Revive the empathy

With so much evidence that animals are beings who react to the emotion and energy displayed by other creatures including humans, why are we not learning?

In our current world it is not accepted that a reptile can withdraw venom from a human, just as it is not accepted that animals can transfer their thoughts accurately to humans whether they be elephants or panthers. This is one of the greatest lamentations of the world as we have made it and declared as ‘developed.’ We continue to steal from animals their habitat labelling them to be ‘rogues’ (e.g. rogue elephant) when they protest violently by breaking free from confines. We have sealed our brains to think that it is only humans who matter and closed up our hearts to not feel the pain we see in animals as inflicted by us

By Surya Vishwa 

Last week we featured a type of story that rarely gets into our modern day mass media. We devoted this page to unravel an ancient skill of communication with animals telepathically, today known as interspecies communication. We wrote in our introduction about South African conservationist and animal communicator Anna Breytenbach known for interacting with varied living beings including baboons, whales, smallest of fish who gather in large numbers whenever she visits the seas, birds and her most well-known saga of ‘speaking with’ a formerly abused, extremely anti-social and dangerous Black Leopard, a species commonly also referred to as Panther.

We narrated the YouTube documented evidence of her communication with this animal, now known as Spirit, in a South African ethical sanctuary which had rescued him from a bad zoo. One of the first things this animal had mentioned to Anna is that he disliked the first name that he had been given by humans – diablo – which he felt was linked with darkness and disliked also the inference to being diabolical. Thereafter he was called Spirit. An interested reader could easily get the related videos on YouTube and be comprehensively educated on the subject of animal communication and the immense impact this has on both animals and humans. 

Our main story last week was about two Sri Lankan based animal communicators – Dunja and Saha who use their skill towards prompting sensitive solutions to the Human Elephant Conflict (HEC) in Sri Lanka (https://www.ft.lk/harmony_page/Listening-to-the-elephants-integrating-interspecies-communication-into-solving-human-elephant-conflict/10523-774899).

Why are we mentioning this again? Firstly because it is worth repeating, in order to sensitise and clarify our understanding about the fellow earthlings that occupy this planet with us. Secondly, because it lays a foundation to what we are going to discuss as our topic for this week; the indigenous in knowledge. We thereby place below one of our earliest writings, way back in 2019 where we discussed the limitless nature of knowledge and referred to a true story, the kind of which we never hear today.

Below we publish excerpts of the story, titled ‘Dire need to resurrect our indigenous knowledge’ published on Saturday, 3 August, 2019 in the Harmony Page. The paragraph we quote below under the following sub-headline as it was published; 

A story that would baffle the modern world 

“The recalling of the following true story to a group of Western educated Lankan scholars got me a few cold stares and the muted muttered response of ‘Mumbo Jumbo’ by one of them. This completely true story however would show us how connected we were to all that lived in earth before modern purported knowledge completely brainwashed us. The story dates back about 40 years ago and was told by a still living relative of a middle aged woman who had got bitten by a snake in a rural Lankan village and died. 

At a time when bodies were not cut up and embalmed the body was in the process of being taken for burial on the third day after demise when an old man in a loin cloth, typically looking like a farmer had been at the side of the road watching the funeral procession. He had then inquired from one of the grieving relatives as to the cause of death. On being told it was a snake bite, the man had said that he could try to bring the woman to life if he is given about an hour. The relatives had agreed. 

Subsequently the body was removed from the coffin and laid on the ground. The snake bite had been on one of the toes of the woman. To check whether the woman could be resurrected or not the man had kept his thumb on the forehead, between the eyes of the woman and spoken something softly.

The man had then instructed the relatives to go cut down some plantain trees and from the point of the snake bitten toe of the woman, to the location of where she was bitten, to lay the tree trunks, covering the top with plantain trunk sheaths. The relatives were instructed not to panic or make a noise if they see any movement of the plantain trunks. Soon after the tasks instructed being carried out, there had been movement of the plantain trunks twice, where the snake had answered the summon of the old man and arrived to retake its poison from the woman and then departed under cover of the plantain sheaths. 

