Why Don’t Octopuses Rule the Earth?

Hands, Head and Heart

If you’ve ever pondered this question, wondering why octopuses, or perhaps dolphins, do not dominate our planet, you’ll be happy to know, you’re not alone. I first started thinking about this when I was ten and I’ve been dying to talk to you about it ever since. Here’s where you get to learn the secret formula for world domination, so pay attention.

When I was a kid I loved a TV show called, The Undersea World of Jaques Cousteau. Jaques Cousteau invented the SCUBA system (Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus) for the French Navy during World War II. The patent left him a wealthy man and he spent the rest of his life sailing the seas in his ship, the Calypso, documenting and filming the wonders of the world beneath the waves. His TV show had ten year old me mesmerized!

One episode left a deep impression. It posed the question, ‘how come it is humans and not some other species who dominate the Earth?’

Most people assume that it is our intelligence alone that sets us apart and gives us the competitive edge. But there are several other intelligent species on our planet. What gave us the advantage over them?

Cousteau explained that there are three factors enabling dominance:

1. Intelligence. We got that one right, but there’s more…
2. Dexterity: With our hands and our famous opposable thumbs we can create tools and cities and frescoes. And weapons. Oh dear.
3. Community: Our prolonged infancy makes us utterly dependent on other humans, so we form powerful emotional bonds to ensure that we don’t just wander of and abandon one another and all die. (That would be sad) Our resulting ability to work in teams gives us enormous leverage.

Cousteau used the example of two other intelligent species to illustrate his point:

1. Dolphins boast both intelligence and community, but lack dexterity. Try playing the violin with flippers and you’ll see what I mean.
2. Octopuses are the most intelligent invertebrates and display amazing dexterity with their arms and suckers. But except for brief periods of mating, they spend their lives alone. So they lack the advantage of collective action. Perhaps they need to form a union.

Humans alone scored the winning combination with our dexterous Hands, our Heads crammed with brains and our Hearts capable of intense love.

And the winner’s prize was a planet.

Meditation — A Technology for Conscious Evolution

“With great power comes great responsibility” — Stan Lee

So we’ve attained self-awareness and conquered The Earth, which we are managing incredibly badly.

I’m really interested in us getting better at this. After all, our lives and those of generations to follow depend on it. So we need to change. We need to become more wise and kind. Otherwise, with all our technology and cleverness, we will just create an ever more elaborate version of hell. You may have noticed.

I ran a course at UC Berkeley in California for four years. It was titled: Meditation — a Technology for Conscious Evolution.

Biological evolution is pretty slow, spanning many generations. But we individuals can change our mindset and our character far more quickly than that. Our mythology, literature and cultural legacies inspire us with evolving character arcs. Stories, real or imagined, of Nelson Mandela, Ann Frank, Mulan and Frodo Baggins remind us that within each of us is a wiser, kinder, braver, more selfless version of ourselves. The version we dream of becoming.

The meditation traditions offer a systematic method, a ‘technology’, designed to develop that better version of ourselves.

Not every one of us is going to slay a dragon or overthrow a cruel regime. Thankfully there aren’t enough evil Dark Lords to go around. But we each contain an ample supply of inner demons — enough for the most enthusiastic of heroes to contend with as we advance in on our personal path of conscious evolution. When enough of us start doing this, we will change the world.

The Threefold Path of Yoga

Shri Krishna, the great mystic and yogi, as recorded in The Bhagavad Gita, explained how we humans must consciously evolve by following a three fold path of personal development: Karma, Jinana and Bhakti Yoga: The path of action, wisdom and devotion.

Remember that thing about octopuses and dolphins and the hands, head and heart? And those three abilities that enabled our rise, that gave us all this power we have so much trouble controlling? This three-fold path of Yoga provides us with the tools to manage and perfect all three of these abilities.

Hands = Karma — action/work/creativity.

Head = Jinana — intelligence, wisdom.

Heart = Bhakti — love, devotion, compassion, kindness.

I think the way these three concepts dovetail is very neat, and more than uncanny.

I wrote a song about how, with our hands, our heads and our hearts, we could develop our creativity, wisdom and universal love and create a beautiful civilization. I wrote this song for my meditation students at corporations. To inspire them to reflect on how they could use the great power they have created, for the common good.

If we use these tools of conscious evolution to become the best version of ourselves, we can awaken our higher nature, create a beautiful revolution and take consciousness to the stars.

Which are You?

The Unicorn Song

Dada Nabhaniilananda & Josh Friedman

With my hands I’ll build a spaceship ‘case we run out of room

like a wizard who helps everybody’s dreams come true

with my hands I only want to do good

wouldn’t you do that if you only could?

With my head I’ll write a song about saving the world

every river every robot, every boy every girl

singing, wisdom is the one missing link,

connecting what I feel to all that I think.

When I Close my Eyes

My heart can open wide

Now I see

Who I’m meant to be

With my heart I’ll turn your sadness into unicorns

and rainbows with more colors and roses with no thorns

With our hearts we can travel so far

Together we can aim for the stars

❤️🦄🙏