UPOLU LUMĀ VAAI
‘Whole of Life’ Philosophy & Theology
We are because we don’t have
We don’t have spirit
We are spirit
We don’t have land
We are land
We don’t have ocean
We are ocean
We don’t have relationship
We are relationship
Rooted
Connected
Fixed yet fluid!
-Upolu Luma Vaai 2017
WELCOME
I welcome you all dear friends, educators, faith leaders, theologians, philosophers, policy makers, development agencies, activists, and those who are tired of a divisive, eliminative, and exclusive educational and development narrative we find ourselves today. This page aims to share mostly ‘whole of life’ philosophies, ideas, concepts, theologies, ethics, policies, models, that have been developed during my own career as a theologian and Pasifika indigenous philosopher. The ‘Whole of Life’ philosophy, is the underpinning philosophy and vision of the Pasifika Communities University, but it is also a vision owned by indigenous grassroots communities whom for many years have seen life and development from a more holistic, integrated, and interconnected perspective. A perspective that has been side-lined by many of us.
THE WHOLE OF LIFE WAY
Moments of tensions –
birth wisdom
And in difference –
we know ourselves
Humility to let go of ego
Igniting movement within
Living philosophy in communities
From koko plantations –
Your first lived thesis
With spiritual foundations
Unknowing to (k)new knowing
Moments of mutual contradictions
Affirmations and negations
Multifarious layers of growth –
Is an ethical system of growth
ao and po
Knowledge is a gift not commodity
Aiā tatau and stories that heal
The whole of life way
(Poem written by Dr Faalogo Aganoa Jacoba Matapo, Associate Professor and Pro-Vice Chancellor, Auckland University of Technology, to dedicate to Dr Upolu Lumā Vaai after his Pasifika philosophies lecture at AUT, 8 July 2025)
Public Lectures
- Launch of the Birth of the New Pasifika Child (Pasifika Communities University 2025)
- Pasifika Philosophies, Research, and Development (Auckland University of Technology, 2025)
- “Stop categorising us as vulnerable victims”: Methodism, Relationality, and Ecological Justice in Pasifika (University of Oxford, 2024)
- Reweaving the Ecological Mat: A Quest for a Pasifika ‘Whole of Life’ Philosophy of Development (University of Otago, 2024)
- The ‘whole of life’ way: Pasifika Relational Philosophies for a (K)new Development Story (Australian National University, 2023)
- Onefication, Relationality, and the ‘Whole of Life’ Way for a (K)new Pasifika (Griffith University, 2023)
- Developing a Pacific Ecorelational Approach to Climate Change (Toda Peace Institute, 2022)
- “E itiiti a lega mea – Less yet more! Reframing development through a Pacific Relational Philosophy of Life” (University of the South Pacific, 2017)
Webinars
- Pasifika ‘Whole of Life’ Education (2022)
- Ecological Racisim and Deep-Sea Mining in the Pacific Webinar (2022)
- The Gift of Aloha (Love) Pacific Islanders and Indigenous Peoples Share Their Sacred Values (2022)
- Food from Oceans, Rivers and Lakes (2022)
- Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders: Systemic Racial Challenges (2021)
- The Unfinished Business(es) of Biblical Studies in Oceania (2021)
- Dirtifying Ecology, Economy, and Religion: How Matter Matters (2020)
- Lagimālie: The De-Onefication of Pacific theology in the light of eco-relational wellbeing
- Regional Panel on Interfaith in the Asia-Pacific (2015)
Stage Production
Redemption Song – Itulagi Production
Sosefina Song – Itulagi Production
News
- Otago hosts Pacific dignitary 2024
- CHOGM Side Event: Indigenouswealth of Commonwealth (2024)
- G20 Interfaith Summit Pre Conference 2016
- Highlighting lessons from Pasifika communities for decolonial transdisciplinary education
- Rev. Prof. Dr. Vaai Visits the German Embassy: A Dialogue on Pacific Knowledge
Radio Interview
- We need leaders, not politicians
- Ole Faleaoga mole Lumanai
- Removing the colonialism in us with ‘whole of life’ philosophies
- Vaka Moana: A Journey to an Inspiring and Engaging Ocean virtual event
“In the spirit of voyaging, when the winds refused to travel, the skies and stars cloaked with oblivion, the waves slumbering in suspense, the tide and currents retired to silence, even the sails refused to sing, and when doubt begins to offer prescriptions of failure, hope strangely presents itself in the very gift we have neglected: ‘relationships.’ This is a God of impossible possibility, deeper than all else we have been told is impossible, who gives meaning and purpose to our continuous quest for the possible impossibility.” (Vaai 2025)