The woman had opened her eyes and soon after taken to the old man’s medicinal hut to administer full treatment and within a week she was restored to her normal health and had apparently, according to her relative, who told the story, lived up to her eighties.” 

This story that refers to ancient knowledge comes under the Visa Wedakam (venom treatment) genre of indigenous medicine. This above story as a whole shows us the deep connection we once had with the other creatures that co-exist with us and which we have now seemed to have forever lost. If you wish to read the entire analysis that examines the parameters of knowledge you could access it here: (https://www.ft.lk/other-sectors/Dire-need-to-resurrect-our-indigenous-knowledge/57-683227).

What we have described above was how humans managed to exist with other beings, even poisonous reptiles and used interspecies communication to appeal for a venomous snake to withdraw its sting and give back a human its life. In our current world it is not accepted that a reptile can withdraw venom from a human, just as it is not accepted that animals can transfer their thoughts accurately to humans whether they be elephants or panthers. 

This is one of the greatest lamentations of the world as we have made it and declared as ‘developed.’ We continue to steal from animals their habitat labelling them to be ‘rogues’ (e.g. rogue elephant) when they protest violently by breaking free from confines. We have sealed our brains to think that it is only humans who matter and closed up our hearts to not feel the pain we see in animals as inflicted by us. 

Paradigm shift in consciousness

Do we not need a major paradigm shift in consciousness?

If we agree that we do, the first thing we have to recognise is that we have whittled our world of modern science to a cocoon from which we have blocked our vision of the past. We have turned a blind eye to how humans shared their living space with animals for the 4.543 billion years that this world has been in existence and the skills that would have been mandatory for survival. 

Earlier this year we published about the plight of the Henanigala Aaadi Vaasis (ancient people of Sri Lanka; the Veddhas) and previously we have written in detail about the plight of the Dambana Veddha community. 

https://www.ft.lk/harmony_page/Narratives-from-Henanigala/10523-772197

https://www.ft.lk/harmony_page/The-forest-the-oldest-university-of-the-world/10523-760361

https://www.ft.lk/harmony_page/Relevance-of-Adi-Vasis-to-our-modern-times/10523-759830

Even a cursory glance at the above stories will show one key factor. That rather than respect and acknowledge the indigenous people of Sri Lanka for their vast knowledge pertaining to the natural world, that we have in our petty pride moulded them to be disoriented, sickly, poor, fragmented versions of ourselves, cutting them off from the roots of the earth.

We have highlighted previously that the main thing that children of the indigenous people learn in school is to be ashamed of their lineage, taught that what their ancestors know is primitive. This is the dilemma of aboriginal communities. They are dictated to by those who have cut the umbilical cord long ago with the earth and its creatures. Therefore modern man has a superiority unlike his ancestors. It is this superiority that prevents him from admitting that other inhabitants of the earth that co-share this space with humans have their own voice, their own thoughts and thereby their right to ask to live with dignity, as per their choice, as the elephants had expressed to Dunja and Saha. As the Black Leopard had expressed to Anna Breytenbach and as countless animals have appealed to other interspecies communicators across the world. 

In speaking with both captive and wild elephants in Sri Lanka Dunja and Saha had gathered so many heart wrenching messages from these majestic creatures.

Let us extract some of these from our last edition. 

“The wound in my back left leg is not healing for 4 months because I am tied in one place and I stand on my urine.”

“I had 2 miscarriages. That trauma still hurts the left side of my body. I am still very sad about that loss.”

“I need to walk. I do not like to be tied down like this. Tell the humans to separate this area for us to walk.”

“I am ok to interact with humans at this place. I am also ok to interact with other elephants here. But I also want to be by myself, and I do not wish to interact with humans or other elephants. I want my time to be by myself.”

“I am worried about my mahout. I know when he comes in a bad mood. He is into drugs and alcohol because his wife ran away with another man.”

