Consciousness & Being Right.

Tuesday 26 Jan 2016

A recent news item from the Daily Mail site about a Kangaroo showing emotion by cradling and trying to lift his female partner, who had just died, and the events that followed has prompted this Blog. Evan Switzer, a man from Queensland, sat with the kangaroos for about an hour and took photos.  Two of them are below.

Mr Switzer had assumed he was looking at a family and described the way the male tried to stand the female up, sometimes chasing other kangaroos off “in a protective way” but described a feeling of sadness and pathos as the male kangaroo tried to come to terms with what had happened He said 'The young one looked kind of confused, it would stand by the mother and then hop off and chew some grass, and then come right back again.'

All of the above was Evan Switzer’s story and describes the way he saw what happened, however if you check the feed around this story now you will find that Evan’s view has been completely denigrated. Scientists and others, who were not there, have moved to undermine his apparent anthropomorphism. They say the male kangaroo was trying to stand the female to mate with it! The underlying sentiment that comes from this comment is that animals do not mourn; it is not an animal characteristic. The vitriol in the commentary shows how important it is for the commentators to “be right”. Holding a scientific frame around this story to achieve the status of “Being Right,” is apparently more important than allowing Mr Switzer to have the beauty and truth he saw. Reading his original story reveals that Mr Switzer saw and felt real love in action.

Humanity has long underestimated the consciousness of animals. De Carte did not even believe they had consciousness. It was and is convenient to think this way to justify what we do to animals, but modern research is starting to show beyond a doubt that animals have consciousness and more and more we are seeing the possibility of them being self-reflective. Certainly some apes have an external concept of themselves as do Whales and Dolphins. According to Wikipedia Elephants can recognise themselves in a mirror and the Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness states, "near human-like levels of consciousness" have been observed in the African Gray Parrot. (Check the internet for stories of Alex the Parrot). Those of us that have been close to birds and chickens know how emotional and clever they are. This is to say nothing about our dogs and cats, many of which have saved their owners lives by sounding alarms or getting help in sometimes brave and heart rending circumstances.

Consider this poem written and read by the actor James Stewart:

I am sure you will agree that it is a beautiful and emotional poem about his deceased dog named Beau. But will the way he read the dogs psyche sit well with the intellectual community with his  descriptions of Beau’s practice of “staring and sighing ” when he came to his bed some nights, with James seeing “fear of the dark and of life” in his dogs being? Is it more anthropometrism? But then --- does it really matter who is right? Perception is always a very slippery thing.

There is a story that I saw on television some time back about a boy who had been lost in sub zero temperatures at night in the American wilderness. Everyone thought he would surely be dead, but in fact he was found quite OK the next morning. He said he had “slept with the Moose’s”. He took his rescuers to a place under a tree where he said he had slept with the Moose and they found bare ground imprints in the snow that were consistent with Moose having  laid there. The Moose’s body warmth had saved his life. This should not have happened but apparently it did. The consciousness of the both species found harmony on that particular night. Incredible stories like this abound in the literature and they are brushed off because intellectually we think we know better, and animals are just not that conscious.

Here is an unusual insight into cows --- what are they thinking?

Every one of us, including the animals and all beings both seen and unseen have their own stream of consciousness. We are all different and have our own way of seeing the world. The movements in our mind that give us our individual perception are based on what we have experienced before and what we expect to happen in the future. This perception conditions and leads to our feelings and emotions. We all play a part in holding the world up into what we experience. At times some peoples individual insights affect what it is we are holding up in a much greater way than the insights of others that may play out with lesser significance at a given time, but it is all significant and all interacting in a very profound and complex way. All streams of consciousness have their place. It is this consciousness and the way it moves that creates our world.

Humanity’s ability to self-reflect and gain a perspective from outside the consciousness of our own individual mind stream is what makes a human being so special. The Buddha said that, with practice in the right way, it allows the human condition to see deeply and become enlightened. He taught his disciples to know and understand what still consciousness is. This subtlety allows the human condition to know and be mindful of the fungible nature of consciousness. How it allows interaction at the same time that is unifying. A real quantum mechanical conundrum that is highlighted by the Buddha’s words when he said “Enlighten yourself and you Enlighten the entire world”.  Knowing the world from the perspective of stillness allows us to live an extraordinary but ordinary “mundane life” at the highest of our ability potential and sets us up with wisdom and mindfulness to see this still consciousness finish. The Buddha called it “Cessation”. When the still consciousness finishes the Buddha says we see from the “Supra Mundane”, witnessing the completion of our lives with no potential for rebirth ---to move into Nibbana at our death.

Being right in the realm of conscious is not so important. Far better to be kind and inclusive!  Far better to treat all people, animals and beings with respect and kindness! To live in harmony and with joy so we can honour and understand the consciousness we all live with.