“The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.” ~ Einstein
Fluid, gorgeous little creatures – like winged angels of the sea. Thatʼs how these precious bite-sized beings, the size of a babyʼs fingernail, appeared to Sven Huseby when he first saw them. Sven, a gem of a grandfather, at once discovers them, falls in love at first blush, and upon learning theyʼre at risk of extinction – to the possible detriment of all aquatic life – becomes committed to them. What to do? Yesterday was the global premiere of A Sea Change, a breath-takingly beautiful and powerful film about the seriousness of the current oceanic conditions on the planet. Brilliantly conceived and directed by Barbara Ettinger, weʼre made privy to a long, lovingly shared conversation between Sven (also the filmʼs producer and Ettingerʼs husband) and his seven year old grandson, Elias, the image of innocence and curiosity.
We learn that salmon feed upon the pteropods as they begin their journey to spawn. We then learn that that the protective shell of these innocent, mesmerizing sea-beings begins to decompose within days of being developed, due to the rising acidity and changing pH of the sea, caused by all the carbon emissions that land in our planetary waters. The gravity of the situation can no longer be ignored. These humble little things are the canaries in the aquatic coal mines. As they die off, the entire thalassic ecosystem begins to tumble like winding, inter-twining rows of dominoes that have lived in a mostly balanced, homeostatic state for thousands of years. As go the pteropods, so go the ocean fish….all of them, so goes a multi-billion dollar industry that has supported millions of families world-wide for centuries, and on and on.
The warnings sounded were weighty, even grim, but the film, fortunately, is easy to watch. There are the tender conversations between a grandfather and his grandson, the awe-inspiring beauty of the footage, both underwater and on land and the fascinating things we learn about renewable resources and the next big boom.
An erudite discussion followed the capital city screening with suggestions on how each of us, individually and collectively, could make personal and group changes, to hopefully halt this process now. However, even under the best of conditions, it was thought by the eminent scientists and activists present, it could take hundreds of years of not polluting just to sustain todayʼs sub-optimal conditions. I humbly beg to differ. While I applaud and support any and all efforts to stem climate change, we can broaden our response to the situation if weʼre willing to heed Einsteinʼs admonition. But what would a different level of consciousness look like? How would we harness it? How do we employ it? Who would even know, or care?
Science has now told us that the brain processes 400 billion bits of information per second, but weʼre only aware of a measly 2,000 of them. The quantum physicist Heisenberg showed us that the very act of observing a phenomenon changes that which is being observed. OK. So letʼs then assume that 1. weʼre not nearly tapping the power of our minds, and that 2. when we do choose to focus our attention and in so doing, power our intention….things happen. There are countless double-blind studies that prove with statistical significance that the intention of one party upon the conditions of another, take. They have impact. Dr. Larry Dossey in one of his early books, Healing Hands, recounted the impact of prayer on healing. And any parent whoʼs kissed a childʼs “booboo” and watched them dance merrily away can attest to the power of our heart-felt wishes, of love itself. So, in between writing our representatives, and mobilizing for change, why canʼt we also Pray for the Pteropods? Just as many of us are now synergistically availing ourselves of acupuncturists and massage therapists as a complement to our allopathically trained physicians, why not employ these low cost, low-tech modalities in conjunction with our most cutting edge technology? Itʼs easy, itʼs portable, and itʼs free. Added benefit: you feel better. Itʼs not only knowing that youʼre trying to help, but – and this is my own observation – when the vibrations of your heart are activated, as much good is done for the sender as for the receiver. And if it makes you feel more comfortable, this neednʼt be called prayer, for what is prayer other than concentrated, focused intention?
Lastly, when working in the quantum field (the domain of intention) weʼre really working outside the confines of space and even time. Itʼs a field of non-locality. I can be at my desk in Washington, DC, and direct my thought waves to roll out effortlessly across thousands of miles. Even, as former astronaut Edgar Mitchell proved, traversing outer space. I donʼt have to be swimming in the deep to connect with my fellow fluid angels. More mind-bending still is the fact, that through a phenomenon known as ʻtime reversal symmetry,” at a quantum level, time is transcended, or essentially, “crushed.” That is, the prayers or intentions that I set today can have an impact both on the “future,” and….sit down now, possibly on the “past.” For what is time itself but a linear, man-made construct necessary to help us navigate this magnificent experience called Life? So just once, please, Pray for the Pteropods….it canʼt hurt. And as for tapping other abundant sources of renewable energy….donʼt even get me started on the zero-point field!
—Eve Konstantine is a Transformational Leadership Coach based in Washington, DC. For more information about Ms. Konstantine and her work, visit her website.
