The Mindful Ones

The great white shark had been traveling into the current along the coast for most of the night, drifting off to sleep from time to time. He was in no hurry as his presence would not be required at the counsel until the following day. There was no reason to arrive early, even though the party would have, no doubt, already begun. Mindful great whites did not generally congregate like some of the other species, but some would come early to this once yearly gathering of the Great Council of the Mindful Ones in the hopes of finding a mate. Sebastian preferred his solitude.

Mindfulness, as it had come to be called, was a result of The Awakening that followed The Great Destruction, a catastrophic calamity perpetrated by the now extinct humans. With no regard for consequences, people had raped, pillaged, and polluted both land and sea. Finally, a hundred years ago, the earth responded to the desecration. Fires raged, earthquakes shook the foundation of the planet, long dead volcanoes came to life, and the overly warm seas began to produce algae that killed tens of thousands of fish, wiping out many species entirely. Wars decimated, not only the human population, but all life. Nuclear explosions of abandoned power plants ravaged huge swaths of land. Pollution continued, to this day, to kill off many creatures. If there were any good news, it was that mankind, in its greed, had self-destructed in the mayhem. They would no longer be a threat to the balance of nature.

Slowly, equilibrium had been restored. Although large portions of the ocean and earth were still uninhabitable, it was clear that the world was gradually healing. An even more incredible result of the chaos was The Awakening. Multiple species on land, in the sea, and in the air, gradually became Mindful…as it was called. Sebastian, a young teenager at the time, vividly remembered the change. Once, his life consisted only of survival but, slowly, he became more aware of everything around him. He began to be curious about various life forms, even those he chose to eat. He remembered the first time he connected with another animal. Unlike most, Sebastian’s first conversation was with a mortal enemy.

“Hmmmm…..I’ll bet your liver is tasty, eh?” came a voice into Sebastian’s head. Snapping his head around and employing his electroreceptors and acute hearing, Sebastian tried to find the source of this threat. He instantly knew that he was being tracked by an orca. Orca’s had no compunction about attacking a great white, especially a young teenager like Sebastian. They would consume their liver for the energy it provided. For a moment, Sebastian wondered how he knew what a liver was and how he knew why the orca would want to consume it, but he had bigger problems.

“Not today, you oversized Panda bear,” Sebastian growled to himself, again wondering how the heck he knew what a Panda bear was, “I’m outta here!”

“Wait! I was just kidding! Panda bears are cute; thanks for the complement, Grumpy Grey Shark…”

“I’m a GREAT WHITE shark!”

“Pffftttt! Look in a mirror.” They both collectively stopped as they thought about the implications of having a mirror in the ocean, let alone understanding what a mirror was. Silence reigned in Sebastian’s head as he slowed his swimming to the bare minimum required to keep oxygen flowing over his gills. Out of the gloom appeared a giant orca. The two predators sized each other up.

It took several days of back-and-forth conversations in each other’s heads before they could come to grips with the fact that, not only could they communicate, but they also had somehow acquired a vast arsenal of knowledge with no explanation. Although Sebastian and Leroy, the orca, still continued to exchange insults every time they met, they did decide to not eat each other. In fact, Sebastian and Leroy were the beginning of the Great Council of the Mindful Creatures. Because of his fluency in communicating with other species, Sebastian was named King of the Sea Creatures. The Great Council met once a year, on sea and on land, in close proximity so all could be heard.

For some reason, this Mindfulness had been granted to a small percentage of the creatures in the world. Not all sharks, nor orcas, nor any other creature received this blessing. The Mindful Ones felt it was their duty to protect all other life and only took life to the extent necessary to live. Not that any of them had ever done otherwise. Except for the occasional rogue animal, humans had been the only ones to consistently consume more than was needed.

However, Mindfulness did come with moral implications, which is why the Great Council was established. Prior to their awakening, the creatures in question existed and made choices without ever considering the impact such choices had on others or on the planet. As they adjusted to the change and began to connect with other Mindful Ones, it became clear that guidelines were needed. It seems that humans had created rules to try to control their tendency to choose hate over love, greed over selflessness. Unfortunately, it failed to stem their inevitable self-destruction. The Mindful Ones were determined not to follow in the same path.

