A car pulled out in front me yesterday
my first thought wasn't the nicest
next minute - they reverse, and bang!
teaching me a lesson....
Thoughts powered by emotion
can be pretty lethal things
especially without love in your heart
But the world was willed into existence
by concentrating and imagining in the mind
So there in my mind, should love also reside
constantly tracing it's outline
In return, love comes from all corners
- granted snide looks and fear come too
But for middle eastern $2 shop ladies
to call me darling more than once
makes me realise what a little love
in one's mind can do...
Friday 29 July 2011
Wednesday 27 July 2011
8. Spacetime
Western society creating space and time;
"The supreme task of the physicist is to arrive at those universal elementary laws from which the cosmos can be built up by pure deduction. There is no logical path to these laws; only tuition, resting on sympathetic understanding of experience, can reach them" Albert Einstein, 'Principles of Research' 1918.
Māori manifesting spacetime (wā);
Ko Te Kore-
Te Kore te whiwhia
Te Kore te rawea
Te Kore i ai
Te Kore te wiwia
Nā Te Kore Te Pō-
Te Pō nui
Te Pō roa
Te Pō uriuri
Te Pō kerekere
Te Pō tiwhatiwha
Te Pō tē kitea
Te Pō tangotango
Te Pō whāwhā
Te Pō namunamu ki taiao
Te Pō tahuri atu
Te Pō tahuri mai ki taiao
Ki te Whaiao
Ki te Ao mārama
Tihei, mauri ora!
"The supreme task of the physicist is to arrive at those universal elementary laws from which the cosmos can be built up by pure deduction. There is no logical path to these laws; only tuition, resting on sympathetic understanding of experience, can reach them" Albert Einstein, 'Principles of Research' 1918.
Māori manifesting spacetime (wā);
Ko Te Kore-
Te Kore te whiwhia
Te Kore te rawea
Te Kore i ai
Te Kore te wiwia
Nā Te Kore Te Pō-
Te Pō nui
Te Pō roa
Te Pō uriuri
Te Pō kerekere
Te Pō tiwhatiwha
Te Pō tē kitea
Te Pō tangotango
Te Pō whāwhā
Te Pō namunamu ki taiao
Te Pō tahuri atu
Te Pō tahuri mai ki taiao
Ki te Whaiao
Ki te Ao mārama
Tihei, mauri ora!
7. Strength through love
Lack of compassion filled my heart with fear
forced my eyes shut and made me play nursery rhymes
about god in my ears
Lack of compassion saw nights of terror
endless days filled with worry
and impending horror with the setting of the sun
But love and compassion - that's a different story
Love and compassion now made me laugh and take pity
on shadows that screamed and howled all around me
Love and compassion made me reach out and guide
the lost and forlorn to safety and rest
But love and compassion now give me the strength
to ask - if good or bad, is its actual intent....
forced my eyes shut and made me play nursery rhymes
about god in my ears
Lack of compassion saw nights of terror
endless days filled with worry
and impending horror with the setting of the sun
But love and compassion - that's a different story
Love and compassion now made me laugh and take pity
on shadows that screamed and howled all around me
Love and compassion made me reach out and guide
the lost and forlorn to safety and rest
But love and compassion now give me the strength
to ask - if good or bad, is its actual intent....
Tuesday 19 July 2011
6. Pendleton blankets of white
As the first light of dawn crept over my face
words could not say just how my heart sank
as I fell to the floor and cried in your lap
Your hair long again and pulled into a bun
and through trusty old frames
You looked at me again
Wearing a robe with patterns of satin
and nursing a pillow embroidered with light
I couldn't believe a chance had been given
For one last goodbye my beautiful mate
words could not say just how my heart sank
as I fell to the floor and cried in your lap
Your hair long again and pulled into a bun
and through trusty old frames
You looked at me again
Wearing a robe with patterns of satin
and nursing a pillow embroidered with light
I couldn't believe a chance had been given
For one last goodbye my beautiful mate
Monday 18 July 2011
5. Karanga mai!
Early 20th century german physicist Albert Einstein said "The only reason for time is so everything doesn't happen at once" which intrigued me because I had always seen a disconnect between what was real in a Pākehā - Western philosophical sense, and what was real in te ao Māori (the Māori worldview) - of what the definition of reality was.
