Compassion and the Hundredth Monkey

An article by Daniel Ferrera.

I chose this article in part because it utilizes and fully explains the "Hundredth Monkey" concept....an idea that suggests we really CAN change the world one person at a time. ~Kim


The Compassion Experiment


This is the simplest yet most powerful thing we can do each day to CHANGE THE WORLD in which we all live.

1) Each and EVERY DAY, commit at least one act of compassion to another person and/or living thing. For example, if you see a worm dying on the sidewalk, pick it up and put it somewhere where it will survive and wish it well. If you see someone in need, help them or at the very minimum, mentally bless them or make a wish that the get the help they need.

2) When you look upon people that causes you to judge them, STOP YOURSELF and instead wish them PEACE & HAPPINESS. Have COMPASSION for Everyone and Everything ALL THE TIME.

3) Print this out and read it everyday so that you make it a daily habit.

4) Email these instructions to everyone in your address book and have a few extra printed copies you can give to people after you generate some interest in this unique experiment. You can easily generate interest by understanding “WHY” this will work and how wonderful the final outcome will be. Besides, we all want to be better anyway.

How This Should Work

Remote Shared Learning – The mysterious phenomenon where knowledge, behavior or knowing is passed on or transmitted somewhat like radio waves to the consciousness of similar species without direct teaching or contact.

Example 1: One very famous example of this “remote shared learning” phenomenon occurred in Britain where for nearly 100-years the milkmen have delivered bottles of milk at the doors of the homeowners in the darkness of the early morning. In 1921, the first incidence of a small bird (a blue tit) opening the top cap of one of these milk bottles was recorded in the small town of Southampton. By 1937, eleven additional species of birds had duplicated this same activity and it spread to 89 different cities in England. Then, a critical jump occurred “everywhere”. Suddenly, blue tits in Sweden, Denmark and Holland began to attack and open milk bottles. It was absolutely impossible that this could have been a learned behavior or something that these birds witnessed or observed. To further complicate this mystery, milk bottles were not even used in Holland during the years of World War II and where not reintroduced until 1947. None of the blue tits alive then could have ever even seen a milk bottle. Yet as soon as the bottles reappeared, they were attacked and opened by the blue tit species of bird.

Example 2: Another known story of this shared learning occurred off the coast of Japan on the island of Koshima in the year 1952. Scientists were studying the behavior of some local monkeys (Macaca fuscata). They began feeding these monkeys by dropping sweet potatoes on the sand, which made them difficult and somewhat unpleasant to eat. One female monkey they called “Imo”, learned to wash the potatoes in the ocean to get the sand off before eating them. She began teaching this specific behavior to her friends and relatives and pretty soon many members of this band of monkeys were duplicating Imo’s food washing behavior. Then, just like the birds in England a critical point was reached and every monkey in the entire tribe began washing their food. Amazed by this phenomenon, the scientists reported their observation. At the very same time, another group of scientists at Takasakiyama on the distant mainland noticed a very odd and eerie phenomenon: Suddenly, all the Macaca fuscata monkeys they were observing had begun to wash their food in the ocean too!

Example 3: Scientists have also proven that “knowing” or learned behavior can somehow be passed on to future generations. When they studied a group of mice and had them learn a complicated maze to find food, the first generation of mice took more than 300 attempts to master the maze. The next generation who were kept completely separate from the first group of mice learned and mastered the maze in only 160 attempts. The generation after this learned it in 70 attempts and their offspring mastered it in 17 attempts even though they were NEVER allowed to learn it from their parents.

As a common species (human), we too share in a type of shared remote learning. Just look at all the crazy fads and behaviors that catch on and spread across the globe. If we each practice compassion every day, then soon it will reach a critical mass and everyone on the entire planet will begin practicing compassion as well. You cannot force someone to change externally, but by consistently making yourself a better human being each day, you are influencing everyone in the entire world to also take on this same behavior. Compassion is at the heart of all the worlds’ religions but regardless of your religious beliefs practice and share this information with everyone you come in contact with. I implore you to PLEASE take part in the greatest scientific experiment ever attempted by any man.

COMPASSION