Friends by Jane Lister Reis When I was a child, I learned an important lesson: most people could not or would not be completely there for you — emotionally, physically, even spiritually. Perhaps it was then that my search for love began. I don’t know. That search has taken me many places, places to which, without that inner hunger to be met completely by unconditional love, I would not have ventured. Years later, after having connected with my higher self and worked on integrating my divine into my human self, I feel good about myself and my search for completeness. Yet, as we know, there is always more. Life teaches us that. To understand and embrace love is a journey of unending pleasures, like a fine meal that offers course after course of delectable delights. I thought I was full, but now I know I was only resting before the next serving. My new taste of love came in an unexpected form: cetaceans. I was scheduled to do an interview with Joan Ocean and Illona Selke, two women from Hawaii who swim daily with dolphins and whales. I began preparing for my interview by reading Ilona Selke’s book Journey into the Center of Creation. As I read, I began to feel something. Was it my imagination, or was I experiencing a psychic or telepathic connection to dolphins? I think my friendship with the cetaceans began there, at that moment: nothing overwhelming, more like a subtle link that connected me to yet another world of energy, a very warm, quietly conscious, all-embracing energy of unconditional love. I put the book down and sat quietly for a moment, letting myself feel the impact of what I was experiencing. Who are these magnificent creatures? The cetaceans are, according to Joan Ocean, "helping us become aware of our own potential, to enable us to expand more and use more of our minds. They are helping us to really be examples of unconditional love. So often when people move into that place of feeling unconditional love, they feel better about themselves. Their self-esteem improves. They’re able to accomplish more in the world. They’re able to get in touch with their own true purposes for being on the planet this time around. I think the dolphins are really here as awakeners to help us understand why we’re on the planet and how we can help." If people could only really feel the wholeness of love in their bodies, cells, hearts, and minds, all else would fall to the wayside. "Ditto," said Ilona (which I found wonderfully validating in kind of a scientific way since these two women, although both living in Hawaii, have never worked together), adding, "The dolphins and whales have been here and have developed their capacity way past the human potential. They are an example of what we can grow into when we expand our consciousness. Even their cerebral cortexes are more intense. They have more neurological synapses; their gray matter has more convolution in the surface. They exemplify what we can become. They are way-showers or lighthouses for us. Being in the presence of dolphins, you feel invoked into that state of consciousness. You start becoming unconditional in your love. You feel a heightened state of ecstasy. Telepathy seems to come naturally. You exist naturally in the here and now. They serve as a kind of template for humans. They give us a cellular experience of it, not just a mental concept of it." That was it. I hadn’t been able to put my finger on it before, but now that Ilona and Joan had spoken of it, I, too, felt that this was what I had experienced: a cellular experience of wholeness, divinity, oneness, whatever word you want to use; a complete experience of unconditional love. As a teacher and healer, it’s something I have believed in all my life. If people could only really feel the wholeness of love in their bodies, cells, hearts, and minds, all else (held in us from fear) would fall to the wayside. What else would be important? Nothing. All things pale in comparison to love. As Ilona said, with this experience of love, "we become telepathic, multidimensional, loving beings who can coexist peacefully with nature, with a very evolved brain and mind like cetaceans." Now, I know that we can’t all get on a plane (for those of you who can, go for it!) and head to Hawaii to swim with the whales and dolphins. But we can learn to connect telepathically with these amazing creatures and receive the gift that they are here to give us: our own experience of our unlimited potential and self. As Ilona says, "They are very present when we move into their presence." According to Joan and Ilona, the cetaceans are here as multidimensional teachers and healers (both women can recount many stories of seemingly miraculous healings that take place between dolphins and humans). One of the things I was most interested in learning about from my conversation with Joan and Ilona was what they called "pod mind and group unity." I’ve read about this concept (originally in Barbara Brennan’s Light Emerging) and have always been interested in its usefulness for businesses, families, and any other groups that have a common purpose. But what Joan and Ilona described, about the dolphins, especially, is that they live in this united consciousness all the time, without sacrificing their individuality (a concept in which we Westerners could use some practice). Joan described to me this state of unity as she has experienced it: "When I was first learning to swim, the dolphins would swim by me, always in a group. Eventually, as I learned to swim faster, I would swim in their slipstream. My mind was merging with theirs. I had become part of their group mind. Yes, they are individuals, but they are connected by one mind. When you’re with them, you know when they‘re going to dive, what they are feeling and experiencing. People on land can learn to do this, too, by practicing through meditation and joining all their fields of energy together. It’s the most powerful field of energy on the planet. Many groups are already using this concept. It’s even more fun to combine the group mind of people and the pod mind of cetaceans to see what we can create and achieve." Could we as humans learn to live in nonhierarchical unity consciousness like the cetaceans? Is this one probable future as we evolve our consciousness? I think it is. According to Joan and Ilona, dolphins take us naturally into this state of oneness, but we can practice this way of being even when we’re on land. I get excited about the potential creative impact on our planet if families and other groups could learn to practice unity consciousness as a way of working and being together. As Ilona says, "We’re learning from the dolphins how to live in heaven while walking on Earth. The more we learn how to work with that higher frequency of love, the more we infuse our environment with that frequency." As I conclude my interview with Joan and Ilona, I notice I’m in a blissed state (or should I say a blessed state?). I feel tremendous gratitude for all that the cetaceans are bringing to human consciousness, and to me. Thank you, my new friends. I have a feeling that I’m going to learn, or, rather, remember, so much about what it means to truly live in a state of love. I look forward to meeting you in that place where we are all one. Ilona Selke and Joan Ocean have more to share about their wonderful friends. Both of them will be speaking at the Prophets Conference, August 27-29 at Fort Worden State Park, Port Townsend, Washington. See <www.joanocean.com> and <www.livingfromvision.com/> for information about their work. For information about the Prophets Conference and other guest speakers, call (888) 777-5981, e-mail <prophets@greatmystery.org>, or visit <www.greatmystery.org/prophets.html>.