In this specific case, Western philosophy uses time; the past, present and the future to determine reality, i.e you are reading this blog now so this is the present, and if you read it tomorrow it will be the future. Here reality is defined by actions and place - reading a blog in the present. But in this quote Einstein alludes to a broader context of time, and in turn - of reality, and one which is more aligned to the Māori worldview?!
Einstein talks about things potentially "happening all at once", and when we use ritual, when we use kawa and tikanga, when we use specific things like karanga, tauparapara and karakia - that's exactly what we're doing. We use sacred words, coupled with sound like pitch and tone, and maybe even employ actions and tools like talking sticks in an effort to break through our reality and reach out and beyond to other planes of existence.
As a man - far be it from me to talk about the finer points of karanga but as a general summary when we hear a woman cry "karanga mai ki ō tātou mate tuatini e..." we see an attempt to call 'beyond the veil of death',and asking ancestors to come and be with her. Einstein's words kick in here when we think about the two realities coming into play; ancestors from a past reality, who are now being called into this woman's reality here in the present - in this case, two things "happening at once". Whu, neat alright aye!
Anyway, apart from getting a glimpse into metaphysics (studying the nature and structure of reality, in this case - by using time), there was a bigger issue now at stake. My own sense of reality, of what's real, and potentially - impacting on my own sense of sanity?! This discovery was further compounded after making a discovery relating to semantics (the relationship between language and reality, and in this case nouns) where inanimate objects like your computer are non living things - sitting with you in a particular point in time - further assuring you of your sense of place in your current reality.
But then I remembered that in te ao Māori, everything has a mauri or a life force. These 'inanimate objects' actually have a life force of their own and in a different reality - manipulated by ritual, they morph, breathe, and maybe even get up and walk around..
So how can we be assured of our own certainty and sanity through our need for a reality? It wasn't until my own time spent with a tohunga that I learnt the true nature of ritual - of where we can break through to other realities but we can re-align reality also, "kia ea ai ngā kōrero ō rātou mā, apiti hōno tātai hōno, te hunga mate ki a rātou, te hunga ora ki a tātou"...
Generally we see the nature of reality (metaphysics) and the relationship between language and reality (semantics) differ between Māori and non-Māori, in that "what rings true for some doesn't ring true for all" but what is similar is the existence of a higher level of philosophical thinking and of knowledge.
In this specific case, Western philosophy uses time; the past, present and the future to determine reality, i.e you are reading this blog now so this is the present, and if you read it tomorrow it will be the future. Here reality is defined by actions and place - reading a blog in the present. But in this quote Einstein alludes to a broader context of time, and in turn - of reality, and one which is more aligned to the Māori worldview?!
Einstein talks about things potentially "happening all at once", and when we use ritual, when we use kawa and tikanga, when we use specific things like karanga, tauparapara and karakia - that's exactly what we're doing. We use sacred words, coupled with sound like pitch and tone, and maybe even employ actions and tools like talking sticks in an effort to break through our reality and reach out and beyond to other planes of existence.
As a man - far be it from me to talk about the finer points of karanga but as a general summary when we hear a woman cry "karanga mai ki ō tātou mate tuatini e..." we see an attempt to call 'beyond the veil of death',and asking ancestors to come and be with her. Einstein's words kick in here when we think about the two realities coming into play; ancestors from a past reality, who are now being called into this woman's reality here in the present - in this case, two things "happening at once". Whu, neat alright aye!
Anyway, apart from getting a glimpse into metaphysics (studying the nature and structure of reality, in this case - by using time), there was a bigger issue now at stake. My own sense of reality, of what's real, and potentially - impacting on my own sense of sanity?! This discovery was further compounded after making a discovery relating to semantics (the relationship between language and reality, and in this case nouns) where inanimate objects like your computer are non living things - sitting with you in a particular point in time - further assuring you of your sense of place in your current reality.
But then I remembered that in te ao Māori, everything has a mauri or a life force. These 'inanimate objects' actually have a life force of their own and in a different reality - manipulated by ritual, they morph, breathe, and maybe even get up and walk around..
So how can we be assured of our own certainty and sanity through our need for a reality? It wasn't until my own time spent with a tohunga that I learnt the true nature of ritual - of where we can break through to other realities but we can re-align reality also, "kia ea ai ngā kōrero ō rātou mā, apiti hōno tātai hōno, te hunga mate ki a rātou, te hunga ora ki a tātou"...
Generally we see the nature of reality (metaphysics) and the relationship between language and reality (semantics) differ between Māori and non-Māori, in that "what rings true for some doesn't ring true for all" but what is similar is the existence of a higher level of philosophical thinking and of knowledge.
