We take so much of life on Earth for granted. We take it as a given that we are the dominant species on the planet and that we are the only ones who have learned to farm the oceans and the lands. We believe that we have the highest possible cognitive development of all animals and that our social structure and the relationships among each individuals and its social group are so unique to us humans.
But what if in an alternate reality, which exists parallel to our own, whales are the dominant inhabitants on Earth. This would be a probable reality where we humans never reached any significant levels of development.
The idea of such a possible world intrigued me greatly ever since I read the following in “The Unknown Reality: A Seth Book, vol. 1” by Jane Roberts:
“I told you … that you presently perceive only the surface of the moment; so you also perceive but one line of the species’ development. Yet even within your system, there are hints of the other probable realities that also coexist.
… In other probabilities, water-dwelling mammal predominate. They farm the land as you farm the water, and are only now learning how to operate upon the land for any amount of time, as you are only now learning how to manipulate below the water.
The physical universe serves then as a threshold for probabilities, and all possible species find their greatest fulfillment within that system, each of them neurologically tuned into their own reality and their own “time.”
The idea of such an alternate reality captivated my imagination greatly but seemed somewhat sci-fi and removed from my world until I read The New York Times’ article Watching Whales Watch Us. This is an amazing article which describes whales as a species that we are just now beginning to study and understand. The article begins with sad tales of stranded whales and recounts of how high-tech sonar tracking devices used in military-training exercises drive whales to extinction. However, the real value it offers readers is a glimpse into how incredible whales are. It says:
“Scientists have now documented behaviors like tool use and cooperative hunting strategies among whales. Orcas, or killer whales, have been found to mourn their own dead. Just three years ago, researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York discovered, in the brains of a number of whale species, highly specialized neurons that are linked to, among other things, the use of language and were once thought to be the exclusive property of humans and a few other primates. Indeed, marine biologists are now revealing not only the dizzying variety of vocalizations among a number of whale species but also complex societal structures and cultures.
Whales, we now know, teach and learn. They scheme. They cooperate, and they grieve. They recognize themselves and their friends. They know and fight back against their enemies. And perhaps most stunningly, given all of our transgressions against them, they may even, in certain circumstances, have learned to trust us again.”
I love the stories the article tells us about how smart, curious, social and playful with us humans are the gray whales of Baja. We learn how well organized is the social structure of the sperm whales and how humpback whales make use of communal tools to hunt for fish. This is really a great article and I hope you read it for you will develop a new appreciation for cetaceans and you too may begin to wonder about a possible Earth where whales rule. What could be a better conclusion than the following quote from the article:
“Somehow the more we learn about whales, the more we’re coming to appreciate the sublimely discomfiting reality that a kind of parallel “us” has long been out there roaming the oceans’ depths, succumbing to our assaults.”
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