By Chip Richards

I still remember the moment it began. It was quite a simple moment, really. A seeming coincidence, but it remains in my mind to this day, like the first drop of a spring rain. It was in fact a rainy day on Maui, Hawaii. It was my birthday, and I was driving with my family toward the ocean from our north shore accommodation. The day had begun in rather ordinary fashion and, as we were driving, I was thinking about the year to come, and I remember saying, “Well, it just feels like something special needs to happen.” As I said this sentence – in fact at the very exact moment the word ‘special’ rolled from my mouth – a giant humpback whale launched from the water in a breach right where my eyes were fixed in the sea. I stopped the car and looked at my family… Wow. Nice timing.

This was the beginning. My wife Asheyana, our son Joshua and I had set out on a journey overseas, with one primary aim – to follow our intuition and the call of Mother Earth. Our goal was to discover how best we can serve at this time – our own soul’s yearning and the needs of this precious living planet. We had followed such a call to go live in New Zealand two years before, and now a journey was calling us onward… We traveled first to Hawaii, then up along the West coast of the US into the islands of British Columbia, Canada, and eventually all the way up to Alaska. As we listened and followed our inner promptings each step of the way, one recurring theme emerged – we continually found ourselves having synchronistic and often profoundly intimate encounters with whales. They met us in the warm waters of Maui with their young, we saw them off the Oregon and Canadian coast in pods heading north, and they greeted us in the icy waters of the Kenai Fiords in Alaska. It was only then, as we shared an excited greeting with their playful breeching in the Arctic Sea, that we realised something quiet extraordinary… Unbeknownst to us, we had just completed the entire migration trail of the Northern Hemisphere Humpbacks – at the exact same time as them! 

Shortly thereafter, we answered a yearning to come back across the Pacific, and arrived in Byron Bay, Australia – on the very last day that the Southern Hemisphere Humpbacks coasted past the point, heading south for their own summer migration. By now, we began to suspect something was up. We moved into a house near the beach – a beach we soon discovered was called ‘Dolphins’ – and the following six months we were plunged into what can only be described as a sort of ‘cetacean university’ (Cetacea is the Greek word for whales, dolphins and porpoises), as daily encounters with dolphins and whales in the water, ocean-minded people on land, and aquatic dreams at night, rapidly wove us into deep soulful learning and communion with these great sentient beings. It was as though we had entered a mystery school of the natural world, and this semester our lessons and experiences were being guided by the wisdom and energy of whales and dolphins themselves.

From indigenous elders and wisdom keepers of various cultures we began learning of the deep spiritual heritage and navigational partnership of cetaceans in ancient civilisations all around the world. From scientists we learned of their vital role in the biological balance of life on the planet (among other things, whales bring nutrients up from the deep, fertilising the phytoplankton in the sea, which just so happens to be the source of 70-80% of our oxygen on land!). From researchers we learned of the unique and incredibly advanced qualities of their senses (their high vibrational sonar used to communicate, hunt and protect; their complex speech and song patterns that mirror – and far outdo – our own classical music construct; their advanced use of mental images to communicate thoughts and ideas). From philosophers we learned of their energetic role as wisdom keepers and light weavers in the magnetic pathways of our planet, but of course the greatest lessons of all were learned by our time in and near the water, connecting with whales and dolphins directly – where, among other things, a sense of deep connection, overwhelming peace and synchronistic flow began permeating our experience.

Answering the call to flow

During our first month in Byron Bay we had so many encounters with dolphins in the wild that it felt like we were being stalked. While at first it seemed like they were simply everywhere that we were, on further reflection, we started to see a pattern in their appearances – one that coincided with our own willingness to follow moment-to-moment impulses and sparks of intuition. It seemed that whenever we made ourselves available to hear and openly answer the spontaneous call of the moment, they would meet us there. That quiet voice that calls us up from the computer mid-sentence to run down to the beach, despite the pressure of impending deadlines… that shift in breeze that makes us turn left on our beach walk, when we normally turn right… that whisper that says to stay and surf just one more wave before going in… These quiet streams of inner promptings, which can be so easily drowned out by the rivers of our busy minds, seem to be the realms in which the dolphins and whales exist and communicate. While I would not say that they are in any way predictable, it became clear that, within this realm of universal timing that operates not on logic but on alignment and flow, their timing is impeccable! The more we allowed ourselves to follow and move with that quiet voice within, the more we found ourselves in the same place at the same time, doing the same thing as the dolphins and whales. So this became one of the first clear lessons – to be willing to respond to that butterfly whisper inside, and to move boldly with the subtle waves of energy that prompt us into positive action, even when we don’t know why. The dolphins are masters of this energy. They call to that part in each of us… and they meet us there when we answer.

