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OPINION AND EDITORIAL | |
THE 100th MONKEY: WHY INDIVIDUAL AWARENESS MATTERS
February 04, 2010
 The Japanese monkey Macaca fuscata has been observed in the wild for decades. This then is trhe "100th monkey." CLICK TO ENLARGE
Have you wondered how America, the richest, biggest, baddest country on the face of the earth could allow a barbaric system where close to 45,000 American women, men and children die every year for lack of access to decent medical care when every other modern nation on earth would never dare allow such an inhumane thing to happen?
That body count of almost 45,000 is the equivalent, by the way, of FOUR 9/11 attacks in America every three months.
Who hasn’t wondered many times how in the world one person could make any kind of a difference against the weight of all that negative energy floating around?
It is during such times of despair it is good to recall the story of the 100th monkey.
The tale of the 100th monkey is a proven scientific axiom that has to do with individual awareness and what that can mean for positive change in the world.
It means when a certain critical number of individuals in a group achieves an awareness of something, this new awareness may be communicated from mind to mind in ways we do not understand.
And this communication then grows until there is mass awareness and thus the momentum for great social change.
Although the exact number may vary, the Hundredth Monkey Phenomenon means that when only a limited number of people know of a “new way” to do something - approach a long standing problem for example - it may remain the consciousness property of these people…for a while.
But there is a tipping point at which if only one more person tunes-in to a new awareness – the “100th monkey," as you shall read about shortly - a field is strengthened so that this awareness reaches almost everyone!
Here then is the story of the Hundredth Monkey
The Japanese monkey, Macaca fuscata, has been observed in the wild for decades.
In 1952, on the island of Koshima scientists were providing monkeys with sweet potatoes dropped in the sand. The monkeys liked the taste of the raw sweet potatoes, but they found the dirt unpleasant.
An 18-month-old female named Imo found she could solve the problem by washing the potatoes in a nearby stream. She taught this trick to her mother. Her playmates also learned this new way and they taught their mothers, too.
The cultural innovation was gradually picked up by various monkeys before the eyes of the scientists.
Between 1952 and 1958, all the young monkeys learned to wash the sandy sweet potatoes to make them more palatable.
Only the adults who imitated their children learned this social improvement. Other adults kept eating the dirty sweet potatoes.
Then something startling took place. In the autumn of 1958, a certain number of Koshima monkeys were washing sweet potatoes – the exact number is not known.
Let us suppose that when the sun rose one morning there were 99 monkeys on Koshima Island who had learned to wash their sweet potatoes.
Let’s further suppose that later that morning, “the hundredth monkey” learned to wash potatoes.
THEN IT HAPPENED!!
By that evening almost everyone in the tribe was washing sweet potatoes before eating them.
The added energy of this hundredth monkey somehow created an ideological breakthrough!
But notice. The most surprising thing observed by these scientists was that the habit of washing sweet potatoes had actually jumped over the sea to another island to infect a different group of monkeys who knew nothing about washing the potatoes and had never been taught the technique.
Colonies of monkeys on other islands and the mainland troop of monkeys at Takasakiyama began washing their sweet potatoes!
So the tale of the 100th monkey teaches us this: when a certain critical number achieves an awareness, this new awareness may be communicated from mind to mind.
Although the exact number may vary, the Hundredth Monkey Phenomenon means that when only a limited number of people know of a new way, it may remain the consciousness property of these people.
But there is a point at which if only one more person tunes-in to a new awareness, a field is strengthened so that this awareness reaches almost everyone!
And is that not just too much for tee-vee or what?
Excerpted from “The Hundredth Monkey” by Ken Keyes, Jr. 1981: pg 10-17
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