Sunday 17 July 2011
4. Kete o Te Wānanga
The grandfather of western philosophy 16th century german Immanuel Kant said "Science is the organisation of knowledge, wisdom is the organisation of daily life" thereby shaping the minds of western society's greatest scholars and it's universities.
With the imposition of colonial states, indigenous bodies of knowledge became supplanted by western philosophy, indigenous knowledge theory and ideas appropriated and incorporated into western knowledge thereby contributing and expanding it.
Māori and indigenous people worldwide now became dispossessed - not only of their knowledge, but their claims to knowledge itself, their knowledge now labelled as 'information' and they themselves now re-labelled as 'wise' or 'people with wisdom' but never having any notions of science let alone information or knowledge management systems.
Even when Io said to Tāne 'kia mau ki ō ringa ngā Kete o Te Wānanga' (hold fast to the Baskets of Knowledge) - words which have been sung, woven, and spoken of over many hundreds of years to Māori and non-Māori alike, there has been the pervading assumption that Māori do not have knowledge nor ways of organising it.
What is even more concerning though is our own reliance on western philosophy, on the way we contribute to the further development and expansion of it, and the prejudice and contempt we ourselves have for our own knowledge.
With relative ease we will employ western methodology to study Māori subject matter albeit with an outcome ameliorating Māori economic, social or political life, but in doing so we re-affirm the place and importance of western tools of enquiry over our own, we substantiate it's place of importance, and contribute to it's growth through the innovative use of it's methods.
So what were the methods or ways of attaining knowledge and what is the place of rituals like tauparapara, waere and karakia? We currently see karakia used in all sorts of situations so I suspect one of the next major steps will be establishing which karakia or kawa and tikanga are used with each specific practice enabling a person to become enlightened. After that, we might as well have a look and see if there are any commonalities which run right across them pointing us to a set of 'conditions' or 'ways of knowing'.
Insurmountable task? Nah - not really. If we just jump across to 'the other camp' i.e western philosophy, we see the derivation of all the disciplines from a core set of principles or even one singular truth - measurement; Arts and Humanties from the Social Sciences, Social Sciences from Science, Science from Mathematics.
Could all Māori knowledge be descended from one singular principle itself? Watch this space....
Reference Link
With the imposition of colonial states, indigenous bodies of knowledge became supplanted by western philosophy, indigenous knowledge theory and ideas appropriated and incorporated into western knowledge thereby contributing and expanding it.
Māori and indigenous people worldwide now became dispossessed - not only of their knowledge, but their claims to knowledge itself, their knowledge now labelled as 'information' and they themselves now re-labelled as 'wise' or 'people with wisdom' but never having any notions of science let alone information or knowledge management systems.
Even when Io said to Tāne 'kia mau ki ō ringa ngā Kete o Te Wānanga' (hold fast to the Baskets of Knowledge) - words which have been sung, woven, and spoken of over many hundreds of years to Māori and non-Māori alike, there has been the pervading assumption that Māori do not have knowledge nor ways of organising it.
What is even more concerning though is our own reliance on western philosophy, on the way we contribute to the further development and expansion of it, and the prejudice and contempt we ourselves have for our own knowledge.
With relative ease we will employ western methodology to study Māori subject matter albeit with an outcome ameliorating Māori economic, social or political life, but in doing so we re-affirm the place and importance of western tools of enquiry over our own, we substantiate it's place of importance, and contribute to it's growth through the innovative use of it's methods.
So what were the methods or ways of attaining knowledge and what is the place of rituals like tauparapara, waere and karakia? We currently see karakia used in all sorts of situations so I suspect one of the next major steps will be establishing which karakia or kawa and tikanga are used with each specific practice enabling a person to become enlightened. After that, we might as well have a look and see if there are any commonalities which run right across them pointing us to a set of 'conditions' or 'ways of knowing'.
Insurmountable task? Nah - not really. If we just jump across to 'the other camp' i.e western philosophy, we see the derivation of all the disciplines from a core set of principles or even one singular truth - measurement; Arts and Humanties from the Social Sciences, Social Sciences from Science, Science from Mathematics.
Could all Māori knowledge be descended from one singular principle itself? Watch this space....
