Change : 100 Monkeys

Whether you believe the ‘theory’ of the 100th monkey or not,
it is nevertheless true that together,
we can cause the tipping point (for the betterment of the world),
it is nevertheless true that individually,
we can facilitate the tipping too.
Collective karma IS made up of individual karma. 

The question is…
will you be the another ‘monkey’ who waits too long to change,
or will you be an ‘advanced’ human who joins the (r)evolution?
 

The 100th Monkey:  A Story about Social Change
By Ken Keyes Jr.

The Japanese monkey, Macaca Fuscata, had been observed in the wild for a period of over 30 years. In 1952, on the island of Koshima, scientists were providing monkeys with sweet potatoes dropped in the sand. The monkey 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. This 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: A most surprising thing observed by these scientists was that the habit of washing sweet potatoes then jumped over the sea…Colonies of monkeys on other islands and the mainland troop of monkeys at Takasakiyama began washing their sweet potatoes.

Thus, when a certain critical number achieves an awareness, this new awareness may be communicated from mind to mind. Although the exact number may vary, this Hundredth Monkey Phenomenon means that when only a limited number of people know of a new way, it may remain the conscious 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 is picked up by almost everyone!

4 thoughts on “Change : 100 Monkeys

  1. In short, it’s the theory that when enough mindsets change, a flood of similar changes will take place globally. The problem is that it this is true, it’s uncertain what this threshold is for a certain matter. But it doesn’t really matter – we just need to do what we can in the moment, and hope that it helps to make up this threshold.

    A small group of thoughtful people could change the world.
    Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.

    – Margaret Mead

    Related Article:
    http://moonpointer.com/index1.php?itemid=2018

  2. Yup, includes that. Here are some related thoughts –

    ‘The biggest challenge facing civilisation and globalisation is a moral one, not a political one. And it is a collective problem as much as it is a personal one. Just as [Al] Gore attempts to spread his message city by city, person by person, to accumulate support to make up the threshold needed for reversing the situation, we too need to make up the critical mass. If we are not of the positive critical mass, we make up the other critically wrong mass that is bound for mass destruction.

    We the masses can be weapons of mass destruction too. Political terrorism is not the only global problem. We are terrorists too – of the planet’s life itself. A big problem is that many think they are not part of the problem, or that they can’t be part of the solution. Truth is, if you do not become part of the solution, you are probably part of the problem. Since the solution takes every effort [or as much efforts as possible], every effort counts.’

    From http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=12,3447,0,0,1,0 😮

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