Te Iti Kahurangi

Our whakataukī reads:

Whāia e koe te iti kahurangi
Ki te tūohu koe, he maunga teitei
Seek the small jewels
Should you bow your head
Let it be to a lofty mountain

For me, the small jewels are those golden moments of creativity - small, fleeting, precious, fragile. They are the moments of wonder when energy flows... flows freely, unrestrained, free from doubt, free from question. For me they arrive in music - when I discover something in composition or a spontaneous moment arrives in performance and the music takes flight. They arrive too when I am writing and an idea of quality comes forth. Again the idea can be small but precious nonetheless. They arrive too in moments when I share my knowledge, the knowledge I hold. When I speak before an audience or when I teach.

I spend my days in constant search of these moments. Tirelessly I set the conditions for them to arrive and all too often they do not. Faith and discipline is the key. I must maintain discipline myself in my daily routine to privilege this at all times.

Identity

For a long time, the struggles for identity in our communities have been framed in terms of Māori and Pākehā - who is Māori? What is Māori? Authenticity anxieties have been experienced.

My identity struggle today is not so much about Māori viz a viz Pākehā but rather how do I keep my thought and action in continuous alignment and harmony with my creative centre? Secondly, how do I then use the things I have - knowledge, experiences, relationships, resources - to give expression to this creative centre?

This is the adventure of a lifetime!

Be true to thyself, so the expression goes.

The Challenge facing Iwi Development

In my view, the challenge facing iwi development is not about money, or resources. The key challenge facing iwi development at this time is meaninglessness. That is, iwi members naturally wish to know how does participation in my iwi bring value and benefits to my life? This problem is compounded when the opportunities for participation in iwi life remain few. For many the only opportunity to participate is at tangihanga. On too many other occasions, iwi members witness poor behavior, bickering and conflict when attending meetings at their marae. Hence, for many iwi members participation in their iwi is meaningless for very little value is offered to them. Of course, there are exceptions to this as some iwi do have positive activities taking place. However, on the whole, this is true for at least part of the time. The question remains - why should I participate in my iwi? What value and benefits can I gain from participating?

Altenatively, there is the committed iwi member who participates and contributes no matter how difficult things become. Sometimes iwi activities can indeed be mana diminishing rather than mana enhancing. Yet that person still returns to the iwi committee meetings, still attends to the tasks that need to be done. Why is that come iwi members never attend iwi activities whereas others remain deeply committed?

We have a task to attend to - and that is to turn around iwi life so that it is positive, enhancing and value creating in the lives of iwi members.

Things are changing!

Recent events suggest that things are changing and in a deep way. Older ways of thinking and acting are fading and newer possibilities are coming forth. Chief among them are the need to get beyond ethnic and cultural urgencies to a common and universal human question about our relationship with Mother Earth. As distance continues to grow between human consciousness and the natural world so the costs of this distance manifest themselves. The new Indigeneity, the new tangata whenuatanga is about a kinship based relationship with each other and with the natural world. It's about healing the rift between human consciousness and the natural world. It's about enabling the universe to flow through human spirit and mind. Musicians unite! Poets unite! Artists unite! Scientists unite! Creators of all kinds unite!

Whakaahua

Tēnei kupu o ‘whakaahua’, e hāngai ana ki te putanga o tētahi mana ki te Ao. Hei tauira, tērā ngā whakairo e tū tū nei i ō tātou whare tupuna. Ehara i te mea, he tohu whakamaharatanga noa iho ērā rākau nei, engari, ko ngā tūpuna tonu e whakaahua mai nei, e puta mai nei, e hoki mai nei i ō tātou whare tūpuna.

Kei te whare tapere ka kitea tēnei whakaaro i te whakataukī mō te wahine kua eke nei tōna tū, kua rangatira tāna kawe i ngā kanikani, i ngā haka, i ngā waiata o te whare tapere. Arā tōna whakataukī e mea nei:

            Ko Hineruhi koe, nāna i tū te ata hāpara.

Arā, inā ka rangatira te haka a te wahine, ka kiia ko Hineruhi tonu tēnei e whakaahua mai nei i taua wāhine i tū nei ki te haka. Ehara i te mea, kei te āhua rite te wahine nei ki a Hineruhi. Kao. Ko Hineruhi tonu tēnei e whakaahua mai ne i taua wahine haka nei, ā, kua puta tēnei mana ki te Ao.

Research

Research, conventional, rational research is about explanation. That is to say, rational mind to rational mind communication. What we are looking for, however, is experience, a sense of awakening within, beyond rationality, in the body. We are not seeking detached intellectual engagement that brings no life, but rather full connection between all of our faculties and the world at large. To do this, one has to engage with being, which is beyond mind. This is a deep 'within' which is awoken through encounter with the world. Our first inkling that there is something beyond our minds are the emotions and feelings we have. We can listen to our bodies and they tells us things. However, there is something even beyond feelings and emotions. There is being. In Māori we say 'mana'. Wānanga is about reaching deeper and into mana, activating it, enabling it to flow. Ihi and wehi belong to the mind, to the psyche. Mana and tapu belong to the wairua, the spirit, being. Nohopuku is a process of moving beyond mind (kia whakapaua te hinengaro), the psyche and into mana, pure spirit.  The stages are moving beyond mind, beyond emotions, and into the realm of mana. The second stage is to allow mana to flow into mind. A practical process is water, earth, tree and bird. One final note - the most important mana of all, te mana tuturu, is aroha - wholeness expressed in a world of duality. The mana to bind, to connect, to weave.

Who is Indigenous?: World Parliament of Indigenous Peoples

A second and critical question posed at the first round table of the World Parliament of Indigenous Peoples is 'who is to be regarded as indigenous'? Of course, this is another issue that raised considerable discussion, naturally. In my view, there are two ways to answer this question. The first way, and the one most commonly used, is a definition which arises from a common experience of colonisation (usually by European peoples) and the historical association of an indigenous community with a specific place or places.

Another way of thinking about indigenous cultures alights upon the centrality of the earth mother in their worldviews and their active and conscious connection and connecting with the earth. The unification of an indigenous community with earth, sea and sky is perhaps the defining feature of an indigenous culture, in my view. I find this a more enriched and meaningful way of thinking about indigenous cultures and worldview and indigeneity generally. Indigeneity concerns a kinship based, creative, dynamic and storied participation in natural world environments - the degree to which the natural world 'speaks into' human consciousness. It is on this basis that I argue that indigeneity is deeply necessary in our world today.

Please note: My posts concerning the first round table of the World Parliament of Indigenous Peoples is not an official record of the meeting but rather the posts contain my thoughts and ideas regarding topics raised in our discussions.