The Hundredth Monkey Theory
It has become apparent America, once revered for its faith in a divine creator has reached a crisis point in its need for a spiritual anchor on the individual level, and for a rediscovery of the ancient reverence for all living things on the collective level. Many are on the verge of giving up hope that any caring person or group can or will make a difference, yet they continue to press on like solders in battle. Our spiritual hunger is not only valid but crucial to the survival of ourselves, our environment, our country liberty, and of course to our God, all of which are dwindling, much to our dismay. This condition is in part, due to the fact that we no longer have myths to guide us, since most people today no longer feel themselves contained in the Judo-Christian story, mentioned frequently in my other essays. Mythlessness means that we as believers have forgotten the purpose we live for, or, more urgently, the purpose for which we suffer and die for. Existence without purpose in meaningless.
The compensatory message of religion is that we live not for ourselves alone though some narcissistic politicians would beg to differ. Nevertheless, how we live our lives affects others, particularly those who are near to us and, mysteriously enough also the world. One person can influence present and future generations with no direct contact with that person according to Rupert Sheldrake a Cambridge biologist. He introduced his hypothesis of morphic resonance from a study of the well known story of the hundredth monkey:
Researchers studying a colony of monkeys on a small island in Japan in the fifties would dump sweet potatoes on the shoe by the truckload. One day something took place which had never before been observed –a young female monkey took her sweet potato down to the surf where she washed it, the action in and of itself became perplexing and exited the researchers because the action required a conscience, independent, individual change of form and behavior of the colonies typical behavior, but the real shocking event was yet to come. The young monkey soon realized washing the potato improved the palatability of the food in two ways, one, agitating it in the sea water removed the sand and other debris and two, the sea water added an appetizing salt taste to the food.
Soon after her delightful dinning experience the youngster taught the washing process to her mother then some other of her group within the colony and sweat potato washing soon became a ritual to those who learned it. Slowly the idea spread until all the monkeys in this small group within the colony were washing the food. At first the researchers assumed, by the speed of at which the idea progressed, it was nothing more than monkey see, monkey do, slowly catching on by degree. But then one day shortly thereafter a truck arrived, dumped its cargo load of potatoes on the sand and unexpectedly, much to the researchers surprise and astonishment, every member of the entire colony of monkeys picked up a potato, went to the sea, and began washing their sweet potatoes before eating it. Somewhere in the process of time the 100th monkey consciously joining the others toppled the balance of typical colony behavior. This caused a, so called, critical mass of like-minded species to react symontainosly in the same manner, the thought spreading through thousands instantaneously. Hence forth the term, morphic residence, which is the enlightenment of the masses through, the conscience behavioral change of the few?
On another remote island shortly thereafter this event occurred, researcher conducting the same behavior patterns studies of related monkeys whom were not in communication, recorded in their journals an even more astonishing event. Recorded data indicated none of the monkeys, not one of them observed on this island had never wash their sweet potatoes in the sea until, all of them, at once, at the same time preformed the action together. Though hundredth monkey theory denotes the culmination of critical mass mindedness, it is Sheldrake’s hypothesis of morphic residence which points the way to true spirituality, indicating the form and behavior of plants and animals can be molded “by the form and behavior of past organisms of the same species though direct communication of mind across time and space.” If we were to applied concept to human beings it would suggests that increases in our consciousness effects of, not only those in contact with us but potentially all of our species, present and future could be changed by the few.
The implications of Sheldrake’s theory are staggering do to the fact that it is difficult for a form or event to appear for the first time in history, the likelihood of it reoccurring improves enormously in time after the event is produced. This entire concept is relevant because it suggests changes in the psychic background of humanity can be brought about by small changes in consciousness of the individual. The hundredth monkey concept represents all individuals who chose to reform their conscious behavior for the benefit of the many, in doing so, their effort tip the balance of their status quo social order allowing a catastrophic change to accrue and, if monkeys can connect with the mystical field of morphic residence, well then so can the Judo-Christian society.
Liberalism has endeavored for decades to reform traditional American behavior, founded on Judo-Christianity, into despotism controlled by liberal potentates this action is not, and cannot be in the best interests of the many. Despite every effort to do so, liberalism also cannot manage to conjure up the elusive hundredth monkey required for the critical mass of people to be politically reformed to their behavioral patterns. In the recent congressional elections The White House suffered fervently policy rejection from the voters who overwhelmingly decided to remove from office liberal and moderate legislators providing the nation with spiritual hope and change for the benefit of the many. The backlash movement has begun, the harder this administration pushes the people the easier it will become to discover our mythological hundredth monkey waiting behind a closed door.
“Not by strength, nor by might but by the spirit says the Lord”
