5. The three more or less vertical lines in GD14 may be seen as the rays of the sun and the 'nut' at the bottom is perhaps covered with earth formed like a little hill, therefore the double wedge.

"Ta'aroa tahi tumu, 'Ta'aroa origl. stock' - most commonly Ta'aroa or Te Tumu - existed before everything except of a rock (Te Papa) which he compressed and begat a daughter (Ahuone) that is Vegetable Mole.*

* Ahuone means 'earth heaped up' - a widespread name for the Polynesian first woman. It sounds as if Cook also heard the term applied to the banks of humus and rotting material on which taro is grown. In the English of his day this was known as 'vegetable mould'." (Record by Captain Cook. Ref.: Legends of the South Seas.)

Death and rebirth are so fundamental and difficult to understand that we here must continue with more explanations. Dr. Jung (ref. Campbell) seems to be the best authority in our civilization:

"Do we ever understand what we think? We understand only such thinking as is a mere equation and from which nothing comes out but what we have put in. That is the manner of working of the intellect. But beyond that there is a thinking in primordial images - in symbols that are older that historical man; which have been ingrained in him from earliest times, and, eternally living, outlasting all generations, still make up the groundwork of the human psyche. It is possible to live the fullest life only when we are in harmony with these symbols; wisdom is a return to them. It is a question neither of belief nor knowledge, but of the agreement of our thinking with the primordial images of the unconscious. They are the source of all our conscious thoughts, and one of these primordial images is the idea of life after death."

"A human being would certainly not grow to be seventy or eighty years old if this longevity had no meaning for the species to which he belongs. The afternoon of human life must have a significance of its own and cannot be merely a pitiful appendage to life's morning.

The significance of the morning undoubtedly lies in the development of the individual, our entrenchment in the outer world, the propagation of our kind and the care of our children. But when this purpose has been attained - and even more than attained - shall the earning of money, the extension of conquests, and the expansion of life go steadily on beyond the bounds of all reason and sense?

Whoever carries over into the afternoon the law of the morning - that is, the aims of nature - must pay for so doing with damage to his soul just as surely as a growing youth who tries to salvage his childish egoism must pay for this mistake with social failure.

Moneymaking, social existence, family and posterity are nothing but plain nature - not culture. Culture lies beyond the purpose of nature. Could by any chance culture be the meaning and purpose of the second half of life? In primitive tribes, we observe that the old people are almost always the guardians of the mysteries and the laws, and it is in these that the cultural heritage of the tribe is expressed."