The dolphins wouldn’t let them go.
Several dolphins swam circles around a group of four swimmers. When one swimmer, Rob Howe, tried to break away from the group, two of the bigger dolphins pushed him back.
Soon he saw the reason — a 30-foot-long great shark. “I just recoiled,” Rob said. “It was only about two meters [12-feet] away from me, the water was crystal clear and it was as clear as the nose on my face. They had corralled us up to protect us.” This incident is one of many in which dolphins go out of their way to help people.
Why do dolphins help humans like this?
They don’t see us as an enemy. They see something of themselves in us. They like us enough to risk their lives. Similarly, we can like and even love strangers when we see something of ourselves in them. How do we do that? We do it with something called the wave metaphor.
What is the wave metaphor?
It is a metaphor that shows us that we are all the same at our essence. You imagine that each person is a wave and you notice that each wave appears to be a different “thing.” But is it really? Each wave has something much deeper in common. They are all made of the same stuff — water. As human beings, we look different on the outside but we too are all expressions of one stuff — consciousness.
How do you take this experience of deeper connection further?
You can do so by contemplating it while in the creator space (aka Who am I really?), which you can get into after eliminating a belief. When you see that who you really are is a consciousness that creates your life, you can realize that other people are consciousness too. You and they are not separate from each other. You and they are made of the same stuff.
When you think of a person you know or even a stranger from this perspective you experience universal love. This love isn’t based on what they do for you, or the fact that they love you back. You love them because you see yourself in them the way a dolphin sees itself in the humans they help.
But why would we want to love those we don’t know?
It gives you the ability to connect to people you don’t know and even those you might not ordinarily like. You can see beyond the surface and notice that over there is a person who merely experiences life differently than you do.
It may even open you up to having compassion for those who you might ordinarily dislike or distrust. If the world had more people seeing the similarities between themselves and others, there would be far fewer conflicts and much more productive conversations.
When Morty was with us, he taught an invitation-only class called the Advanced Lefkoe Freedom Course in which we practiced engaging in the Love Metaphor in the creator space. Here’s how a few participants experienced the exercise in relation to social situations. (Names have been changed to protect privacy).
Paul wrote:
For me, jumping into the creator space in new social situations is really allowing me to be much more open and able to connect with new acquaintances – much more so than ever before. Where I used to have had dread, I now seek to meet others without the bashfulness that I have carried in life till now.
Lorraine wrote:
In the beginning, [the results of doing the exercise] ranged from indifference to love though not unconditional love. Now that I’ve practiced this over the last few weeks, I feel love blooming in me like taking in a lungful of crisp, fresh air, then exhaling and feeling the love remaining.
I am experiencing unconditional love in that I no longer judge people and am accepting them the way they are instead of the way I would like them to be. This is a continual process and sometimes I slip back. However, ninety-five percent of the time I would estimate that I experience a state of unconditional love and acceptance. The feeling and experience of unconditional love is staying with me rather than dissipating.
Mark wrote:
I can populate the ocean around me with a bunch of people. I pick people who I’ve had some issue or difference with, it makes any differences dissolve and makes me feel warm towards others. So it really changes my feeling towards others, in turn, I’m much more positive towards the person afterward, non-judgemental and supportive. My attitude is always returned by others!
As you can see from the participants in the Advanced Lefkoe Freedom Course, this exercise can be quite eye-opening especially when practiced regularly.
But will the wave metaphor make me trust people who could hurt me or others?
I can understand this concern. Morty used to say we evolved negative emotions to protect ourselves from the dangerous environment in which humans used to live. We experienced fear, distrust, and anger and those feelings led to behaviors that helped our ancestors survive. Fortunately, we are much wiser now and we can use our intelligence to guide us without having to feel negative emotions such as fear.
You know not to cross the street without looking both ways but you may not feel fear about it. You may lock up your house at night even if you don’t feel fear that someone will break-in. We take intelligent actions all the time based on knowledge without requiring the experience of fear. And we can avoid putting ourselves in dangerous situations with strangers even if we can see them as part of the same consciousness we all share.
Summary
- The wave metaphor helps you see a deep commonality between yourself and others
- As a result, you can get into a state of universal love between you and people you don’t even know
- It takes on incredible power if you engage with this metaphor after getting into the creator space
The creator space helps you cultivate a sense of love for all human beings everywhere in the world. This sense of love can even be extended to other species such as dolphins but also to people you might consider enemies or opponents. When you see people who might oppose you as being the same at their essence, you can work with them in ways we can’t imagine when we only see them as the enemy.
Next step
To fully engage in the wave metaphor exercise, it’s useful to get into the Creator Space which Morty also called Who Am I Really? You can find an article describing that exercise here.