Messages from the Deep (7 page)

“I have always been intrigued by the
interface of understanding between species of animals and with
humans.

A legend that has always felt important to me
is that of Androcles and the Lion. The runaway slave showed
understanding and love to the injured lion and so it trusted him to
remove the thorn in its paw. Later, when they were captured and put
together in the arena to fight to the death, it spared his life as
they recognised each other, and it came up to him to lick his hand.
Allegedly, they were both freed, or so I like to remember.

As a young boy, sometimes I had a dream where
I was being chased by a lion and my legs never ran fast enough and
I knew it was going to catch up to me, so I woke up terrified.
After waking my parents a few times in the middle of the night, my
dad suggested that, next time, instead of running, I could try
standing still, facing the lion and see what happened. After all, I
would have nothing left to lose (ha! ha!). So, I’m not sure if I
actually had the dream again or if I just thought about it enough
to imagine that I may, at least, have day-dreamed it. I stopped
running, stood still and turned around. I faced the lion, like a
man, looked at it and asked, ‘What do you want, Mr Lion?’ in as
calm and caring a way as I could manage. The way it looked at me
made me realise it meant me no harm. It walked slowly up to me and
then licked my hand.

Many years ago, it was reported that three
animals had been found, an American bear, an African lion and a
Bengal tiger.

They had grown up together for 15 years, but
had been badly abused by the owner. They were the best of friends,
showing empathy and love for each other, like a close family. Some
animals are very sensitive to the health and feelings of humans, as
though they may have a sixth sense. Equine therapy has been very
effective in helping in a wide range of human problems, from
physical palsies to psychiatric challenges. And, of course,
swimming with dolphins has been widely reported to be healing. It
has worked for Mariada and me too. And we are still absorbing the
fact that a dolphin told both of us, Ada in a dream and me when I
nearly died, that it would see us later, on another planet. Which
is exactly what has happened.”

Mariada adds, “Yes, I also feel the
distinctions that many people draw between humans and animals are
artificial, literally man-made, and are often based on fallacies,
which often come from religious texts; for example, that we are
more important than other life, that we have ‘dominion’ over
nature. Well, if that means that we are the loving guardians of
nature, responsible for protecting it and living in harmony with
it, as one godly entity, then I agree, otherwise not.

Gandhi said, ‘The greatness of a nation can
be judged by the way its animals are treated.’

I once heard a therapist at a school
addressing the whole assembly of children and staff, and asking
them, “What is more important: trees or humans?”

Can you believe that somebody could ask such
a naive question? Well, of course, the correct answer was ‘Humans’
(with a capital H), because we are God’s Special Creation.

I had been invited to speak about some of my
research, to inspire children, which I think I did, but I couldn’t
help making a reference to the therapist’s short sermon near the
end of my talk. I asked everyone, “Do you know that humans and in
fact, nearly all life, depend heavily on trees and plants to create
the oxygen for us to breathe and the food for us to eat, and so
stay alive?”

“Yes, of course!” nearly everyone
asserted.

“Well then, what would happen if all the
trees and plants disappeared?” I asked.

“We would all die / starve / choke to death”,
was the general consensus, and also a “no weed” from near the
back.

“And what if everything was like it is now
but then all humans were to die?” I asked.

There was some hesitation. Some smiled at me
like it was a trick question. One child ventured,

“Nothing would happen?”

Another chipped in, “Maybe nothing would
happen for a while. I feel sorry for all the animals and plants
which depend on humans to survive. Maybe the animals would escape
from the farms and learn to look after themselves.”

Another child took it to its logical
conclusion. “And the natural forests and plants would grow back
again. The rivers would flow again. Insects and animals would live
in peace again. I think the world would be a better place without
us!”

I was very pleased that the children were
able to say it for themselves and I told them so. I added, of
course, that this conclusion goes to show that we need to live
responsibly with nature if we are ALL to survive.”

Alex adds, “I also sometimes gave talks at
schools. When talking about evolution, I was careful to emphasise
that most species, from all the evidence we have, appear to have
changed or evolved over time. I often gave the wonderful example of
dolphins and whales who came from the water to live on land, and
then went back to living in the water. Children are fascinated. Why
would they do that? Maybe when they saw early humans! And I’m very
careful when talking about very early humans not to emphasise our
simian qualities, because I know how offended some people are when
you suggest that their ancestors, a very long time ago, may have
lived mostly in trees and not always have walked upright.

One child very pointedly asked me, possibly
prompted by a teacher, if I believed in God. When I asked what she
understood by that, she said ‘to give your life to Jesus’. I
explained that many scientists may have spiritual feelings, a
feeling that there is a very great power in the whole universe,
even if they don’t belong to any church or religion; that science
is not a religion but only a positive way to ask questions about
life and the world; to wonder about the wonderful ways that life
and the world work; to show how great that power is that could
cause life to exist in all its forms, including us, who try to
understand it all.”

A community meeting is held to debate the
issues of mining and technology on Earth 2. The facilitator for the
meeting is Rasta, who is often chosen for such functions as he has
a powerful way of calming everyone while being respectful and
firmly democratic in his interventions. He introduces the
topics.

“As you know, we have a policy here of
minimal, limited mining for only essential items. From aerial
surveys done and from our own geological investigations, it seems
that there are very limited resources near the surface for us to
mine superficially as we do now. Any further mining would generally
require deep drilling with equipment that we would probably never
receive from Earth. Earth 2 is not like Mars for mining, with huge
areas of denuded and exposed surfaces of rock, and almost no life
or ecosystem that can be harmed by mining.

