In Duality
Photo: Alexander Hayes, 2019 - Centre for Stories, Perth, Western Australia
This post was written prior to the completion and submission of my PhD thesis which you can access at https://ro.uow.edu.au/theses1/853/
Dr. Anne Poelina, an Aboriginal Nyikina Traditional Custodian from the Kimberley region of Western Australia visited the researcher’s home in Perth, Western Australia in 2019 and during that visit, the researcher naively asked to have a photograph taken with Anne.
“… the reply was a gentle ‘no’ and when asked why, Anne replied with a question, asking as to what significance it would have in the future if such an image was to be used in ways in which she did not approve of. Stumped for an answer the researcher replied that he did not know to which Poelina remarked that in not knowing or Marloo nyla ngayoo that the greatest things of all are achieved.”
The exchange left the researcher with an understanding that in that ‘not knowing’ and acknowledging that in ‘not knowing’ it is ok too - a space in which the greatest learning can happen. This was related by the researcher to the many times when asking the question ‘why’ when in communities in the Kimberley region of Western Australia the answer was often met with total silence.
Another similar event happened when the researcher asked the same question with the Aboriginal Adnyamathanha people of the Stirling Ranges in South Australia and was given an answer similarly.
“… the tree of life is often cut down to create paper which is then used to create books in which we claim to contain what we know about the tree of life.”
This indicates that in fullness, the answer is not yet known, which is confounding and often frustrating for ‘kardiya’ who misconstrue the silence as ignorance or rudeness. The fact being that in that not knowing and in the act of listening the knowing arrives, and it is in that space of listening that the greatest knowledge of all can be gained… no matter how uncomfortable that makes that individual feel.
