A LECTURE BY A TONGAN PHILOSOPHER: NATURE AND CULTURE IN THE PACIFIC AND IN EUROPE

By Dirk Vanhoof

Professor Futa Helu from Tonga lectured at the Catholic University of Nijmegen on November 1st in 1991. He was educated in the western as well as the Pacific tradition and compared these two concerning their views on Nature and Culture. He provided many Polynesian examples. What follows is a report of his lecture.

In Europe the Nature-Culture distinction is an academic one. In Tonga the two aren't opposed. Rather there is an emphasis on their connection. Culture is a selection and a manipulation of Nature on a varierty of levels, e.g. at the physical/natural level and at the behavioral/mental level. Considered at the second level, Culture is a transformation of natural elements to fit them to human needs, especially for economic and political human interests.

Futa Helu's point is that this cannot go on forever. There is a limit set to this by Nature itself. Nature is the Limit of all limits. He gives his first example. On Tonga copra (the dried flesh of the coconut) is dried in the sun. It can be spoilt when it rains (usually at night). People are dependent on the whims of Nature, this is the Limit.

There is another distinction in how Europe considers Nature and Culture as compared to the Pacific. It concerns the world of the spirits in their relationship to the world of the living. In Tonga the spirits are seen as an active force influencing the living. Futa Helu gives another example: the system of folk medicine. Diseases are always attributed to activities of spirits. Healing always happens according to this belief. In Europe, on the contrary, diseases are attributed to the activities of bacteriae.

To clarify the different attitudes towards Nature, Futa Helu gives the example of the lawn. In Tonga there aren't good lawns, as there are in Europe. This is due to the way people look at physical contact with the ground. Polynesians desire to be close to the earth. A European lawn, usually, is not for walking on, but for looking at.

There are several Polynesian myths on the role of Nature in the creation of Culture or Society. Futa Helu relates one. Once upon a time there was a couple who had one daughter. The parents were anxious about her. She stayed only with her parents. In their home they had a pool with a rocky bottom. The daughter swam often in this pool. There was also an eel in the pool, watching the beautiful girl swimming. He fell in love with her but couldn't relate to her. One day he sucked a piece of her tapa cloth. The next day he repeated this and kept repeating this until she became pregnant. When the parents found out about the pregnancy, they were outraged and accused her of having "been out". She insisted that she had not "been out". Then they discovered the eel's responsibility and drained the pool to get him out of it. They were going to kill the eel. Before having his head cut off, the eel made a request. He wanted to be buried in a grave next to the girl. Then a useful plant would grow out of it. This tree was the first ever coconut palm.

This myth is an example of the ecological myths of Tonga. The transformation of Nature into Culture is made in the form of a coconut as part of the economy of Society. It is socialized in many forms. In this way Nature is making inroads into Society: a gift is given by an animal. It's not God giving things, but Nature. The myth is a testimony to the awareness of the deep connection between Nature and Culture, a process of change.

Now Futa Helu digresses to Pacific philosophy. In Europe philosophy started with the question of Thales: What does it mean to be real? This is an ontology: being is reality. In Polynesia people are different. In that sense there never was a Polynesian philosophy. They are busy with living (sometimes Futa Helu seems to be ironical). Philosophy and science in Polynesia have come out of historical, western, contacts in the form of the scientific enterprise or the scientific method. That is the selection out of philosophical contributions, mainly from logic.

Pacific philosophy is a general outlook on things, a Weltan-schauung. It is made up of profound experience of how to cope in the particular environment, i.e. the maritime environment. Pacific philosophy consists of utilitarian and adaptive strategies developed through experience over a long period of time, living at peace with the environment. Futa Helu uses a proverb to clarify this: the proper time for rationing is the time of abundance.

Old people in the Pacific always talk about coping strategy. An old navigator, now passed away, told Futa Helu that he read the stars and the clouds in the sky. He had a nose as a barometer. The sky was the book on the writings of Velenga (Rohi 'a Velenga). He could smell smoke coming from the sea and then it would rain within a few hours. The smell of rotting leaves predicted a severe storm within a month. These are examples of the profound experience of Nature.

Another example is about catching a huge school of pilchards. They had come to the beach on low tide and had opportunities to get out through two channels. The fishermen Futa Helu had joined used only one net. They had to decide which channel to block. They chose the left one. Amazingly not one fish escaped. Pacific philosophy exists in a profound deep experience of Environment. They care only about things that are important. Contrary to this, in Europe "everything" is studied.

Polynesian mentality supports the idea that Nature is working for people. Nature facilitates the work for you. An example is the carving of a pig. Within a few movements a whole pig is carved into pieces. A pig is seen as a collection of joints made by Nature. The speedy carving is a result of observation and experience. This is also the case in dancing. The body is seen as consisting of separate parts that have to be brought in coordination.

Futa Helu's last topic is Poetry. It reflects the idea of unity in Polynesian cultures. In Poetry there's a closer connection between birds, plants and people. The unity between the physical and the spiritual is stressed. Poetry is an awareness of what Nature is. Futa Helu calls this the poet's humility (a going down to the animal level). The European's eyes are too much blinkered by material and utilitarian interests.

With this last qualification of European relationships and experiences of the environment, Professor Futa Helu ended his lecture. He returned to his definition of Culture (as a selection and a manipulation of Nature) by giving advice to his mainly European audience; he asked them to be patient.