These are some of the information transferred to the minds of Dunja and Saha by the elephants they interacted with. 

Lack of selfishness

In researching interspecies communication, one of the things that surfaces from many of these humans who get permitted to the minds of animals is the lack of selfishness they display. 

As Saha pointed out: “In almost all the animal interaction that I have had, it is the fact that they are more concerned about the humans they come into regular contact with. A cat, a dog or a horse would often explain accurately the sadness or anxiety that their owner would be going through. Their primary concern, even when their lives are threatened, as in the case of elephants, is the wellbeing of their caretakers. This displays a selflessness that is extraordinary when compared to most humans.” 

Animal communicators observe that animals are more empathetic than humans. They have feelings of deep caring and they can differentiate the ages of humans such as children, adults and older persons and thereby act befittingly. In recorded footages such as those taken in the jungles and spaces where animals freely hunt and live, there are many instances seen where predators who hunt other animals, letting go of their meal when they notice that the animal they are about to devour is pregnant. There are also footages where predators who notice that there are very young offspring orphaned, that they bring them up – a baby deer being brought up by lionesses is one of the many examples. If one wishes to search out these recorded videos there are scores across the internet. 

While we have to get into the womb of cyberspace to witness these footages which are results of few hidden cameras or documentaries, our ancestors experienced these occurrences in their everyday lives. Thereby they were well aware that creatures of the wild were equipped with a consciousness equal to humans and possibly surpassing in sensitivity. 

In our obsession for more and more land to build our brick lives we have taken away the territories of our fellow creatures and we have over centuries lost our interaction with them. What those such as Anna, Saha and Dunja retain today is a skill that was common to our ancient forefathers who witnessed first-hand the Oneness of life. 

Let us ask ourselves a basic question. How did ancient mystics, sages and monks live in forests if they could not empathise and communicate through their minds with the diverse creatures who had no issues with sharing the forests with these holy personages? 

We have heard how a cobra protected the Buddha from a storm. Renowned Thai Buddhist monk, Ven. Ajahn Chah lived in cobra and tiger infested jungles of Thailand for years. Ven. Ajahn Brahm in one of his books states how Ven. Ajahn Chah used to greet the deadly king cobra with a friendly pat on the head murmuring ‘thank you for visiting me’ as most other junior monks used to watch motionless.

With so much evidence that animals are beings who react to the emotion and energy displayed by other creatures including humans, why are we not learning? To digress, it should be pertinent to mention that our ancient forefathers interacted not just with animals but also with all forms of plant-life which also display emotion which is why our ancestors never felled a tree without strong reason and asked forgiveness from the tree prior. 

Points of ideation

Thereby below are few points of ideation. These will help us to think through how to research, understand, promote and use these knowledge in the general sphere of life, to give credibility to a term which we use often; ‘sustainability.’ 

We urge policy makers, those affiliated to educational institutes and environmentalists to think through what is cited:

1. Create education enclosures involving nature, not brick and cement.

2. Create forest gardens in schools where children are encouraged to study the ensuing biodiversity.

3. Allow children to spend large amounts of time amidst these forests that can be grown easily.

4. Get children and teachers to be exposed to animal communicators by watching relevant videos and interacting with interspecies communicators in Sri Lanka.

5. Consider having these interspecies communicators to talk to children about their experiences with animals. 

6. Allow children time, space and the relevant information to learn about the sensitive nature of animals. 

7. Transform the Sri Lankan zoo into an ethical animal sanctuary where animals have freedom and comfort.

8. Involve interspecies communicators in assisting to minimise human-animal conflict, especially relating to elephants. 

9. Encourage research that is authentic on work done by animal communicators across the world.

10. Introduce Indigenous Knowledge into the school syllabus in Sri Lanka. 

11. Expose children to internet based information on indigenous communities across the world and encourage children to commence their own research on the knowledge held by these different communities.

12. Encourage children to speak up on realities they see concerning animals such as elephants and develop empathy about what these animals face at the hands of humans.