Dr. Elena Vasileva and her team were observing Orcas off the coast of Alaska in Prince William Sound. They had been doing so for the past three years, but one cold October morning, they observed something unlike anything they had seenpreviously. They spotted a group of orcas swimming in a tightly formed circle. This circle didn’t resemble the patterns seen when the Orcas were feeding or when they were touring. They were also emitting unusual sounds. Dr Vasileva recalls “these were completely new vocalizations, not the aggressive clicks we usually hear during hunts, not the social signals typical for group communication.”
The team decided to use a smaller research boat to move closer to the Orcas.
The orcas didn’t react to the boat approaching. When the boat got close enough, the researchers saw a baby grey whale in the center of the circle of Orcas. The scientists could see that the calf was injured. It had deep scars on its body likely from a collision with a ship. It was having trouble staying afloat. The orcas were taking turns swimming beneath it. They were helping it to stay on the surface. This was exactly the opposite of how they had come to expect Orcas to act. Orcas are often called killer whales even though they are actually in the dolphin family. The moniker was given because their prey includes whales.
“At that moment we witnessed something that completely changed our understanding of marine mammal social behavior,” said Dr. Vasileva.
For the next several hours the team documented every detail of the interaction. Using underwater cameras and hydrophones, they recorded everything. Of particular interest was the behavior of the largest female in the group. The team nicknamed her the matriarch because she seemed to coordinate the pod’s actions. She would emit signals, and the members of the pod seem to respond by switchingpositions ensuring constant support for the injured calf. Another signal would bring a rotation of an Orca swimming ahead of the circle, presumably acting as a scout guarding them from potential threats.
Five hours after the team first spotted the pod surrounding the baby grey whale, they witnessed a group of grey whales approaching. It is believed these whales were the lost calf’s family, who presumably had followed her acoustic signal.
The orcas began emitting more unusual sounds. Some of the sounds had frequency characteristics like those produced by grey whales. They began widening their circle and created a corridor that invited the grey whales to enter. “It was like a carefully crafted handover,” recalls one of the researchers. The Orcas stayed nearby until the baby’s mother approached and began helping the calf to stay afloat.
Subsequent analysis of the collected data indicated that the acoustic signals emitted by the Orcas during this incident had a different structure from knownvocalizations of this species. One intriguing element, some sounds made by this pod resembled the songs of other whales. These new observations may indicate that these apex predators are capable of far more complex social interactions thanpreviously thought.
Greater research, further documentation is needed before solid conclusions can be made. Individual Orca pods are known to have unique characteristics and display behaviors rarely if ever replicated in other pods. It is possible that matriarch might have taught or led her pod to develop this behavior which certainly has the appearance of compassion.
Scientists who observe animal behavior typically avoid assigning human like motivations for what has been observed. I think it wise to avoid making assumptions about motivation when interpreting human behavior as well!
What conclusions can we draw from this story? What if anything might apply to our topic of being in relationship with this congregation?
Participating in the religious life of a UU congregation demonstrates a respect for nature, science and learning. Expect questions to be raised. Our respect for nature does not preclude our members from seeing a divine order at play. Neither do we require or expect a belief in supernatural explanations. Rarely if ever do we insist that there is only one way to look at something. We are happy raising questions and leaving much as a Great Mystery.
Awareness, consciousness, freedom, looking to see what powers and choices are available to us, these will be themes today as always.
If I began with a sacred story from scripture, you would be welcome to bring doubt, skepticism and critical examination. These are welcome when I recount scientific reporting too. I have not made extensive efforts to verify these reports. I heard a moving story and shared it.
Beyond what might be called anecdotal evidence, I have read and seen videos with numerous accounts of wild animals behaving in ways that challenge my assumptions about them. I’ve seen many videos of rescued wild animals returning to the wild and reunited with their rescuers. I’ve seen countless videos of interspecies adoption and more. These stories lead me to question long held assumptions. Being nudged to question our assumptions, that’s part of what it’s like to be in relationship with a UU congregation.
The late and great microbiologist Lynn Margoulis was a UU whose work caused me to rethink important aspects of our world. She said that Darwin and the neo-Darwinians that followed him have significantly overemphasized the role that competition plays in evolution and have significantly underestimated the role of cooperation. According to Margulis, our human abilities such as walking, math, science, and literature all came to us because of evolution enabled by the cooperation of different species of microorganisms facing environmental challenges. Each evolutionary advancement created new possibilities.
If any of you resemble the critical voice in my head, you might be saying “Oh now our minister is a scientist.” David Bumbaugh said that in seminary we learn to speak authoritatively even on subjects of which we know relatively little.
