Interconnectedness, Maori-style

Last updated on: January 21, 2016 at 10:33 am by Lori Erickson

Interconnectedness, Maori-style 2016-01-21T10:33:56-06:00 Lori Erickson

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Carving of an ancestor on the Meeting House at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds (Bob Sessions photo)

Today’s post is by Bob Sessions:

One of the reasons I was excited to go to New Zealand is that I’ve been teaching a course on Native American philosophy for years and was keen to meet New Zealand’s indigenous people and learn about their perspectives on the world. I was not surprised to find many similarities between the beliefs and practices of these disparate first-nation peoples, but I also found many unique practices as well.

Maori call themselves tangata whenua, people of the land. Members of the various tribes distinguish themselves from other Maori by referring to the canoe that brought their ancestors to Aotearoa (New Zealand) and to special landmarks such as a river or a mountain. In other words, they tie their collective and individual identities to ancestors and places. When they are formally introduced, for example, they often will give not only their name, but also the names of their mountain and river.

As with most cultures, you can learn a great deal about the Maori by studying their creation stories. The Maori say that Earth (Papa) and Sky (Rangi) originally embraced so tightly that in order for their children (all earthly beings) to have lives, they had to be pried apart, a deed accomplished by ancestors of the magnificent kauri tree (Lori wrote about this a few days ago). John Patterson, a New Zealand philosopher, interprets the story this way in his very readable and insightful book, People of the Land:

[The children of Earth and Sky] are closely confined between their parents, shut off from the light and unable to grow. So the children take the drastic step of separating their parents, creating an open environment in which they can flourish… .all creatures are the descendants of theses original parents and their imprisoned children, so that we are bound to the planet and to all creatures by ties of kinship, and must accept the associated responsibilities; but on the other hand, we sometimes have to follow the example of the first children of Earth and Sky, and treat our kin badly in order to flourish ourselves.

This creation story provides the basis for Maori philosophy: all creatures are kin, all beings have mauri, life force, and all are sacred (tapu). The Maori’s “original instructions” follow from this seemingly simple story. People must respect all beings and relate to them in a proper ritual manner, always aware of our mutual interdependencies and always seeking harmony. Yet we also must live and sometimes this requires us to have “vigorous relations” (Patterson’s term) such as killing and eating our kin (other creatures) as long as we do so in the proper ritual manner that includes being sure that proper ecological balances are respected.

The concept of mana is at the center of Maori philosophy. Your mana depends on the spark of life you are born with and your choices and actions, but the mana of each being is fundamentally determined by relationships, both with those living and with your ancestors.

When we were greeted by each Maori tribe we visited, the greeting they sang to us and our sung response was mainly about our ancestors; and as we were greeted individually in the hongi head-touching ceremonies they were welcoming the ancestors we carried.

This deep, ritualized and self-conscious awareness of our interconnectedness to all beings is found in many indigenous traditions (see, for example, the Apache version of this in V.F. Cordova’s How It Is) and also in the Buddhist notion of dependent origination.

If everyone (and everything) is kin, and if our original instructions are to preserve and enhance harmony, then being welcoming and hospitable is much more than a quaint formality we trot out on holidays. It is essential. Lori and I were overwhelmed at the genuine and incredibly warm welcome we received throughout our week among the Maori from five different tribes.

We were also taken aback at the power of continually acknowledging ancestors. Egotism is very difficult to maintain in an atmosphere of constant reminders of all who brought us here, those who make our lives possible today, and those who will follow after us.

Think about it: what if our status (mana) was based on how well we paid attention to all our relations, living and dead?

New Zealand

Maori philosophy

Previous Post

December 9, 2011

Gods of the Forest

Next Post

December 13, 2011 Hope For the Future

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Aging & Spirituality Amish Anabaptists Animals Apocalypse Archeological sites Art and Spirituality Awards Belgian Holy Sites birds Blessings Books Buddhism Business & Spirituality Callings Cats Celtic Cemeteries Children Christianity church Colorado Creation Death Desert Spirituality Easter Economics Education & Spirituality Egypt Episcopal Church Faith Fear Films First Nations Food Forgiveness Germany God Good & Evil Good Friday Grace Gratitude Happiness Healing Hildegard of Bingen Hinduism History Holy Rover blog Holy Sites Holy Week Horses Iceland Illness Images of God Indigenous Spiritualilty Interfaith Interfaith Dialogue Iowa Islam Israel Japan Judaism LDS Church Lent Machu Picchu Martin Luther Media Meditation Monasteries Museums Music Music and Spirituality Musings Mysticism Native American Nature New Age New Zealand Norse History/Culture/Spirituality Orthodox Paradox Paranormal Peru Philosophy Pilgrimage Poetry Politics Pop Culture Pilgrimage Sites Prayers sermons Silence Social Media Spiritual writers Spirituality and Food Spirituality and Social Media Stone Circles Thomas Merton Turkey Uncategorized Unconventional Holy Sites Utopian communities Videos Virgin Mary Wicca Work World War I Writing Zen

Select a Month August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What year was the Bible first translated into English?

Select your answer to see how you score.

1517 1382 1100 1604