9 Lives of Wisdom
9 Lives of Wisdom is a book that embodies philosophical quotes through the lived experience of Beau Enoka MacKey. Utilizing the analogy of "cat lives"—where each major shift represents a new chapter of life, a death, and a reincarnation—the narrative explores the radical transformations required to find a true state of being.
The foundation of this journey is built upon the influence of Beau's grandfather, a man whose life served as his moral and spiritual compass. Serving as an Anglican minister for fifty years and as the personal chaplain to Māori King Korokī, his grandfather inhabited a world of profound duty and quiet dignity.
Born a twin in Gisborne in 1983, Beau’s life has been a search for identity across vastly different landscapes. For over seventeen years, he has documented his Māori and Scottish whakapapa, tracing his paternal and maternal lines back to the voyagers, chiefs, and soldiers who shaped the history of Aotearoa New Zealand and the Highlands of Scotland.
For nearly twenty years, Beau was a representative Basketball player for Northland, New Zealand, reaching the professional threshold and making a National Basketball Team. He was scouted by the New Zealand Basketball League Team Taranaki Mountain Airs and trialed for the Auckland Stars. However, as this life as an athlete concluded, a new "reincarnation" began.
Beau then traveled to Australia and Hawaii. Following the separation from his sons' mother, Beau navigated the complexities of the Family Court system, successfully securing shared care of his two sons. This period of solo fatherhood coincided with a profound spiritual awakening, pondering the teachings of Alan Watts, Osho, Buddhism, and the philosophy of the Tao Te Ching. Yet, as if to test his new-found perspective, the gravity of his former life remained; Beau returned to the field to play Club Rugby League for two seasons as an adult. During this time, he navigated the fringes of society, associating with gang members and eventually receiving an opportunity to play for the Northland Swords Rugby League Team. He declined the offer, closing the door on that chapter of his life for good.
The transition from the world of professional sports then led to a nomadic existence: homelessness, living in a tent, a car, and a van; a relationship and separation from the daughter of a German village mayor; travel to Germany, Czech, Austria, Switzerland, France and China; working at the Marsden Point Oil Refinery; and spending five months in the isolation of the New Zealand bush. This was a descent into a storm: Beau was seven times institutionalized within the mental health system and faced fourteen recorded incidents with the police, including arrests, an alleged assault on a police officer, and a desperate escape from a mental health facility—where he was subsequently diagnosed with schizophrenia and psychosis.