Reference Link
Thursday 14 July 2011
3. Footsteps
Tēnei au, tēnei au te hōkai nei i taku tapuwae
Ko te hōkai nuku, ko te hōkai rangi
ko te hōkai ō tō tupuna a Tāne nui ā rangi
i pikitia ai ki ngā Rangi Tūhāhā, ki Tihi ō mānono
i rokohia ai ko Io matua kore anake
I riro iho ai ngā Kete o Te Wānanga
ko te Kete Tūāuri
ko te Kete Tūātea
ko te Kete Aronui
Ka tiritiria, ka poupoua ki a Papatuanuku
Ka puta te ira tangata ki te whaiao, ki te ao mārama,
Tīhei mauri ora!
Reference Link
Ko te hōkai nuku, ko te hōkai rangi
ko te hōkai ō tō tupuna a Tāne nui ā rangi
i pikitia ai ki ngā Rangi Tūhāhā, ki Tihi ō mānono
i rokohia ai ko Io matua kore anake
I riro iho ai ngā Kete o Te Wānanga
ko te Kete Tūāuri
ko te Kete Tūātea
ko te Kete Aronui
Ka tiritiria, ka poupoua ki a Papatuanuku
Ka puta te ira tangata ki te whaiao, ki te ao mārama,
Tīhei mauri ora!
Reference Link
Wednesday 13 July 2011
2. The Journey
"Hiringa i te mahara" is a poignant description of the journey so far in pursuing a PhD in revitalising traditional Māori knowledge.
It is rich and striking in meaning and metaphor aimed at providing a glimpse into some of the traditional ways of knowing and ways of being - of methdology and of output.
But here methodology are thoughts powered by emotion, they are dreams and projections of the self conjuring up both enlightment as well as darkness.
They eminate from within and from beyond, of travelling to distant horizons, and of calling knowledge to present itself in forms that inspire or terrorise.
In this journey, time and place shift and move, reality becomes unreliable, darkness comes from light and certainty can only be found in ritual and in practice - in the footsteps of the gods, and of the ancients.
It was these footsteps which traversed an ever changing environment at a time when heaven and earth were torn apart, of when gods climbed into the heavens, and when men fished up countries.
And it will be these footsteps - these remnants of their power and presence which assure me a notion of safety and of certainty for the journey ahead
Reference Link
It is rich and striking in meaning and metaphor aimed at providing a glimpse into some of the traditional ways of knowing and ways of being - of methdology and of output.
But here methodology are thoughts powered by emotion, they are dreams and projections of the self conjuring up both enlightment as well as darkness.
They eminate from within and from beyond, of travelling to distant horizons, and of calling knowledge to present itself in forms that inspire or terrorise.
In this journey, time and place shift and move, reality becomes unreliable, darkness comes from light and certainty can only be found in ritual and in practice - in the footsteps of the gods, and of the ancients.
It was these footsteps which traversed an ever changing environment at a time when heaven and earth were torn apart, of when gods climbed into the heavens, and when men fished up countries.
And it will be these footsteps - these remnants of their power and presence which assure me a notion of safety and of certainty for the journey ahead
Reference Link
1. Hiringa i te mahara
I was witness to the daily life of tohunga
I was a star looking out over the African continent
And with my hands I took Luke Skywalker's light sabre
bringing it down apon an atom splitting it in two
From the recesses of my mind
and with fear in my heart
I called out into the darkness of the dawn
summoning the epitome of evil
With invisible amour it stood over me
shimmering in silence
and filling my world with utter fear and despair
The tohunga's words wrapped and enveloped me
then the water received me
My unconscious mind refused to dive
and while fighting myself
at my face did Tangaroa scratch and bite me
I was both shark and prey
thrashing and diving, thrusting forward and recoiling
Until I met my foe with wide eyes opened
and seeing nothing but a myriad of blue
and the calm and depth of Tangaroa's mind itself
Reference Link
I was a star looking out over the African continent
And with my hands I took Luke Skywalker's light sabre
bringing it down apon an atom splitting it in two
From the recesses of my mind
and with fear in my heart
I called out into the darkness of the dawn
summoning the epitome of evil
With invisible amour it stood over me
shimmering in silence
and filling my world with utter fear and despair
The tohunga's words wrapped and enveloped me
then the water received me
My unconscious mind refused to dive
and while fighting myself
at my face did Tangaroa scratch and bite me
I was both shark and prey
thrashing and diving, thrusting forward and recoiling
Until I met my foe with wide eyes opened
and seeing nothing but a myriad of blue
and the calm and depth of Tangaroa's mind itself
Reference Link
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