Blog #189--Interesting Tidbits Not Included in Book, Part 13

This is #13 in a continuing series of articles sharing topics not discussed in my book “It’s a Secret, So Pass It On: a Toolbox For Life.”

Tidbit #1: A bird in South Africa has taken the “Boy Who Cried Wolf” story to another level. The forked-tailed drongo uses deceit to gather the food it needs to survive. Deceit is a common survival mechanism in Nature, but the drongos are especially adept.

Various life forms in the wild learn each other’s calls warning of danger. Helping each other is an important survival mechanism, so when the drongos warn of danger, other species take notice and flee. This allows the drongos to steal food caught by the others. However, if the drongos make their own warning calls too frequently, like the boy in the story, other species begin to distrust them.

That’s when the drongos become especially creative. They can copy the warning calls of up to 50 other species. If one call doesn’t work, they simply use a different one. They are so good at mimicry, they fool other species into abandoning food that would otherwise be too large or dangerous for the birds to catch on their own.

The drongo isn't a large bird, but it has direct, aggressive abilities as well. This is especially true if eagles or hawks fly through their territory. Being smaller, quicker and more maneuverable makes them capable of harassing the larger predators without reprisal. But drongos are naturally indirect when it comes to food procurement. Their combination of direct and indirect instincts makes them highly adaptable in the survival game.

Some might call their behavior demonic, especially when they discover these black birds have red eyes, a hooked beak and forked tail. But they have merely worked out a niche that maximizes their survivability. All species can use indirect methods for survival, so there is nothing demonic about it.

Tidbit #2: According to an Associated Press article written by Jill Lawless and posted February 7, 2014, archaeologists have found footprints of a human family that have been dated between 800,000 and 1 million years old on the East coast of England. They are the oldest recorded evidence of human existence outside Africa.

Many people are convinced humans have lived less than 7000 years because they believe in a literal interpretation of Judeo-Christian history. Whether Jewish people began around that time or not, human ancestors have existed on Earth far longer, at least according to scientific testing that has proven reliable over the years. For those who also believe humans were put here by a creator rather than through evolution, this story is considered nothing more than propaganda.

But the fact remains that we continue to discover humanoid varieties all over the world who existed during time periods long before recorded history began. And they were similar enough to present day humans to consider them distant relatives. The footprints in this case were dated in part due to the fossilized remains of a mammoth and ancient horse found nearby and in part due to their geological position. Scientists are satisfied their results are credible.

Tidbit #3: Is there a hell? Many people simultaneously hope there is one and pray they won’t go there on their passing out of their bodies at death. Religions have utilized the concept as a recruiting tool, scaring people into joining them as a means of avoiding eternal damnation. After all, since no one knows for sure whether there is either a heaven or hell, maybe it is better to be safe than sorry.

When one thinks logically, it makes no sense that an all-powerful God would punish for eternity those he/she/it created who were less than stellar in finite, temporary lives. Maybe a temporary reversal of fortune would balance the scales of justice, but permanent damnation seems pretty nasty for a creator said to love us. And it also makes no sense that a devil would be created that is more powerful than the force that created it.

It appears more people are thinking for themselves these days. A 2011 survey said that 92% of Americans believed in some sort of God, but only 75% believed in hell. Two years later, a Harris poll reduced that latter figure to 58%. Given increased access to people all over the world, through the Internet and social media in particular, more people are awakening to the reality there are both good and bad people everywhere. It is harder to believe a fire and brimstone preacher when he or she wishes to banish to hell people who are no different than the rest of us.

Whatever the reasons, there is value in letting go of the fear of hell. After all, hell is likely more a matter of perception than anything else. Many people are suffering intensely on Earth at this moment. To them, THIS world is hell. Fear causes us to distort our perception to the point that innocuous people and items can appear more evil than they really are. If we let go of fear, whatever we find in the afterlife won’t be as scary or negative as it would if we were frightened at the time of death.

Accepting those things we can’t change about ourselves helps alleviate the worry as well.

For those who prop themselves up on the backs of their fellow humans, a loving eternal paradise might seem like hell to them because they are so unfamiliar with that vibration. Maybe our deaths put us all in the same place, but just like on Earth, each of us perceives it like we expect to perceive it. A loving person will perceive it as a loving environment, and a hateful person will experience something more hellish. Both beauty and ugliness are in the eyes of the beholder.

http://dreamtime3.wix.com/jacktuttlebook

Comments and questions can be directed to dreamtime@insight-books.com.