I pray that being part of a UU congregation means gaining support to advance critical thinking skills. I hope you will consider my words, and I expect each of us to do our own thinking. UU Ministry has encouragement me to think broadly into areas of human concern, to study and practice science and religion, theology and poetry. I want nothing less for each of us. Our religious community is a learning community that encourages us to think freely and explore courageously into anything and everything that concerns us!
As minister, I speak and write about our shared journey, our religious life together. Does it make me an expert on relationships? I make no such claim. I have given time to learning what adds quality to our shared religious life, to the application of principles and continuation of traditions, their influence and impact upon our congregations and the quality of our lives etc. Nothing I say is intended to imply that there is one correct way to be in relationship to a UU congregation.
Today I’m asking you to consider the congregation as if it were a person. If you choose to accept and think a bit more about what it means to be in relationship to this church, if you ask yourself what you love about this relationship, this journey, what you would like to receive from us, and what you would like to contribute to this living thing, … I believe that if you, if we do this not just today but repeatedly, good things will come to pass. We will be together in the service of life, and we will thrive together.
Returning to the thread of respectful study of nature, I arrive upon a favorite topic- community. Modern interdisciplinary sciences, especially chaos theory and complexity theory tell us that community is present wherever there is life. Life only exists in community. I had a professor that said when he looked in the mirror, he would say “how are WE doing today?” All that we do is enabled by symbiotic relationships. Life depends on being able to share, give and take from networks of networks, ecosystems within ecosystems. I believe that our UU religion in its 21st century form is oriented toward recognizing the interconnectedness of life and cultivating a sense of respect, awe or appreciation that the most high, biggest, greatest is present inside, between and all around us. Revelation comes not only from heavens above us. We are not separated from it. We are part of it, part of something greater than us.
The spiritual awareness embedded in this interdependence means that we need each other. Choosing to participate in a congregation’s religious life is a decision to shift away from illusions of isolation, alienation and scarcity. Participating in the stewardship of this congregation is like caring for an animal, a plant or a person. Our collective efforts sustain a living breathing thing, a community that brings life to a greater community and that serves life in ways that we find meaningful!
We come together to nurture qualities and shared values. In so doing we appreciate and grow them in our lives. By worshipping together, we amplify qualities. We learn and grow together.
We have probably kept coming back because what we hear and experience is meaningful to us, because we like people here and they like us. All this is warm and fuzzy.
However spiritual growth is not all rainbows and religious highs. We come back because there is something here that strengthens us to be able to handle greater challenges. Sometimes the challenge happens here too. Friction, difference of perspective and preferences are essential for our growth.
Here’s my theory. We need companions we can trust. We need comrades to roll sleeves and work alongside us. It’s not that we are perfect and just need people to do what we want them to do. We need people who will stick with us when we don’t see eye to eye. We need people who will be honest with us, and through their feedback help us to see where we need to grow. We all want to be seen and valued. Who craves criticism or push back? Friction and negative feedback from trusted companions help us see where we are not aligned with our shared values.
You’ve heard us affirm our commitment to voluntary participation, giving from the heart, consensual relations rather than dominance, coercion, guilt and shame. Maybe we get the idea that we’ve found a place that will be free from friction and conflict. While it’s true that we don’t have to do anything we don’t want, there won’t be much learning or growth unless we gain the courage to face ourselves and be willing to learn when discomfort and pain are ours.
Of the many things being in relationship with this congregation can mean, I hope it means enough connection, a sense of shared mission and purpose that helps us to learn and growth through adversity and discomfort. None of us ask for more hardship, and no one can remain in tough places 24/7/365. We need nourishment on Sunday mornings. Our committees need accomplishment and teamwork. We need companions to celebrate with us, or we won’t have each other when it’s time to grieve, when it’s time to walk through the valleys of shadow and death.
Today the focus has been on loving your neighbor to have a neighbor. Many of us have grown faith because we have had this kind of support when we needed it. We have been uplifted when we got to be of service. We have been transformed when someone was there for us in a time of need. These are both in a lateral direction.
Because ours is a religious journey we support two other dimensions of love and connection. One is the connection to all that is, to G*d or the web of existence. The last is connection to the divine inside us. Being part of this congregation means being encouraged to develop connection to love that will be with us when we are alone. We encourage consciousness, faith, spirituality in so many ways. When you reflect on how you will contribute and what you wish to receive here, I hope you will include a nourishing of consciousness, faith and spirituality that is tailored to fit you and you alone.
Blessed be.
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