THE SUPERNATURAL FORCES IN HEALING

Te Ao Hou, December 1958, Page 59

THE SUPERNATURAL FORCES IN HEALING Apart from being misleading in several important respects, this book suffers from the heavyhanded dullness which permeates so many psychological treatises like an anaesthetic these days. The author makes obeisance to all the modern shibboleths—the need of children for natural feeding, for proper toilet training, for affection, for security, for tolerance of their habits, etc., etc., but these just don't mean anything any more. They will make the children “integrated and harmonious”, “mature and adult”. One must “steer a middle course” … one yawns, the head nods—we know all those things, those things which sidestep the vital question of upbringing. What children really need for bounding mental health is to have parents who will make them intelligent, passionate, handsome, rich and proud. Excusably enough this book discreetly gives no directions for attaining such a goal. But what makes this book unacceptable to a Maori (or a pakeha) as a blueprint for New Zealand's mental health is its totally secular nature. The author puts forward a picture of mental health which allows no room for religious sentiments or supernatural belief, no room for the driving force of myth and symbol which alone give life its radiance. His picture is one of rather out-dated gross and absolute materialism. If Maori mental health is to improve it cannot be by the means he advocates. Rather it will have to come from the Maoris themselves, who have access to the treasures of their ancestors, treasures buried in their mythology and religion which need to be re-interpreted, infused with new energy to meet the demands of their descendants here in the world. There must be Maori psychiatrists and psychologists, more and more of them. (As far as I know there are only two in New Zealand at present.) They are the ones who will unlock the secret places, and who knows, might make a richer world for mankind.