The other side of fear

On one particular day, I came to the beach with no real intention to connect with the dolphins, but to try and sort through a personal issue and area of my life that was causing me great disturbance. I paddled out on my surfboard just to clear my mind, and, not long after, a local pod of dolphins arrived. I paddled along with them as they moved up the beach, and for a time, my personal problem seemed to vanish, but after about ten minutes, my mind started spiraling again into fearful thoughts about the issue. Then the strangest thing happened… virtually the moment my thoughts went into this negative loop, the dolphins disappeared. I looked up and they were gone. Absolutely nowhere to be seen. I glanced back to the thin line of beach in the distance. I discovered that while I had been cruising along with the gang, they had actually led me way out to sea! Now I was alone, drifting in the big blue with nothing to keep me company but my quickly escalating negative thoughts and fears about life. Then it happened. As I peered into the water looking for the dolphins, I saw instead a large, dark ominous shape hovering just beneath my board. It appeared bronze in colour and looked to be 12-14 feet long. In my mind, I knew it was a shark. My so-called friends had brought me out here to be eaten. I froze in breathless panic… and waited for this dark form to make its move, but strangely, it just stayed there, hovering directly beneath me. After what must’ve been minutes, I finally mustered the courage to stick my head into the water and see what was going on, and there I discovered that what had appeared to be a large shark, was actually the magnified reflection of two large dolphins drifting together about eight feet beneath me in the water. From the surface their image had distorted into one single form that just so happened to reflect one of my greatest fears, but in truth, they had been there all along, holding quiet vigil beneath me as my mind went into dark places.

In this simple reflective moment, these dolphins showed me that not only was my fear not valid, but in essence, the opposite was true. Not only was I not about to be eaten, I was actually being guided through the waters by one of the ocean’s deepest and truest embodiments of peace. On reflection, I realised the exact thing was true of the personal issue I was dealing with at the time. It was just a mirage of mind. In this way, I realised something that has stayed with me ever since. When we are confronted with a fear, our mind will gladly take it to extremes, but if we have the courage to peer beneath the surface and see it for what it truly is, we almost always find that, in fact, the opposite of our greatest fear is true. Whether those fears stem from lack of worthiness, fear of not being good enough, of being rejected, of being wrong, etc., in most cases, as our mind spirals in reckless abandon imaging the worst, there is a quiet, peaceful presence hovering just below the waves, ready to reveal the higher truth. We may feel as though we are alone, that we could be eaten at any moment, but in truth we are safe, we are guided, each step of the way.

During this first six months of these daily tutorials into the ‘way of cetacea’, we learned many key lessons that applied directly to our life, and to humanity as a whole at this time – lessons about the power of the pod and collective energy of community; lessons about the importance of honouring the playful spirit of our children… and our own child within. One of the greatest gifts we received from these beings – one that we also receive from our own son Joshy on a daily basis – is their way of opening people’s hearts wherever they go, simply by being who they are. In our modern world of doing, where we are often defined by that opening question in most new conversations, “What do you do?”, dolphins and whales are masters at BEING, not trying to be anything in particular, but simply being a dolphin, playing in the waves. Their peaceful, playful presence causes a palpable wave of wonderment to sweep through all who are there to witness and partake in the moment. Within seconds of their arrival to the surface, a beach or boat-load of total strangers will suddenly feel united in open-hearted connection. What greater message can there be for us all, but to express our own unique, inner light with such freedom and joy that it naturally overflows, causing lightness, love and connection to open in others? This must be a definition of enlightenment – to radiate such positive energy that we bring out the light in others.

We have been repeatedly humbled by the way that whales and dolphins continue to go out of their way to seek connection, friendship and even to protect humans – despite the barrage of abuse they collectively receive from humanity in the forms of sound and waste pollution and direct, intentional hunting and threats on their lives. In many ways these gentle beings exemplify a Christ-like benevolence and unconditional love that virtually every spiritual path pursues. They continue to give and share and shine their gentle, vast light, no matter what is going on around them.

