The Toloa of the Certificate of Philosophical Competency

The Pacific Theological College is coordinating the Certificate of Philosophical Competency – Pasifika ‘Whole of Life’ Philosophies, Research, and Development starting July 15 in Suva, Fiji. The two weeks course attracts participants internationally, regionally and locally. The course allows participants to delve deeper into Pasifika philosophies and the region’s development story. The Pasifika Philosophies course is a decolonial tool to reframe a flawed development model and narrative from a whole of life perspective. Highlighting our participants in the coming days beginning with Ms. Sereima Baleisomi and Reverend Marika Baleidelabaci of Fiji. 

The Toloa – or participants of the Certificate of Philosophical Competency – Pasifika ‘Whole of Life’ Philosophies, Research, and Development course starting on July 15 at the Pacific Theological College hail from different countries in the Pacific Islands region. The opportunity to delve deeper into Pasifika philosophies and the solutions they hold for development is unique and valuable. For the Toloa it’s an opportunity to relook at a flawed development model centered on the ‘more is better’ economic paradigm -destroying our lands, our ecological relationships, stolen our identities, and leading us to the utter collapse of our wellbeing.

The Pasifika Philosophies course will help participants understand the Pasifika philosophical mindset and critically analyze current development models from a relational, whole of life perspective. Beginning July 15, the Certificate of Philosophical Competency “Pasifika ‘Whole of Life’ Philosophies, Research, and Development’ course will run for two weeks. Participants also get to visit various Fijian communities to experience, hear their stories and witness the manifestation and influence of Pasifika philosophies and the impacts of conventional development.

Counting down the days to the start of the Pasifika Philosophies Course starting July 15 with the arrival of the participants in Suva, Fiji. This inaugural Pasifika philosophies course is developed in response to numerous concerns regarding the current development narrative. One of the gaps is the disconnection of our development policies from the living philosophies of our Pasifika communities. As we search for alternative development models to shape policies, we need to find the ability as well to create life-affirming foundations for a new development story. A story that is grounded in the philosophies and the spiritualities of Pasifika communities.

Wellness and wellbeing philosophies have deep roots in Pasifika household traditions. It is sacred knowledge, embedded in the philosophies and spiritualities of the communities. The world tomorrow will not experience the benefits of this knowledge if we do not use them. They must become part of efforts to counter regional problems. The Pasifika Philosophies course is a tool addressing this.

The Pacific Theological College is optimistic in the two weeks of the Pasifika Philosophies course participants with mentors will discover the sacred knowledge that is Pasifika philosophies to create a new development consciousness. Pasifika philosophies are knowledge that is mana and forms the basis of existence in communities.

This inaugural Pasifika philosophies course is developed in response to numerous concerns regarding the current development narrative. One of the gaps is the disconnection of our development policies from the living philosophies and values of our Pasifika communities. That is, while we are searching for alternative development models to shape policies, what is lacking is the ability to create life-affirming foundations for a new development story grounded in the philosophies and the spiritualities of Pasifika communities.

The systematic destruction of the environment in the Pasifika household, of water and land, continues unabated. If logging and overfishing continue at the present levels, the Pasifika household must prepare for a future with two of its significant traditional resources exhausted fisheries and forestry. That some of the low-lying atolls in the region will disappear is not a matter of ‘if’ but of ‘when.’

Added to the higher-than-normal tides (sea-level rise), cultural climate change is impacting Pasifika. The 2021 Report titled – Non-Economic Loss and Damage: Insights from the Pacific Islands – presents the eight areas of non-economic loss and damage in the region. They are health and wellbeing; ways of being cultural sites and sacred places; indigenous knowledge and local knowledge; life-sustaining tools; biodiversity and ecosystem services; land and sea. The report identified these as interconnected aspects of life that form a socio-ecological system through which identity, culture and way of life are embedded. But they are at risk.

If logging and overfishing continue at the present levels, the Pasifika household must prepare for a future with two of its significant traditional resources exhausted fisheries and forestry. That some of the low-lying atolls in the region will disappear is not a matter of ‘if’ but of ‘when.’ Communities across Pasifika celebrate totemic identities and relationships with the ecosystem of life in oceans and forests. For some it guides behaviors and actions that promotes the protection of these spaces that is foundational to life and resilience in Pasifika.

The Toloa’s have started arriving at the Pacific Theological College to revisit the waters of Pasifika philosophies. They will be accorded a welcome ceremony by the PTC community this Saturday. The two weeks Pasifika Philosophies Course commences on Sunday July 16.

Recently there has been a growing interest for a ‘cultural turn’ to assist in the reframing of a new development story that is holistic, life-affirming, and communities-oriented. This has urged Pasifika communities to search for development models that are alternative yet grounded in the life of communities. What has been lacking in such a shift is the ability to create foundations of the new development story grounded in the philosophies and the spiritualities of Pasifika communities.

One day away from the start of the Pasifika Philosophies Course and the official welcome of our Toloa Participants and Mentors at the Pacific Theological College. This inaugural course heightens conversations and engagements in academia about the need to relook at the current development model from a Pasifika philosophical standpoint and through the lenses of wellbeing, and fullness of life, as the people of Pasifika for centuries understood it to be.