REFLECTIVE INSIGHTS #004 - UNRAVELLING THE GREAT LIE: WHY WE ARE NEVER TRULY ALONE

The feeling of being alone

There is a heavy feeling hanging over our towns lately, a kind of quiet isolation that should not exist in a place as connected as the North. We are surrounded by whānau, yet many people feel lonely. This happens because we have been sold a big lie. We have been told that we are solo agents, or "self-made" people who are only responsible for ourselves.

We have been taught to think of ourselves like separate pool balls on a table, clicking against each other but never truly joining. This is a bad explanation of life. It is a way of thinking that makes us sick and disconnects us from the strength of our community.

The mistake of separation

For nearly two hundred years, the systems brought to our shores have focused on the "individual." This way of thinking treats people as separate parts and carves up the land into private blocks. It disconnects the soil from the water and the people from the land.

But modern science is finally catching up to what our ancestors always knew. Separation is just an illusion. In the world of quantum physics, there is a thing called entanglement. It means that once things have connected, they stay linked. If you change one part, the other part feels it instantly, no matter how far away it is.

We are all one body

Ihu (Yeshua’s name in the Paipera Tapu) taught us this same truth a long time ago. He showed us that we are not separate pieces, but parts of a single, living whole.

"so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another." (Romans 12:5, NKJV)

"Waihoki ko tātou e tokomaha nei, he tinana kotahi i roto i a Ihu: ā, ko tātou takitahi, he wāhanga tētahi o tētahi." (Translated from the original Greek: hen sōma esmen en Christō)

A web of connection

Our tūpuna called this connection whanaungatanga. It is not just a nice idea for a meeting; it is a law of nature. We are like threads in a woven universe. The late Reverend Māori Marsden used to say that if you touch one strand of a spiderweb, the whole thing vibrates.

You cannot damage the river in Taitokerau without damaging the people, because we all share the same life force. When we ignore these connections, we create social problems like crime and addiction. When we treat the "self" as a separate piece, we cut the bonds that keep our mauri strong.

Caring for the home

The fix starts with changing how we look at our world. We need to move away from hoarding money for ourselves and get back to the true meaning of economics, which is caring for the whole household. We need to see our young people not as "problems" to be handled, but as part of our own family whose success is our success.

This is how we build a strong community. We recognise that my health depends on your health. When we stop trying to be "self-made" and start being "whānau-made" again, we find that there is more than enough for everyone. Abundance is found in the strength of our links to each other.

A challenge for today

My wero to you today is simple. Look at someone in your town who seems isolated. Recognise the invisible threads that link you to them. Find a small way to strengthen that connection today, whether it is a conversation or a helping hand.

You are not a lonely particle in a cold, empty space. You are an entangled wave in a woven universe. Separation is a myth, but whanaungatanga is the law of life. When we walk together in this truth, guided by Wairua Tapu, we can finally turn the light on for the rest of the world to see.