Rob Campbell is a professional director and investor. He is chancellor at AUT, chair of Ara Ake, chair of NZ Rural Land and former chair of Te Whatu Ora. OPINION These days we commonly prioritise profits and politicians over prophets.
My own preference is to prioritise people and planet but there is no question in my mind that we lose something when we forget prophets. What we lose is vision and inspiration and often with those goes hope and purpose. Even when we look backwards, we allow our stories to be told in terms which overlook the role of belief, emotion, and philosophy in favour of material, military, and political events.
That is not how we always and everywhere experience life. I picked up and read The Forgotten Prophet by Jeffrey Sissons last week by chance (or was it?). This intriguing story of Tāmati Te Ito and the Kaingārara movement has made me think more deeply about how and which stories motivate us.
It is not a well-known story outside of the Māori world and perhaps then mainly within Taranaki. Te Ito was a tohunga matakite with recognised prophetic skill in the 1850s and 1860s who was an advisor to Te Atiawa rangatira Rangitikei, but whose influence was felt throughout the region. He led a movement which initiated a fiery process of physically and philosophically eliminating tapu objects and their associated (often reptilian) atua which were holding back a form of Christian order.
Complex to say the least in association as it was with a strong princip.
