************************************************************************ The following first appeared in the private email list IVy-subscribers, which is available to all those who subscribe to the printed magazine, International Viewpoints. ************************************************************************ The porpoise, a natural Clear by Phil Spickler 17 Nov 1999 Greetings from Oceana -- Some further thoughts about our other races: in response to the first posting concerning our unfeathered friends the porpoises, or dolphins if you will, I received a bit of additional and important information from an off-list friend which tells of numerous and in some cases well-documented cases wherein human beings have been helped and even rescued by friendly dolphins after getting into serious life-threatening difficulties in the water. For some years my best friend and constant companion and I did some ocean cruising in a sailboat, and one of the most thrilling and gratifying moments in all of this would be when one or more porpoises joined us and commenced cavorting through the waves with us. Upon making themselves known, there was immediate and very strong feeling of being in the presence of steady and true friends who intended to impart a feeling of joy and happiness by their presence. These wonderful beings would sometimes stay with our sailboat for as long as a half-hour or more, and one could stand on the bow pulpit and look down into the clear waters and see them racing, sometimes criss-crossing underneath and beside the boat, and ranging back to be with us, since their speed is so much greater than any sailboat's; and the beautiful moments where perhaps 3 or 4 of them right beside the boat would perform that beautiful curving motion as they breathed the same air that we were breathing. And then back beneath the waters, sometimes ranging far ahead of the boat or off to one side and then back again with their great speed, and always the projection of this great sense of play and happiness to be with us. We had this experience many times, and it never failed to leave us feeling happier, more high-toned, and took away any sense of being alone that the sometimes-vast spaces of the ocean easily communicate to landlubbers such as we. Some further attributes of these amazing beings are as follows, and here we come to the 2nd Dynamic, which is a very strong and unaberrated dynamic for such as they. First off, it's important to know that they are not under the influence of the Judeo-Christian story, and that of course is a giant plus point. You could add the Muslim to that, or any other of our land-based creeds. And as far as I know to date, no missionaries for or exponents of these less-than-benign influences have ever succeeded in converting a single dolphin to any land-bound creed, nor have they succeeded in destroying dolphin or porpoise culture, perhaps in the first place because they are unable, these missionaries, to recognize such an amazing culture if they were capable of seeing it. Humankind, in the form of science, have made note that a certain number of birds and even a few mammals practice that which is called monogamy. Swans are even said to practice it for life; but it's good to note that most of the creatures that do practice monogamy often have brains not much bigger than a good-sized pea or perhaps a walnut. Now when you get up close to the primate groups such as chimpanzees and gorillas, and possibly orangutans, and let's not leave out the monkeys of the world, lo and behold -- there's no such thing as monogamy, or marriage, and this seems very much to be the case with our good friends the dolphin or porpoise. And yet these great creatures with large brains, both in the sea and on the land, that do not practice monogamy, without our interference have excellent societies, with no appearance of the degenerative outcomes that pervade human society, that is filled with religion and failed attempts at monogamy -- what a curious bit of information, eh what?? In fact, one of the things that shocks both researchers and people that have observed dolphins in the wild is that they spend a fair amount of time enjoying and performing uninhibited sexual congress with one another, and most shocking of all, without any sense of sin or shame or embarrassment connected with it. Sounds perfectly terrible, doesn't it? :-) The porpoise mother gives birth to her child or children in the water, and quickly assists them to the surface, whereby they may take their first breaths of the air, and of course she unquestionably nurses her young, and she and the "pod," as we Earth-types like to refer to groups of dolphin, look out for and look after these beautiful babies until they are mature. Except for humankind, the porpoises of the world have very few creatures that can successfully act as predators in their direction; even great sharks that may attempt to attack are often quickly killed by large numbers of dolphins swimming at the predator at 30 or 40 miles per hour and smashing into it until it is reduced to a lifeless hulk. Much of what is said here is also true of the giant orca, or as Man has determined to call this wonderful being, the killer whale. I've never once heard a killer whale refer to humankind as "killer Homo," ("homo" as in Latin for Man), even though a casual observer from the water or the air or off-planet would even in the most modest and friendlier terms be unable to characterize humankind as anything less than an extremely violent killer species. Recognition of this fact, which is neither a good fact nor an evil fact, is, in my opinion, necessary to a full appreciation of Homo sapiens. So our friends the porpoises are free from any of the frightful influences that abound here on Planet Earth and that so bedevil and confuse this species called Man or Personkind. I can't say that I really know a great deal about the amazing whales that also live in and make their way through the oceans of the world, who also possess very large brains, but I shouldn't be surprised to find that they are just as Clear as it's possible to be. Someone that I was discussing these matters with asked me if I was suggesting that humans should go down to the seas in vast numbers and jump in, in the hopes that some lightning-fast evolution might take place, and we could become sea-creatures once again -- well, that idea has some promise, especially since there are some people that I wish would go jump in the ocean, but in general I don't think on behalf of the dolphins, orcas, and whales of the world that I'd like to see 6 billion maniacs taking up residence in the ocean, even if they possibly could. They're going to have to get a lot clearer than they are now to be fit company for the marine mammals. But it is possible that we might observe marine mammals and perhaps some of the primate groups on this planet and determine that they know some things about life and living that we humans could profit from mightily in the effort or intention to de-aberrate one or more of the dynamics. The great appeal of Dianetics early on for yours truly was just that notion, of de-aberrating at least four of the dynamics, and although auditing seemed to hold great promise in that direction, there are, as it is well known, other ways of de-aberrating an individual or a group, and here we enter into the realm of what kind of education takes place, and what kind of environment is provided, and what understandings can be brought into everyday existence that are truly in tune with the nature of human beings, rather than being so contrary to it. Fixing up the second dynamic of humankind so that love could be a lifelong and enduring possibility for each individual requires removing the heavy counter-postulates to such a notion, many of which have evolved out of religions to which we owe our great heritage of shame, guilt and a sense of evil and sin; and re-designing that dynamic so as to actually fit the natural person would probably take us a great distance toward a personkind that went through life with a happy smile almost always on its face, similar to our friends the porpoises. I'll close with a dolphin stable datum regarding health: eat lots of fish -- it's good for you! Best regards, Flipper Phil