My interpretation of Ken Keyes’ report on the "Hundredth Monkey" phenomenon, which demonstrates morphogenetic fields, and served as an inspiration for “ban the bomb” activists in the 1950s.
From "For Our Readers" exhibition: Two pieces examine the phenomenon of The Hundredth Monkey, which involves scientists’ observations of a troop of monkeys during the 1950s on a Japanese island. First one monkey, then the whole island population of monkeys, spontaneously learned to wash their food. Jung’s principle of the collective unconscious, and biologists’ theory of morphogenetic fields were invoked in this study which piqued imaginations around the world.
In "The First Hundredth Monkey" I recount and “illuminate” the phenomenon of The Hundredth Monkey in my own words, interpreted from the book "The Hundredth Monkey", by Ken Keyes. His version is itself a paraphrasing of the account by Dr. Lyall Watson, in his book "Lifetide" (1979). And the original story comes from the scientist Rupert Sheldrake. I love how the story resonated for a whole generation of pacifists, who believed that if enough people wanted to ban the nuclear bomb, it could be accomplished. Today the idea has even more relevance. How many more agents of change do we need to tip the scale toward peace?
