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Knees bent, I crouch weightlessly. My arms, with my hands palms up, are held forward. I am in warm clear turquoise blue water, waiting.
She circles, her head swinging back and forth as she scans me. With a nod, she approaches. Carefully, then quickly, she swims into the cradle of my arms.
I am stunned. My breath seizes−then I laugh. My heart opens and I laugh for the joy of laughing. I am crooning to her, laughing. As I nuzzle her with my lips, she wriggles her 450 weightless pounds, adjusting herself. She settles, and then I feel it.
She has placed her heart in the palm of my hand.
"How do I come to be here, among these dolphins, on this day? What destiny has shaped my journey, to this moment, when a dolphin has placed her heart in my hand?", I think to myself.
I look at my surroundings, and see a dolphin interaction facility on an island, off the coast of Mexico. It is an enormous undertaking to have set up this place, and the work continues at a steady pace. There are dolphins living here, and they are taken care of every hour of every day.
How did this place come to be?
Is there something about dolphins, especially dolphins, that brings us to them? What might that be? A special quality that attracts us, and lingers in our minds...
It has been called many things;
Joy
Playfulness
Beauty
Grace
Freedom
Good Will
Love
Wisdom
Hmmmm...how did these animals become associated with all of these qualities? Each is something to be admired in any human, yet we link dolphins to these things. Why?
In my hand is the beating heart of a living dolphin, who has freely approached me and accepted my offer of a cradle to support her, in my arms. She has had no coercion of her choice, and it is not "permitted" by the trainer to do what she and I are doing.
I am beginning to hear the trainer over my own heartbeat, blowing her whistle. She´s waving her arms at me.
I cannot--not do--what I am doing. I can´t.
My face is drawn down to rest on hers. My reflection grows as I move closer, her silver skin a living mirror.
She is cool in this bathtub-warm water, sleek, hard and smooth. She feels like the white of a hard-boiled egg. Wet rubber. Chamois over marble. Her chest is warm where my hand is, where her heart is.
And her heart is beating the same pulse as mine.
I feel the blessing, the benediction of her gift. Tears rise into my eyes, well over, and run down my cheeks, dripping onto her.
At least 250,000 persons each year, at sites around the world, come to swim with dolphins in facilities built for one purpose−to experience something we have not been able to name.
I have sought to name it. The quest has brought me to this moment, and you are participating in my quest by reading this (thank you, very much!). I have searched high, and I have searched low. I have done weird things along the way. Many weird things. All in the pursuit of the magical power of naming.
I am removing one of the veils of ISIS.
I am revealing one of the Names of Osiris.
I am illuminating a secret source of human development.
I am discovering who I am.
I hear laughter. Above, on the wooden dock, are my guests. They have watched it all, and see how I am being moved, taken to tears by this wondrous moment. They are drowning out the hollers of the trainer, with their cheers and laughter. I smile to myself.
Over $1 billion dollars a year is spent on whale and dolphin watching activities around the world. Over 500 communities are supported by this economic engine. Unprecedented, this is all for the purpose of humans coming within sight of these creatures, or to be among them, or swim beside them, or to touch one. We place high value on this, and we arrange global resources to enable it.
In far flung places, over tens of thousands of years, humans discovered the gifts of the dolphins. Fishermen along many shores have been partnered by dolphins. They bring fish into nets, they drive fish onto the shore, they round up shoals and bring them into coves.
In many, many places, dolphins simply came to shore to play. A dolphin loves children, all children. Scientists call adult playfulness "neoteny". Dolphins rank very high on the scale of neoteny. They play nearly all the time. Looking for playmates, they came to meet the earliest pre-humans, the wading apes.
From them, we began to learn the higher way, the way of the soul. From instinct to intellect, from intellect to intuition, they have demonstrated the key they hold for us. A dolphin-shaped key, it opens the locked truth of who they are, and who we are.
The dolphin rolls sideways, to look at me. My hands stay where they are, stretching around her dense body to allow her to twist.
Her big brown-and-deep-blue eye searches me, looking up and down. The tiny folded wrinkles around her eyes glisten in the sunlight as she moves her eye. The iris contracts into an arc, then forms two points of focus, as she zooms in on me, and gains stereo sight in one eye, for perspective. She looks closely.
She sees me, and feels my bliss. I sense her approval, and I can feel her excitement.
The traditions of many cultures include tales of wisdom bearers in, and from, the sea. They have various forms, some half-human, some more fish-like, some very dolphin-like. Gods rise from the Oceans, arrive in groups from across the sea, ride on dolphins, and send them as messengers. Dolphins guide the souls of many people into the lands beyond life.
Some of the main teachers in history have had the dolphins associated with them. Vishnu, Osiris, Oannes, the Nommo, Apollo, Jesus−each has dolphins in their story, or was a dolphin. Apollo maintained an oracle, where he could speak to humankind through the voices of his Priestesses. He taught us to "Know Thyself". Just as Jesus did.
It is this idea that has been central to my quest. To know the Kingdom of Heaven, and to see it inside myself, I have found dolphins to be my pathmates, my guides, my best friends. They have enabled many of my awakenings, led me on a merry chase, tickled me with their ultrasonic beams, sung my granddaughter out of the womb, and put their hearts on the line. And in my hand.
The trainer has grown insistent. She is making sure I hear her, and the dolphin is preparing to leave. She has been gazing at me, and now turns. A rush goes through her body, a bio-electric charge, as she curls her spine and presses her tail down, against the water. She flies out of my arms, her flukes press down on my hand as she goes.
I am crying and laughing, my heart pounding.
As I turn and walk up the wooden stairs, one of my guests passes me going down, and says, "Whatever you were doing out there, it was beautiful. Thank you for letting me see this, for bringing me here. Seeing you made it all worth while, and this is only the first day!"
She is one of twenty-two people on the trip I am leading. We will spend three days among the dolphins before travelling among the Mayan ruins of the Yucatan, in Mexico. Along the way, I will be sharing a Legend, about dolphins and their connections to us. It will take me all seven days of our trip to tell the tale. It is a big story.
I go to the shower and stand under the hot sun and the cool water, and my tears are hidden. My smile remains visible, however.
As people approach me, I shy away. I want to savour the feelings, to cherish them, and build memories around them, beautiful memories. I get my big towel, wrap myself in it, and walk back down to the dock, where I can see the dolphins.
What is the name of the special quality of the dolphins? What secret has been in public view for so long we ignored it? It is this: we are self-aware embodied Souls. So are they. They have been at it much longer than we have, and eagerly await our arrival at the next level of our awakening.They are our best friends, anywhere.
Scott Taylor has followed the liquid trail of the dolphins for over twenty-one years. As the founding Director of the Cetacean Studies Institute (CSI), he shares his work with varied audiences around the world. He teaches classes, leads tours, and facilitates workshops. CSI is currently developing Dolphin-Assisted Therapy and Dolphin Wellness programs for facilities in several countries.
He is the author of: "Souls in the Sea: Dolphins, Whales and Human Destiny"; Frog Ltd; Berkeley, CA, 2003. (www.dolphintale.com)
Scott is one of our featured speakers and workshop leaders at the 2004 Living Now Expos, in Sydney, Brisbane, and Melbourne.