HOME NEWS RANKINGS RESOURCES EDUCATION SUPPLIES MAGAZINE EW STORE SEARCH HELLO EVERYBODY. HELLO FUN. VACATIONS FOR THE WHOLE FUN FAMILY. CRUISES START AT $289 BOOK NOW *Legal Find the best institutions in India Select Type of Institution GO CURRENT ISSUE The hundredth monkey phenomenon EducationWorld January 04 | EducationWorld a d k 6 Once when my son threw a chocolate wrapper into the street, I yelled at him. “But mom, everyone does it. What difference will one more wrapper make?†he asked. Indeed, what difference? Although this happened several years ago, the emotions I experienced then are still strong in me because every time I see people discard their debris into the street out of a train or car, I experience the same anger. Luckily my son has mended his ways. After the usual rebellious teenage interregnum, he is now a conscious citizen of the world, eager to catalyse social change via his chosen field, beginning first with himself. SUBSCRIBE And so this month I feel it incumbent upon me to recount the story of the hundredth monkey. Perhaps it will help you realise how every change you make, every step you take is more important than you imagine. And it may actually persuade you to strive to make a difference. The Japanese monkey, macaca fuscata has been observed in the wild for over 45 years. In 1952, on the island of Koshima scientists were feeding monkeys with raw sweet potatoes which they dropped in the sand. Naturally though monkeys liked the taste of sweet potatoes, they weren’t as enamoured of the sandy dirt. Shortly, an 18-month-old female named Imo got around this problem by washing the potatoes in a nearby stream. She taught this trick to her mother. Her playmates also learned this new way and taught their mothers too. This cultural innovation was gradually assimilated by several monkeys before the eyes of the scientists. Between 1952 and 1958 all young monkeys learned to wash sandy sweet potatoes to make them more palatable. Only the adults who were initiated by their children learned this social improvement. Others continued to eat sandy potatoes. By the autumn of 1958, a large number of Koshima monkeys were washing their potatoes — the exact number is not known — before ingesting them. Let’s suppose that when the sun rose one morning there were 99 monkeys on the island who had learned to wash their potatoes. Let’s further assume that later that morning, the hundredth monkey also learned to do so. The participation of the hundredth monkey proved Research Independent Senior Living in Eugene Learn more Yahoo Search READ MOR critical. By that evening every simian in the troop was washing its potatoes before eating them. HOME NEWS RANKINGS RESOURCES EDUCATION SUPPLIES MAGAZINE The added energy of the hundredth monkey mysteriously catalysed a behaviourial breakthrough. EW STORE SEARCH The conclusion derived by the behavioural scientists studying the monkeys of Koshima was that when a critical number of primates achieve a certain awareness, it is absorbed into the collective cultural memory and communicated from mind to mind. Although the exact number may vary from situation to situation, the hundredth monkey phenomenon signifies that when only a limited number of people know of a new practice, it remains confined to its practitioners. But there is a break-even point at which if only one additional person adopts a new lifestyle or practice, it becomes generally tolerated, even if not wholly accepted, communal property. Therefore your awareness of socially beneficial behaviour is critical because you could be the hundredth monkey. Your decision or action may provide the critical energy required to catalyse some major lifestyle and behaviour changes which would make planet earth a better place for all mankind. The impact of individual action on entire societies is spelt out in Lifetide, a book written by Lyall Watson and The Hundredth Monkey authored by Ken Keyes Jr. The latter urges us to reproduce his book in any manner possible because he feels it communicates a very important message. He advises us to begin thinking about and then acting on every issue. During the 20 years that I have been active in my field of eco-nutrition, I have seen the manifestation of the hundredth monkey phenomenon. The first was when I was given wrong advice about breastfeeding my infant son. Until I put two and two together thanks to information that fortuitously fell into my hands, I was advised by some of the most prominent doctors in the country to stop nursing and give him soya milk instead. Lucky for me, my son refused the bottle or the switch would have happened. Basically i had to stop drinking animal milk myself so that my lactose wouldn’t bother my child. I did this and went on to nurse him for three years. The universal truth that no child can be allergic to mother’s milk (but only to what a mother may be ingesting) is now commonly accepted. I believe that the pioneering work of La Leche League (an international voluntary organisation which promotes breastfeeding) proved to be the critical factor in making all mothers aware of the truth that every infant is entitled to nature’s most perfect food. The other related area in which I have witnessed a similar leap in consciousness/ awareness is in hospitals where newborn infants were as a rule separated from their mothers at birth. This was my experience as well. Only later did I learn from the La Leche manual how important it was for the child to be constantly near the mother and that the first hour after birth is absolutely crucial to ‘bonding’ between mother and child. Following this awareness I stood on the rooftops to tell mothers to demand that their babies are with them immediately after birth. Today most hospital managements have accepted the critical importance of the bonding hour. The hundredth monkey syndrome is also beginning to impact organic foods. Suddenly awareness is building and once people’s priorities in price consciousness alter (wherein food pricing is given more importance than clothes, shoes, jewellery), we will see the hundredth monkey principle being applied in the choice of safe, clean, pure and chemical-free foods. (Kavita Mukhi is a Mumbai-based eco-nutritionist and CEO of Conscious Food) a d k 6 EducationWorl… EducationWorl … TRENDING STORIES HOME NEWS RANKINGS RESOURCES EDUCATION SUPPLIES MOST READ MAGAZINE Impact of online learning on school education EW STORE SEARCH Impact of online learning on Online education has gained immense popularity among working school education professionals and students pursuing higher education. These categories of online learners find ... The importance of school education in child development The importance of school education in child Deepika Sharma, Principal SRS International School The children of today development are gearing up to become adult citizens of tomorrow. The growth ... 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