ANCIENT INDIGENOUS I.T. FOR TODAY

For a great deal of my life I felt inferior because my culture was put down as of no use in today's world. The western standards were "the standards" and everything else had limited value if any. I became a teacher then a tutor, lecturer, public speaker and now I run my own workshops on the Indigenous philosophy and psychology of my people - Maori of Aotearoa New Zealand. My workshops are called Maori Mythography and deals with practical ways of effecting behavioural change including: Intimacy, Success Orientation, From Violence to Tenderness, Building Manners, Building Wealth, Building Health, Building Wisdom. All of these topics are presented from a cultural background which I discovered in our traditional protocols, ancestral stories, chants, poetry, wise sayings and arts and crafts. I wonder whether other indigenous cultures share similar symbolisms as we do and I'd be interested in hearing from others. For example - my ancestors personified phenomena and events in their environment as a means of passing knowledge down through the centuries. The word IO has been likened to GOD or the Creator. In Maori history - IO is an energy (mauri - the Maori word) summed up as "consciousness energy" - energy that is conscious of itself. It was also referred to as "The Great Nothing" out of which "All things originate" in a state referred to as Te Kore - the Nothingness which was also The Everything. The concept of zero or nothing was something that was not common in many cultures around the world and was paramount to the understanding of psychological, mathematical and scientific systems. Knowing this boosted my interest as I am Maori from the Ngati Whare sub-tribe of the Tuhoe people known as "the children of the mist" and I have spent over 30 years delving into unraveling Maori symbology contained within two information systems - pakiwaitara(audio and oral) and purakau.(solid forms as in arts and crafts)