Hot off the Press!!!

How little we know By Mike Masterson The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette 2-1-05

It truly is remarkable that the longer we humans age as a species, the less we seem to realize that other life forms on this planet are not languishing stupidly beneath us.

In fact, anyone who examines the impressive body of evidence accumulated over just the past three decades finds a much different reality. Consider:

Biologist Rupert Sheldrake tells us many pet dogs react to the precise moment when their owners first think of coming home, regardless of where those people might be. My friends' cat awakens them precisely at 6 each morning. Their dog knows when Saturday rolls around.

Prairie dogs emit a highly specific language. One of their calls can even identify a human's height or shirt color according to an Arizona professor who has studied that animal extensively.

Researchers and animal studies experts have taught chimpanzees to understand and even spell many simple words in the English language.

That tidal wave that killed over 200,000 "higher-functioning" humans claimed very few animals. Elephants, monkeys, birds and other creatures headed for high ground several minutes before the killer wave flooded the low lying areas.

I have sat and watched the 14 fish in our backyard pond interact, court, sleep side-by-side and obviously communicate their intentions and feelings in ways I cannot fathom.

A lowly sparrow that hears another sparrow's song in bits and pieces, can unite those parts to repeat the same song on its own. Monogamous female chickadee's slip out of their nests at night to visit lovers elsewhere, then sneak back home just before daylight.

A recent Reuters article quotes avian experts saying we only now are realizing the complexity of birds' brains. Yet, in our arrogance, we have long taken delight in referring to the human dimwitted as "birdbrains."

Scientists say birds learn how to use tools, copy vocalizations, fib, count, and imitate human language to communicate. "They can lie," said Erich Jarvis of Duke University. "You can teach a pigeon to do something that will have another pigeon get food as a reward. You can find a female pigeon that will pretend a reward for food is coming and then she eats it instead of her mate.

The gross misconception that a bird's brain is primitive tracks a full century back to German scientist Ludwig Edinger. "A lot went into the idea of a human's (superior) place in the evolutionary scheme of animals," Jarvis told Reuters.

"They (people) didn't follow Darwin's view that evolution was a tree," he continued. "They tried to link it to religion - a linear system where God created one creature, not good enough, then created another creature, not good enough, and then created human - perfect. It was a beautiful story but it wasn't true."

Taking this a step farther into the realm of the metaphysical, I have long wondered about the seeming postmortem connection that birds seem to have with humans.

I've personally noticed the sudden appearance of birds that act oddly after a loved one died. Others also have told me about similar phenomenon in their lives involving birds and even butterflies. Some might say it's the human mind playing tricks by making coincidences appear to fit.

Yet I'm not so quick to buy the callous dismissals, especially when virtually everything so-called "experts" have told us about existence for the past 100 years - from Newtonian physics to Vioxx and even birdbrains - is later proven wrong.

Speaking of birds, in the human's well-conditioned tendency to hold itself in ultimate regard, why not try reading the stunning revelations found in the 1973 book: "The Secret Life of Plants" by Peter Tompkins and Christopher Bird.

I'm betting most of you have never even heard of this 402-page book based on experiments with plants by polygraph expert Cleve Backster of San Diego, because the mainstream status quo has proclaimed it outside their proper Newtonian-based consensus.

Also, if you haven't heard of Japanese professor Masaru Emoto's startling work with water crystals, which shows through photographs how water relates to human words, thoughts and emotions, read his two-volume book: "The Message From Water."

Emoto, Backster and dozens of other cutting edge scientists, researchers and academics from around the world will be gathering in Santa Fe at the La Fonda Hotel during the final week of April for the annual Science and Consciousness Conference."

This five-day planetary gathering of enlightened minds, sponsored annually by the Message Company of Santa Fe, delves into the latest explorations into the nature of consciousness in all forms.

Yep friends, when it comes to the myriad life forms that share this exquisitely balanced world we humans are relentlessly defiling with our progress, I believe I'll continue choose trusting in my own gifts of observation and reason 'til that final breath is exhaled.

- Mike Masterson is an award-winning journalist and staff columnist for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette


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