REFLECTIVE INSIGHT #018 - FREE YOUR MIND: THE CHOICE BETWEEN BABYLON AND TE ŌHANGA MAURI
The Choice is Ours
We often talk about "the system" as if it’s a faceless machine we can't control. But our ancestors and the prophets had a much sharper name for it: Babylon. As the song says, we need to free our minds from a way of thinking that keeps us as slaves to a broken system. In Taitokerau, we are at a crossroads. We have to choose: do we stay in the "Leaky Bucket" of Babylon, or do we finally build Te Ōhanga Mauri?
The Babylonian Way: A Leaky Bucket
Babylon is a system built on a big mistake, the idea that we are all separate and should just grab whatever we can for ourselves. In the North, we see this in the way we trade our logs. We send 61% of our raw timber away to the other side of the world. We are sending our "energy" away, and in return, we get paper money that we immediately spend on imported goods. This creates disorder. It leaves our roads broken and our families struggling, while the real wealth is built somewhere else. It is a system that takes our life force and leaves us with the waste.
Te Ōhanga Mauri: The Restored Home
By contrast, Te Ōhanga Mauri is about the stewardship of our home. It is based on the "Woven Universe" taught by Rev. Māori Marsden, the truth that we are all connected like threads in a cloak. In this system, we don't just try to make money for the sake of it; we try to look after our household. We keep our resources and our talent here to nourish our own soil. This creates life and order instead of waste. It’s about building a modern storehouse for our wealth so it stays with our hapū instead of leaking out to global banks.
Freeing Our Minds
Bob Marley famously told us that "none but ourselves can free our minds." To build Te Ōhanga Mauri, we have to stop looking at the North as a place that is "deprived" or "lacking." We have to shift our gaze and realise that Taitokerau is actually a place of abundance. The future isn't something we wait for; it is something we create by how we choose to live and trade today. We aren't just victims of a colonial past; we are the architects of a sovereign future.
The Spiritual Foundation
If we want to build a home that lasts, we must ensure it is built on the right foundation. If we try to build on our own without the Source, our work will not survive the storm.
"Unless the LORD builds the house, They labour in vain who build it; Unless the LORD guards the city, The watchman stays awake in vain." Ethiopian Orthodox Bible (Psalm 127:1)
Original Ge'ez Text: ለእመ፡ እግዚአብሔር፡ ኢሐነጸ፡ ቤተ፤ በከንቱ፡ ይጸውሙ፡ ሐነጽት። ለእመ፡ እግዚአብሔር፡ ኢዓቀባ፡ ለሀገር፤ በከንቱ፡ የትንህ፡ ዘየዓቅባ።
Direct Ge'ez to Te Reo Māori Translation: Ki te mea kāore a Ihowā e hangā i te whare, he maumau mahi tā ngā kaimahi e hangā ana; ki te mea kāore a Ihowā e tiaki i te pā, he maumau ara tā te kaitiaki.
A Call to Build
The next time you see a truck full of raw logs heading for the port, don't just see a truck. See our "energy" leaving the North. Ask yourself: "How do we keep that life force here?" The answer is Te Ōhanga Mauri. It is time to stop being strip-miners of our own land and start being the stewards we were born to be. It is time to build.
