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"...the lives and deaths of whales have played important roles in human history. The lessons we have learned from dolphins have shaped our lives. There is something deeply important about the cetacean family. We may not yet know all the reasons, the facts of the matter, the why or how, but the evidence of history and of personal experience shows us that we must treat them with the utmost respect." (p.260) "Souls in the Sea: Dolphins, Whales and Human Destiny", by Scott Taylor, Frog Ltd, 2003
Over twenty years ago I heard a legend, and it changed my life. Called the Legend of the Golden Dolphin, it unveiled an esoteric mystery, revealing the influence that whales and dolphins have had over the development of humans and human culture. The Legend asserted that this was not an ancient story, but a living legend, one that is still unfolding today.
Over the ensuing years my life was redirected into following this intriguing idea. I founded the Cetacean Studies Institute in 1996 to make my work more public and now have published "Souls in the Sea: Dolphins,Whales and Human Destiny" to share my discoveries with a wider audience.
Research shows a westward movement of influence, first coming from the most ancient of all continents, Australia. There, aboriginal cultures hold stories from the Dreamtime that evoke images of iridescent whales arriving from the stars to help shape the world and make the air that we breath. From there, moving westward, we find pre-deluge tales from India, including that of the first incarnation of Vishnu, Matsya Avatar, who appeared as a dolphin. In Sumeria and Egypt water-born gods taught humanity the arts of civilization. In Golden Greece, Apollo came as a dolphin to establish the Oracle of Delphi. And then came Dag (Son of the Fish), the prophesied teacher of the Jews. Jesus was a water master, healer and fisher of men. Today he is still symbolized by the form of the dolphin.
To quote my book--"Animism, shamanism, Goddess worship, patriarchal churches, beliefs in impersonal or personal gods, and even the agnostic systems of science itself have all received revelations from dolphins. Odd, almost amphibious beings, with minds that both receive our thoughts and send us unequivocal messages, they have been central to many of our deepest discoveries." (p.4)
"...the Dolphin Story illuminates a process of awakening in humankind. I have chosen to call the movement of deepening self-awareness the "Delphic Wave." The subtle forms of the Wave have had their effect at a scale much larger than single lives, gradually altering us generation by generation...One could say that the Delphic Wave awakened both the human heart and the human mind...Slipping behind the stage-sets of history, we can recognize the dolphin influence as a silent, floating, gentle spirit, providing whatever each human culture most needed at the time. Looking at past eras with dolphins and whales in one´s mind, we see that they have left a trail, a liquid map for us to follow." (p.xxxiv-xxxv)
The liquid trail led to the whales, and the abundance of the teeming oceans. Whaling came at the same time that the turn from the rational mind toward faith was instituted by the Christian church, and we entered the holocaust centuries, when we killed mercilessly, extracting oils to illuminate the Enlightenment and lubricate the Industrial age.
When petroleum replaced whale oil in the late 1800s, we began the gradual climb out of the darkness of those years. Now, whales are far more valuable alive than they ever were as rendered oil, or buggy whips, or the glycerine used to make dynamite. Today, over $1billion US is spent worldwide, watching whales. Over 500 communities around the world earn substantial revenues from taking people to sea to simply look at whales and dolphins.
Today, millions of people appreciate the wonder of whales, the grace of dolphins. Many have come to this by seeing them in Oceanariums, theme parks and science centers. Well over a quarter of a million people a year now go to dolphin-swim facilities to encounter these extraordinary beings up-close, looking deeply into their eyes. We have come a long way in a short time.
For many, the question of captivity is a vexing one. It is hard to see a creature we know to be the embodiment of freedom, full of the exuberance of life, confined to a pool. Yet, when we closely examine the situation, we find that some dolphins particularly love to be among humans. The nature of freedom must be carefully defined if we are to discover a middle path here. As shown to me by numerous dolphins, freedom is a state of mind, not a condition of the physical body. In the final analysis, it is human responsibility to provide living environments for them that is commensurate with their status as exceptional beings, Ambassadors from another kingdom.
Despite our misgivings about how well we provide for them, they demonstrate daily their delight at being among us, playing and working with us.
Did I say working? Yes, they work with us. As was made evident during the war in Iraq, dolphins have been trained to do work for the military, searching for underwater objects.
They are effective at this, no doubt, but it is a questionable use of such special beings. At the Republican convention in 1996, in San Diego, dolphins were deployed as sentinels in the harbor to detect possible terrorist activities. San Diego plays a critical role in this abuse of their friendship, as the US military dolphin program is based in its harbor. In the past, dolphins were trained to hunt for enemy divers, to kill them. This program, whose existence has been denied by the Navy, was unsuccessful, due to the dolphin´s inability to know the difference between friend and foe.
Where their working alongside us does not have such troubling dimensions is in the field of Dolphin-Assisted Therapy (DAT).
Simply put, DAT is dolphins working alongside human therapists, helping people whose lives are less than what they could be. This is the newest gift they are offering us, and the implications are astounding.
One of the special areas of CSI´s research has been DAT. We have travelled to many of the facilities where this occurs, interviewed many of the principles in the field, spent time with families whose children have received DAT, and observed many hours of sessions. Something quite outside the range we call "normal" is going on−the means by which dolphins investigate their surroundings, locating themselves, exploring, finding food and communicating with one another is often called echolocation. This is an oversimplification of what they are doing. They are creating intense waves of sound, both below and above human hearing, that can be controlled to a fine degree
1. a dolphin can produce over 4 times the amount of acoustic power, with its natural ultrasound system, that we use in hospitals to shatter kidney stones.