Our policy here is to have minimal mining, to
minimise environmental damage and to live in harmony with all life.
We are not on a planet to be exploited like Mars, with maximum
mining. However, concerning the second issue of technology, we are,
therefore, dependent on Earth for the manufacture and delivery of
our technological equipment. So far, we only have our computers and
the equipment in the space capsule, but we don’t have proper
laboratories and everything else we need to do more advanced
research or projects.

What do you propose on these issues?”

Mariada puts her points with passion.

“We didn’t come here just to multiply and
live in peace and harmony until we vegetate. Or just make a place
that would be suitable for the elite on Earth to escape to one day
when they finally kill our beloved mother planet.

We are all intelligent humans and we need to
develop and make progress. But it’s probably not in the interests
of the politicians on Earth for us to do that. So they will try to
keep us docile, disadvantaged and backward compared to Earth.

We could become independent of Earth if we
start with more serious mining and manufacturing. We could focus on
exactly what we need for our own progress; while still avoiding
most of the unnecessary environmental damage we caused on Earth.
Would they send police or the army to try to stop us? What would we
have to lose? Paradise is not just living like hippies on a
commune; not for me, anyway.”

Alex has been waiting for a chance to express
what looks like exasperation.

“But that’s exactly where our ancestors went
wrong. They believed that more and more technology would show how
intelligent we are and make us feel more and more satisfied. But is
that really intelligence and are we really making progress? Is
there really such a thing as responsible mining? Doesn’t it all
just end in destruction and pollution?

We have found a pristine planet where life
has co-existed harmoniously for millions of years. Dolphins were
brought here from Earth thousands of years ago and have adapted and
thrived happily. Instead of looking outside of themselves and
developing gadgets that will help them go somewhere else, they have
focused their growth inwards and into their community, developing
complex language and thinking skills. They can even use their
echo-location to diagnose medical conditions, like we use x-rays,
ultra-sound and angiograms. We should be trying to develop these
skills. I sometimes think that, when we finally meet aliens, they
will find us very slow and simple in our thinking, language and
communication.

My proposal is that we continue with our
policy of minimal mining and technology, and rather focus on
developing our mental skills and environmental awareness. After
all, we have a school of dolphins to teach us.”

The others seem less split into two opposing
camps now and there is little animosity. It is agreed that
‘Mariada’s group’ will not do anything rash like make a unilateral
declaration of the independence of Earth 2. But they begin to
compile a list of frustrations that will be sent to the United
Nations. There must be a cure for the Summertime blues.

A cetacean linguist at the research station
at Plettenberg Bay plays a recording.

A male voice says, “The woman is amazing.
Clearly she is not young, maybe like a grandmother. She has a very
active mind as I see many images when I focus on her brain, and her
body is very healthy but she has lost some suppleness and strength
as the muscles have started to atrophy, and she does not ovulate.
She is passionate about sharing and trying to talk with us and
shows good respect. She listens very carefully, with her mind and
her heart, and she shows love. She is close to her male friend. She
calls him something ‘-ex’ and he calls her ‘Ada’, and they are
happy as they talk and play. What do you think about the man,
‘-ex’?”

A female voice says, “Oh, yes! The same,
mostly. He is about the same age and is fit, healthy and clever. He
seems to know something of our language and is trying to talk with
and understand me. He also shows love and, you know what ! His
testes and so on are still active, especially when he is with her.
But with other people he seems careful of showing much feeling. She
seems to have a painful emptiness in her womb, as though she has
lost people in her life and wants to find the parts of herself she
has lost with them. I think she feels she may find them with
him.”

PART 4:

DEEP MESSAGES ( 2045 +)

“In ancient Greece it was thought … they
(dolphins) were once men, who had lived in cities, along with
mortals; that they had exchanged the land for the sea; but that
they had retained…human thought.”

Horace Dobbs. ‘Dance to a Dolphin’s Song.’
1996.

“The Greeks held that killing a dolphin was
tantamount to killing a man, and it was punished with the same
penalty as murder.”

Brenner and Pilleri. ‘Dolphins in ancient
art and literature’. 1977.

In 2045, the International Marine Institute
announces that they have received a report from the special task
group, which comprises the main findings of research into
communication with cetaceans. This information was built up by
researchers in numerous countries and after decades of
collaboration and reviews of theory and practice in the field.
Relevant visuals accompany the text.

“The following information is a summary of
the main findings of researchers into the messages that whales and
dolphins have been giving us for the past 20 years, but which we
have only recently been able to understand, and also about the
interactions and exchanges we have had with them.

Scientists had to deal with reluctance by
cetaceans, whales especially, for many years, to trust humans.
After all, they had been hunted inhumanely almost to extinction,
and were not ready to co-operate with ease and to the extent
needed. Humans also had a tendency to try to dominate, to order
cetaceans to do things at their command, like to find ancient,
flooded ruins in a far-off ocean, without much sensitivity about
their own needs, patterns of movement and social interactions, so
essential if they were to survive.

The greatest on-going threats to their
survival on Earth were pollution, especially oil and plastic,
entanglement in fishing nets and lines, over-fishing of their prey,
noise emissions from boats, and military use of sonar and seismic
noise. And now too, instead of being hunted by whalers, they were
being hunted by whale-watchers and people wanting to swim with
dolphins, the whole affair being so over-commercialised in some
areas that they are suffering stress, disruption and even injury
and death. But after much negotiation with cetacean
representatives, compromises and agreements were reached with the
relevant authorities.”