to find God here now. So what is your message to the folks out there? And I also want to ask you, in this time in our society, is there hope for us? Where are we going? What are your thoughts? Well, of course, there's hope, because our capacity to change, that we can become better people, better custodians of our environment. And that we can learn and grow and utilize that intelligence and good hearts and wills and intentions that we can all participate in helping to make this world a better place. So our capacity to actually change, to be flexible, to adapt to all of life's challenges is very hopeful, because that aspect that was given to us as part and parcel of the sakeness of our lives is inherent within us. And it is always my hope that the beauty and fullness of everyone's potential will be realized in this lifetime. And all of the challenges that we face become modalities by which we can practice and to see how we can be participants in creating positive solutions for change and to make this world a better place. And we all have responsibility as global citizens to one, work on our own inner development and character and then to be able to translate it in action in our daily lives through loving thoughts, loving speech and loving actions. So that collectively, as we all represent how we are living our individual lives, the footprints that we leave behind will become a legacy of inspiring beacons of light and inspiration to all those whose lives we touch. And you're saying that, what I hear you saying is that all people have that potential. All people have that potential and that ability, they just have to recognize it. Is that recognize it and then act on it? Is that, am I hearing that right? Yes, it requires awareness. And so therefore, the name of our community and life of awareness means that this aspect of awareness will allow us to make those necessary changes because in this lifetime where we are is the holy ground and we have to be able to find God here and now. And she always said that God is love. So the actualization of the living reality of God in the seemingly ordinariness of daily life through every loving thought, word and deed is made alive and a living reality in our presence daily. And if you've ever read Thornton Wilder's play, Our Town, which won the Pulitzer Prize, it poses a stark reminder to us that when we get so busy with the tasks of living that we do not fully appreciate the beauty of life itself. And the moments of great beauty and love that exists are out of the awareness because of our ignorance in the getting so busy that we forget that life though, while it is full of challenges is also filled with great beauty. And it is our responsibility to work on ourselves that we may become better people through the development of a heart of love, compassion and kindness for ourselves and each other. So collectively, we then represent the community of human beings and all sentient beings to live life on the high road, always giving hope and inspiration to all those whose lives we touch. Well, Audrey, thank you so much for sharing your journey and your message. And I've learned a lot just from hearing you talk and learning more about what happened where you went and what you've become and what your thoughts are. So thank you so much. It was a pleasure to see you again and hopefully you'll get back to Hawaii sometime. Yes, I will. As soon as COVID lockdown is over and I'll be sure to touch base with you when I land and thank you so much for having me on your program and to all of my colleagues and friends in the legal profession. You know, it's very joyous to make this connection through this broadcast. And I hope that we will be able to renew our friendship as the years go by and we not lose touch with each other. Okay, Aloha. Aloha, thank you so much, Mark. Infinite blessings to you and happy new year. Thank you. Thank you. Aloha. Thank you.