2. a dolphin can shape the waves of sound it sends from its melon (forehead) from a wide fan to a narrow beam
3. a dolphin can "see" with sound, discriminating between various substances with exacting precision
4. a dolphin can "see" the insides of a human being, following the speed of the heartbeat, the quantity of air in the lungs and the movement of adrenaline
5. dolphins have never, in all of history, been known to intentionally harm a human using their sonic powers. Only in a few isolated incidents, under questionable circumstances, has a human been hurt by a dolphin.
Combining these elements, we see something amazing−dolphins are very capable of diagnosing and treating human ailments. They do so willingly, without prompting, seemingly as a natural response to the need itself. And, people feel relief from pain; find the ability to concentrate (which enables autistic people to begin to learn, speak, and interact); and discover hidden emotional triggers within themselves, leading to epiphanies. Lives are changed, quite often, as the result of dolphin encounters.
DAT was developed in the 1980s by several doctors, in Florida. Dr. Dave Nathanson, who is considered to be the father of this therapy, continues to provide DAT. He reports having treated over 80 different conditions, most of which involve challenges to the central nervous system. Autism is the most frequently treated condition, and has been highly responsive to the interaction between therapist, trainer, and dolphin.
I was deeply moved watching the sessions of a nine-year-old autistic girl at Island Dolphin Care (islanddolphincare.com), in Key Largo, several years ago. As she opened up and began looking around her, it was evident that she wanted to make contact with the dolphins and those who were in the water with her. It was the first time she had ever spoken when she asked to go back in the water.
In Russia, it has been reported that dolphins are teaching deaf children to hear. In Israel, dolphins are helping emotionally disturbed people to gain balance and function in their lives. Down´s Syndrome people have been helped to learn at rates four times faster then previously, after DAT sessions.
We do not understand the mechanisms of this. Far too little research has been done on this, few professional scientists and medical practitioners have been willing to put their reputations on the line to prove how it works, while every day the list grows longer of disabled children who can suddenly hear, speak, and reach out to touch their world.
Our contemplation of the dolphins and whales leads us to spiritual questions about who they are, what their role in the scheme of life might be, and who we are. Ask anyone who has had the chance to look deeply into the eye of a dolphin or a whale, and they will tell you of the mystery they have encountered, the awareness that looks back at us. Who are they? Who are we?
"The ancient dolphin-inspired key of self-knowledge unlocks the gate onto the path of the greater Self, the interdependent Whole. The intuitive voice, the inner kingdom, the divine spirit in humankind−this is the gift the cetaceans offer us, and we have had it all along." (p. 262)
"History, science, and personal experiences by the tens of thousands lead us to an irreducible conclusion, that dolphins and whales are highly evolved creatures with attributes that place them in a special category. These attributes indicate the presence of an embodied soul, aware of itself in its limited biological form, a rare and precious state. On our planet this advanced state is shared by humans and cetaceans alone. All other life forms are still advancing toward self-awareness and the full appearance of the soul. It is this self-awareness that brings the divine, the spiritual essence of a being, into the realm of living, breathing, and organic life. Throughout history, as we have shown, the idea of self-awareness has been associated with the dolphin. Matsya Avatar, Oannes, Apollo, Jesus, and many indigenous traditions point to the path of enlightened self-awareness as the way to attain the promise of human destiny." (p. 265-6)
It is time for us to accept them as Souls, evolved Beings almost entirely different from us, who have inalienable rights and whose differences cannot be allowed to make them second to us in any way.
"It is human destiny to have hands, to be the Wise Apes who can make things, change environments, and understand and manipulate the hidden side of physical existence. If we are to be joined into a conscious partnership, it is human responsibility that must step up to the necessary standards and create healthy, safe, beautiful environments where both species can interact in comfort. We are only part way there." (p. 220)
Dolphins and whales embody the success stories of our planet. Humans are still struggling to find our way, to become fully human and to find a way to sustain ourselves.
We have teachers and benevolent guides watching us from the sea. We need only turn to them to begin learning our final lessons. As we discover the timeless truths of nature, and begin to design our lives along the lines of permaculture−which respects the wisdom of traditional people while using modern technologies to design and implement sustainable systems of living− we are following the path they have shown us. Theirs is the path that completes the Sacred Hoop of life.
The path of self-awareness leads to the Great Self, whose intrinsic plans, hidden in nature, can lead us to our success as Earth beings. This is the "Way of the Dolphin", the deep truth of the wise souls in the sea.
"I believe that today's world is just as affected by the esoteric influence of whales and dolphins as it was in ancient times. Cetaceans have inhabited this planet much, much longer than we have, and they possess a deep wisdom about how to live sustainably and joyfully. We have never been more in need of this message." (p.xxxvi)
© Scott Taylor, 2003
Scott Taylor has followed the liquid trail of the dolphins for twenty years. His background as a yogi, artist, teacher and school founder, father and husband, along with his extensive travels and life-long interest in history, prepared him well for his role as a Legendarian.
He combines his dolphin and human research with his skills as an educator, artist and performer. As the Director of the Cetacean Studies Institute, 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 programs for facilities in several countries.
He lives in Coffs Harbour, Australia.
(see www.dolphintale.com for more information)
"Souls in the Sea: Dolphins, Whales and Human Destiny" is published by Frog Ltd, of Berkeley, California and is available at "The Booktree" on Adam´s Ave. in San Diego, or from www.northatlanticbooks.com