Singing the same song

Of all the lessons, messages and gifts we have received in our time with whales and dolphins, perhaps the most profound has to do with their song. The humpback whale song is deeply complex and poetic with verse, chorus and rhythm, and, much like human pop music, it constantly changes and evolves over time. Science has begun to scratch the surface of understanding these melodies and courting hymns, but one unexplained fact remains – even though the humpback’s song is constantly changing and the whales themselves are spread far and wide, at any given moment, all of the humpbacks of a given region are all singing the same song.

What greater metaphor could there be for humanity at this time, than to learn once again to step up and unify our voice – and sing the same song? To transcend our differences and remember the immense power we carry when we bring our thoughts, visions and energy together for the common good – in a song of creation for the world we truly wish to create.

Mother Earth is calling each of us in different ways, leading us back into communion and positive co-creation with her natural world – and with our own true nature. Whether our passion is for whales or forests or orangutans, the opportunity is the same – to come back into direct communion with the pulse of life on planet earth, to open our hearts to each other, to stand and move together, to dream and sing a new world into being.

I will close with a simple moment that reflects the gentle gift of cetaceans, and Gaia’s great invitation to us all at this time to sing our note.

It was our first day aboard the Blue Dolphin catamaran in Hervey Bay, Australia. We had come to spend time with the humpback whales as they nursed their newborn calves and courted new partners in Queensland waters. After connecting with a few playful pods during the morning, we stopped for lunch near a small pod… One whale in particular drifted on the surface about 50 metres off the side of the boat. The wind dropped as gentle waves lapped against the boat, and, for the first time, I was able to play my Native American flute. I had played this flute on a few occasions with dolphins, and had been amazed to experience their response – drawing near, spy-hopping and watching me closely from the water, but this was the first time I would have a chance to play to these great stewards of the sea, these sentient beings who, 50 million years ago, were quite possibly the first to bring song into this planet with their deeply complex underwater harmonies; songs, which unimpeded have the power to circle the entire globe in channels of liquid sound; songs, which last for up to 24 hours with verse, chorus, rhyme and rhythm; songs that travel from pod to pod, unifying all in harmony together. My single, wooden flute was hardly a match for this ancient underwater symphony, but I was willing to play my note and see what may come.

I watched the single whale drifting on the surface, taking in the vastness of its energy; then I closed my eyes and began to play. After a few notes, it responded. Disappearing underwater, the whale re-surfaced completely inverted – hanging upside down with its tail openly reaching into the sky. I continued playing, and the whale remained in this hanging position without taking a breath for over 15 minutes, slowly drifting over to the boat. By the time I finished, its massive tail was within arm’s reach of the rope railing. My family and I stood together in awed silence… unified by a deep sense of communion with each other, with this magnificent gentle giant, and with all of life. Then she gently submerged, leaving a circular ‘tail-print’ that opened like a silken ring, surrounding the entire boat with an air of peace.

I never knew exactly why this whale hovered inverted in this way as I played my flute, but recently I learned that this upside down position is actually one of the primary postures whales hold as they themselves are singing… Perhaps in this moment we were beginning to sing the ‘one song’ together.

Chip Richards is an author, speaker and co-founder of New Earth Creations (www.newearthcreations.com), PEACE in the WATER and the ONE SONG PROJECT – conscious initiatives devoted to unifying global visions and creative expressions of PEACE. To be part of the 5^th annual PEACE in the WATER world vigil this June, visit www.peaceinthewater.com or www.onesongproject.com.

He is also a screenwriter, movie producer, workshop presenter, and is the facilitator and mentor of Writing the Story Within, a 28-day online writing program run regularly on LivingNow’s CWE site. http://www.livingnow.com.au/CWE/writing-the-story-within

Imagine the whole world singing the same song… at the same time… together.

You can join the 2nd annual One Song Project on 21^st June (solstice).

What began five years ago as a simple prayer vigil to unify positive visions for the waters of our planet has grown into a globally conscious, creative initiative connecting people from over 80 nations. Join ‘Peace in the Water’ on 21^st June as tribes and families come together around the globe to sing a new song, a song of peace and creation, sung into the waters of our living planet! We’re all in this together.

www.peaceinthewater.com ~ www.onesongproject.com