Last night I watched a program about octopuses, which scientists have “discovered” are quite intelligent. Why do humans think that we must measure intelligence? There is intelligence in everything that exists. If this were not so, they would not exist. Every species has the intelligence required to survive.
Isn’t it utter foolishness to believe that one plant or one animal is more intelligent than another? Intelligence works only on the physical level of being. It is sufficient on that level, to facilitate the life that it inhabits. When we operate purely from the physical dimension, we ignore the life that actually infuses it. When something dies, it no longer inhabits its body. Where did it go? Where is the intelligence that guided it through its life? Intelligence may reside in the brain, which is merely a tool through which that life functioned, much as a car’s engine makes the car run. When the brain dies, you cannot find the intelligence hiding there. It is gone.
The scientists have also “discovered” that the octopuses, and in fact many species, have individual personalities. Is this really such a surprise? People who have owned pets will testify to the varying personalities of their dogs and cats. Why do we assume that only certain animals have personalities? It is only when we begin to understand, that we are no different than every other species on this planet, we will awaken to the oneness of life. Regardless how intelligent we think we are, once we vacate the body and the life that we currently occupy, it will disappear, along with our personality. Rather than trying to dissect the brain and the body in a futile attempt to find what is not there, should we not be making the most out of living in the moments that we have?
