This blog set the question: Are You the Hundredth Monkey?

Comments to the initial post "What's Up With That?" give wonderful examples of what that might look like.

The New Year has begun. The Hundredth Monkey has abundant opportunity to be heard...to be seen..to make a difference - any difference that makes the world brighter, holier, more sane.

What does that look like for you?

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Hundredth Monkey Controversies





I did a recent search on "The Hundredth Monkey" to see what good things others folks are sharing.  I found all sorts of uses for the name such as a blog on lifestyle change called The Savvy Vegetarian and an art studio in Portland Oregon "Where creativity is contagious."  Wonderful!

I also found more controversy than I ever expected! You can read a well crafted repudiation of the whole effect from the Skeptical Inquirer written back in 1985 that is wonderful food for thought!  And there's lots more where that came from. 

Then along came more information from the Ken Keyes Jr. camp reiterating it as a phenomenon.

This is all great reading if you're interested in the he said - she said on the subject.

In the end, I like this quote from Elaine Myers in The Hundredth Monkey Revisited the best when she says -

"What the research does suggest... is that holding positive ideas (as important a step as this is) is not sufficient by itself to change the world. We still need direct communication between individuals, we need to translate our ideas into action, and we need to recognize the freedom of choice of those who choose alternatives different from our own."

This sounds like the road to good communication and greater peace if you ask me. Worth the controversy if this is where it goes...

May peace on Earth prevail!

Where do you weigh in?

Gael

Photo credit Bob Alba