Our rivers are our life force...there is no separation between our rivers and our blood. They are one and the same. Our tupuna would introduce themselves as their ancestral mountain, their river, because they saw no separation between themselves and the natural environment.
Ko au te awa
Ko te awa ko au
Our tupuna were fully aware of the connection with the natural world. They never saw the natural world OUTSIDE of ourselves. The natural world is WITHIN us. We are one with it, one and the same. There is no separation. What we see with our physical eyes is a reflection of what is going on within. There is no separation from the rivers that we see and the blood that runs through our veins. There is no separation.
What we see occuring with our rivers is what is occuring with our blood. We see our rivers being polluted yet do we look within us to see how we have polluted our river within, our blood? We see rubbish being tipped in to the river, chemicals and waste gushing through pipes and into rivers yet do we look within us to see what we have been tipping in to our river within, our blood? And now we see our sacred wai slowly being taken. Our rivers are being siphoned. Our life-force is being taken away from us yet do we look within to see how we have allowed our own life-force to be taken from us?
The physical world is a reflection of our inner spiritual world. Look within and take responsibility of the water that runs within our veins. When did we stop seeing our water (our blood) as tapu? When did we stop seeing ourselves as sacred? When we begin to look at ourselves as tapu (sacred) and look after the blood that runs through our veins spiritually and physically then our awa will remain tapu and sacred. Take care of your wairua first (your spiritual) and the natural world will reflect this.
Ko au te awa
Ko te awa ko au
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