you can’t speak truth to power if power speaks truth by definition

I don’t know if you’ve heard the second part of that quote before but you’ve probably heard speaking truth to power here and there. OneRepublic even have a song about it. It’s powerful and it reaffirms last week’s write up about the risk we run being caught in an echo chamber, assuming our reality is the reality because it’s being mirrored back to us in the people we surround ourselves with and the environments we’re exposed to (in person and online).

“When water stays in the same place for too long, it goes off, so if we stay in the same place too long, thinking the same thoughts as everyone around us, or not ever evolving that thinking — we stagnate as well,” was the line that stood out for me in that piece.

we might do well to remind ourselves, our perspectives are just that.

They’re ours.

Think about it in a more general sense, iwi and Māori make sense of the world through our creation stories; with Io, Te Kore, Te Pō, Te Ao Mārama, Ranginui, Papatuanuku, te ira atua, the Māui stories and so on.* Our tuakana (elder brothers and sisters) across the Pacific have similar but different kōrero, our whanaunga (relations) in Australia have their kōrero and some of their iwi trace their origins to the Emu spirit, then in the Middle East they have their stories, in Scandinavia they have theirs and so on.

How awesome is that? We have multiple perspectives on one reality — “we see the world not as it is, but as we are,” beautiful and simply put by pāpā Tīpene Covey.

There are similarities and correlations across the board, but still with their distinct interpretations. But do we go and tell them they’re wrong? *literally, actually rolling my eyes as I type this. That’s their whenua (land), that’s their connection to whakapapa and to their creators,

that’s how they make sense of the world — it’s sacred.

Take a quick minute to reflect on how you’d react if someone told you your entire worldview was wrong and they then went on to put resource and continuous effort into disconnecting you from it… not nice!

Just a quick minute! hoki mai, time to come back now. Keen to hear what came up for you though..

When it comes to speaking truth to power, standing up to the powers that be and demanding change and demanding better, we’d do well to also remind ourselves that power defines truth.

for me, the ultimate power in my life is whakapapa.

Any situation where I doubt myself or if I’m on the right path? I turn to whakapapa. Whenever I feel unsettled or need counsel on something? Whakapapa. When I’ve had enough and I’m over my own behaviour let alone anyone else’s? Whakapapa. It is everything. My decisions, my beliefs, all of it is based on how I contribute to puna (pool) that nourishes me.

What am I doing to give back? What am I doing to sustain/maintain and improve this world for my mokopuna (descendants)?

Whakapapa is the power, whakapapa is the truth. It’s in our pūrākau and our creation stories, it’s in our karakia (incantations), in our art forms, it’s in everything. It is everything. Not just in terms of ancestry and genetics but also in the process of how we’ve become who, where and what we are today — whakapapa in action.

Last week we talked about water stagnating or preventing that from happening….. now we’ve cleared that debris away and the water is flowing well again… filtering through different layers to become its purest/truest form and feed back into the puna, making positive contributions to nourish other forms of life too.

Truth for te ira atua once upon a time was life stuck between mum and dad. That was it! The expanse Uepoto came upon was always there, it didn’t suddenly exist when he got washed up out there. They didn’t know about it. And once they did, their concept of reality and truth extended, expanded and deepened.

Truth for our tupuna (ancestors) once upon a time was sunshine and coconut trees swaying in the breeze on the shores of Hawaiki til they chose to leave that for Aotearoa. #yayus lol.

In both those examples, there was truth then there was power exercised to affirm that truth or expand on it and add another layer to it.

so what is your power? what is your truth?

How do you live it? How do you harness that to speak truth to power to affect positive change for yourself, your whānau and community?

Nāku noa,

Hana.

Io: Supreme Being, God, existence, energy. Te Kore: the potential. Te Pō: the darkness. Te Ao Mārama: the world of light. Ranginui: heavens. Papatuanuku: Earth. Te Ira Atua: the gods/elemental beings.