In 1988, British biologist Rupert Sheldrake wrote a controversial book called The Presence of the Past: Morphic Resonance and the Habits of Nature. Morphic fields “organize systems at all levels of complexity, and are the basis for the wholeness that we observe in nature, which is more than the sum of the parts.” Sheldrake contends that morphic fields possess memory that is akin to Jung’s collective unconscious.
A simple example of morphic resonance is bicycle riding. Back at the turn of the twentieth century, when bicycles were new, kids had trouble learning how to ride a bike. But now, more than a century later, most kids hop on their new bikes and pedal off into the sunset. It’s not that we’ve gotten smarter or more athletic, but that the cumulative knowledge of all these kids who have learned to ride bikes makes it easier for each generation to do so.
Another example is found in sports. Up until 1954, it was considered impossible to break the record for a four-minute mile. Then Roger Bannister, a 25-year-old British medical student, broke that record. 3:59:4 With each person who beats the four-minute mile these days, a bit more information is added to the morphic field and it becomes easier for each person who attempts to break it. The current record is now 3:43:13, held by a Moraccan, Hicham El Guerrouj.
Today, I ran across an article that reminded me of all this and it’s about dolphins. Along the southern coast of Australia, near Adelaid, there’s a pod of wild dolphins who are being taught to tail-walk by a female member of the group. Anyone who has ever seen dolphins in captivity has seen this trick. But until now, dolphins in the wild have never been observed tail-walking. According to an article in BBC News, scientists studying the pod can’t figure out why they do it.
In the 1980s, one of the dolphins, Billie, spent time in a dolphin center while recovering from an illness and scientists think she may have learned it there. Even though she wasn’t trained to do this trick, she “may have seen others tail-walking.”
Yes, she probably did. But watching someone perform an activity doesn’t necessarily mean you can immediately do, especially if your observation occurred twenty years ago. Other females in the pod have picked it up.
Mike Bossley from the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, one of the scientists studying the pod, says “These are things that groups develop and are passed between individuals and that come to define those groups, such as language or dancing; and it would seem that among the Port River dolphins we may have an incipient tail-walking culture.”
It seems plausible that with so many dolphins in captivity being taught this trick for human entertainment, that morphic resonance may be at work. It won’t be surprising if other pods of wild dolphins in different parts of the world are observed tail-walking fairly soon.
It could even be that dolphins in the wild have tapped the minds of humans who have seen the trick.
Ray
Evolution and tapping into the great unconcious??
I LOVE the hundreth monkey syndrome.
I found it true when naming my children. People looked incredulously when i chose my children's names. After a few weeks/months, all five names were in the top 10. Weirdness.
We have mysterious, collective way of learning and communicating ("an idea whose time has come", etc.)……….why should not other forms of intelligence as well? I think of in the 1950's, in England, when a small bird learned to pick through the tops of milk bottles delivered on doorsteps……..within a year, they were doing throughout Southern England, and in two years, the habit had travelled to France. Same with ravens in Yellowstone, who collectively learned to open velcro packs to get at the goodies inside! But then, I'm not sure ravens are really from this planet…….
heh Rob + Trish she got a horsey by the name of Simon,,,,, come on……
w.v. dicat
cj,
I forgive her,but I'll still be cheering for her opponent.-)
To err is human. To forgive, divine. Maybe she had a serious change of heart, Daz. We all make mistakes and must occasionally have do-overs. This could be the situation here with the tennis player. cj
Aleksandar,
All those players you mentioned are great tennis players,but Jelena Dokic is all yours.
I can't stand her since she bad mouthed Australia so badly ,and then left to play for your country.
Now she is back here again, playing for Australia,after things in her own country didn't work out so well for her.
Sorry,but I will be cheering for whoever is up the other end of the court,when she is playing.
If you're going to bad mouth a country as bad as she and her stupid father did,then you really want to make sure that you don't want to play tennis again for that country.
neat dolphin story – they are so so intriguing/intelligent!!!
and here's to pushing belief barriers!
The hundreth monkey syndrome is where Sheldrake started with his theory! I like the idea of pushing belief barriers.
I read about this a few weeks ago and found it really interesting. If for no other reason than the fact that dolphins create their own "culture." So sophisticated!
The hundredth monkey syndrome.
I see the Roger Bannister example being more a case of belief. Once we believe something can be done we are more likely to be able to do it. It's about pushing our belief barriers.
I think, however, there are examples of monkeys who have learned of a way to do something and this has been passed on to others of the same type – even though they have not had physical contact with the originators of the skill.
We appear to be able to latch on to waves of knowledge.
It's similar to Serbian tennis players. First they had Monika Seles as a role model. Then, there was Jelena Dokic (trained in Australia, but still). Then, a few years later, Janko Tipsarevic came out of nowhere. Later there was Novak Djokovic, Jelena Jankovic and Ana Ivanovic (JAnkovic and Ivanovic being the first female tennis players of the world within a year. Seeing that, even Tipsarevic began playing better tennis. Even Viktor Troicki is somewhere near the top.
All those bands with more than one talented composer (e.g. The Beatles) are perhaps from the same mold.
Interesting! I have never seen a dolphin do this trick, but it does seem like it might have a survival advantage, being able to see farther. Or not. I just realized they jump out of the water higher than their tails.