WHAKAPAPA FRIDAYS: If we really do only utilise 10% of our brain capacity imagine what we could achieve if we unlocked our full potential? I watched the movie Lucy last night and sadly, the 10% myth has been widely criticised and disproved, but perhaps similar feats were achieved by our tupuna. There are early snapshots that provide us perspectives in to the physical characteristics of Māori, most of which detail the exceptional sensory faculties they had. E.g. Māori were able...to define an object plainly a long way off among the fern, or shrubs; to distinguish clearly a far off and indistinct sound among many others; to know certainly by the feel of the foot, that the dense moss in the trackless mountain forests had been before trodden by man, (these) were common things to them (Trans, NZI. 1868: Vol 1) If you believe in Darwins Theory of Evolution, then you might say that our environment selected better sight in order to see birds in the forest, or fish in the sea owing to the difficulties for sustaining life in early Aotearoa. But what if these abilities also stem from a belief system constructed by Māori to make sense of the world - A Māori worldview. By definition, a worldview is a set of beliefs that includes limiting statements and assumptions regarding what exists (either in actuality, or in principle), what objects or experiences are good or bad, and what objectives, behaviours, and relationships are desirable or undesirable (Koltko-Rivera, 2004). Whats important here is the mental contribution, conscious or not, to defining the universe. It is in my opinion that isolated communities in Aotearoa developed a system of living in harmony with natures laws, that enabled Māori to develop greater sensory functions among other things. However, through the ages our worldview has shifted dramatically and our environment continues to be compromised. We now live in an era that no longer favours the physical qualities once possessed by Māori to survive. Consequently, the need to maintain higher sensory functions to sustain life has been lost. Our worldview is now governed by a belief system that is based on science, perpetuated by media, and influenced by large corporates. To quote the movie Lucy (2014) Weve codified our existence to bring it down to human size, to make it comprehensible, weve created a scale so we can forget its unfathomable scale. Why do we continue to believe that we know everything? To put it simply - we dont. We are limited only by our thoughts. So begin to question the reality of your world and what might truly be possible. Because as the Greek philosopher Socrates declared, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” #WhakapapaFridays #Maori #NewZealand #Lucy #LimitlessPotential #DreamBeyondTheOrdinary #BeLikeMaui #WhyNot
Posted on: Thu, 11 Sep 2014 23:14:58 +0000
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