The pure glyphs express absence of life, and pure means cowrie, the beautiful sea shells used as currency all over the world since eternal time. Such a sea shell is without life, its inhabitant has vanished long ago. In the beginning the mythical Tagaroa lived in absolute darkness inside a shell, Rumia. After eons he grew restless and shouted out into the dark, but nobody answered. Absence of light equals absence of life. The absence of life expressed by pure glyphs do not exclude the presence of ghosts. The pure glyphs may signify the 'end station' in the sky. However, at the very beginning of time when Tagaroa was inside his shell, he personified the beginning. The condition of non-life (spirithood) equally well applies to the very beginning. Spirits are the souls of unborn people, they exist after death and before they are being reborn again. The opposite of pure seems to be vai:
|
