Korero Rakau

Abstract

This article is an extract taken from a panel presentation by Waka Oranga (Māori Psychotherapists and Health Practitioners Collective), Māori Spirituality and Holistic Psychotherapy, at the 2016 New Zealand Association of Psychotherapists’ Annual Conference at Ahuriri, Napier, Aotearoa, New Zealand. The article considers our symbiotic nature and the importance of metaphor in defining (and determining) reality. The article argues that metaphors reflect implicit epistemological and ontological assumptions and that metaphors particular to a culture/society will determine the ecological footprint of that culture/society. Following this logic, the article concludes by asserting that the current ecological catastrophe confronting humanity and the planet is directly related to predominant positivistic and reductionist paradigms and their attending metaphors which separate and fragment the world into consumable commodities.

Waitara

He kapenga mai tēnei tuhinga mai i tētahi rārangi kauhautanga a Waka Oranga (Kaiwhakaora Hinengaro me te Huinga Kaimahi Hauora Māori), Wairua Māori me te Whakaoranga Hinengaro Whānui i te Hui ā tau a te Huinga Kaiwhakaora Hinengaro o Aotearoa i Ahuriri, Napier, Aotearoa, Niu Tīreni. Ka whakaarohia ake tō tātau āhua piritahitanga me te whai tikanga o te whakataukī hai whakaahua (whakatau hoki) i te ao nei. E tautohe ana tēnei tuhinga he whakaaturanga whakahau tā te whakataukī ā, ka kitea te rite o te noho a te hāpori pērā i aua whakataukī. Mai i tēnei whakaruapapanga, ka whakahauhia i te whakamutunga he here tō ngā aituā taupuhi taiao kai mua i te ao me te tangata ki ngā tauira tōrunga, tango haora me ngā kīanga whai ake e wehe nei e wāwāhi nei i te ao hai taonga hokohoko.