This is just a few miscellaneous thoughts.
Firstly, anyone who begins arguing for physical phenomena/evidence as proof or disproof of psychic matters has already lost the battle - by allowing it to go from the non-physical world that too many are uncomfortable with, to the physical world that is, in many ways, inherently not relevant.
Next, we watched the documentary "Fathom" last night, about the evidence that whales (at least humpbacks) communicate, and in fact have a global network of sound enabling to be social. It was fascinating - and something I am sure I have read about elsewhere, although I can't find the article now (from last year, I think, and probably based on the work covered by the documentary). The presentation of the film was particularly excellent on a couple of points:
- firstly, the countering of anthropomorphic perspectives that downplay the character of non-human forms of life (this can be done very clumsily by scientists at time - see, for instance, this, about humpbacks attempting [unsuccessfully] to defend a grey whale calf);
- secondly, the very stimulating presentation of audio as the primary sense, which is something many humans find difficult to cope with.
It's well worth a look, if you can find a way to view in this era of streaming service proprietariness.
A couple of bonus links here, on whale contributions to the oceanic ecosystem, and here, on blue whales - my personal favourite whale species (here's another).
Continuing, I am finding Peter Wohlleben's latest book, "The Heartbeat of Trees", also equally as fascinating - and it is about one of my other favourite non-human forms of life: trees. This builds on Wohlleben's previous book, "The Hidden Life of Trees", both of which counter human-centric arrogance and make the case for our connection with the world of nature.
And on that, I am continuing to use gazing at green squares to de-stress.
Even better, I think I will be able to get a nearby patch of urban forest soon, maybe even this weekend (I like to go early in the day, when there are fewer people around: it is quieter, easier to take photos, and I can focus on the trees without worry).
