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.