Although Mindful Ones were gifted with an extraordinary amount of innate knowledge, they did not know everything, nor was it equally distributed. What all the Mindful Ones shared was the ability to communicate with each other, at least on some level. The communication occurred telepathically and was not without its own flaws. Some Mindful Ones were much simpler in their thought processes than others. Personality traits seemed to, for the most part, be revealed as part of their species. Predatory species were quicker to anger. Birds were quicker to criticize. Mammals, for the most part, were gentler and kinder to others. Reptiles were usually very bright but felt little need to share their knowledge. There were even Mindful small fish and insects, although communication with them was usually limited to a few seconds at a time, and one could never be certain if they would remember anything for more than a few minutes.

Life spans of the Mindful Ones was the most incredible gift of all. In the one hundred years since the Great Destruction, not a single Mindful One had aged or died from natural causes. One could still be killed by accident, by the Normals – the name given to unchanged creatures – and even by other Mindful Ones, although that was outlawed and very rare. Reproductively, Mindful Ones seemed to reproduce only other Mindful Ones, although birth rates among those Awakened was quite low. Mating with the Normals, considered an abomination, produced sickly offspring that rarely survived.

For the last hundred years, Sebastian had been content in his new role as King of the Sea Creatures. Councils had been held; laws had been created. Territories were established to keep bickering between different species to a minimum. It was collectively agreed that their purpose was to maintain the equanimity of nature and to help the planet heal. It was also collectively agreed that all humans were evil and deserved no quarter…. not that any were believed to have survived the Great Destruction.

In perfect agreement with all these positions, Sebastian ruled with grace and strength until a year ago when everything changed. Gliding along the northern edge of the Green continent, named for its forests, Sebastian felt a Mindful One calling to him from above. It was a species with which he was unfamiliar, and his curiosity spiked.

“Who are you?” he queried, “Where are you?”

“I am above you,” came the reply, “Come up and see.”

Sebastian sensed no malice, and Mindful Ones are generally peaceful souls but, out of habit, he approached cautiously. As he swam upward, a form came into his view that looked vaguely familiar. A few more feet and Sebastian’s heart began to pound with a combination of fear and anger. Right above him was the unmistakable outline of a boat. There was only one species that would build a boat.

“Today you die!” roared Sebastian into the monster’s head as he prepared to ram the boat.

“Wait! Hear him out, you big lummox!” another voice called out. Mid-charge, Sebastian veered off from his attack as he recognized his friend’s presence.

“Leroy! What? Why? You want to ram him together?” asked Sebastian, confused.

“Be still and hear the truth!” roared the King of the Land Creatures, Josef, a large and rather pompous lion.

“King Josef!!!” exclaimed Sebastian, even more confused, “We are 50 miles from shore. How is it I can hear you?”

“I am on the boat, my fellow King,” replied Josef, “Please, compose thyself and listen.” Sebastian commenced swimming a slow circle around the boat as he contemplated the situation. Clearly, both King Josef and his friend Leroy felt no need to annihilate this new creature in the boat. Perhaps it wasn’t a human after all.

“Fine,” he growled, “Speak.”

“My name is Greg,” the voice answered, “And, yes, I am a human.” Sebastian slapped the water furiously with his tail.

“Before you execute me, please listen. It is true that humans were responsible for the Great Destruction. Greed, hate, apathy, and rampant consumption of resources caused great calamity to fall on this planet. As a species we were almost completely wiped out. We are fully aware that all of you suffered from our failure as well, many species lost forever. The Great Destruction was foretold in visions by our prophets, but we failed to listen. Those of us who remain are now guided by the prophets. We live in and of and for the earth. Seeking only to honor our Creator and make the world a safe place for all life to thrive, our desire is to join forces with the Mindful Ones to further this purpose.”

“King Josef!” Sebastian roared, “We are sworn enemies of those who brought on the Great Destruction! Humans have no place on this planet!”

“Do we not subscribe to the belief that all life has value and purpose?” Josef responded, “Is not all life important to the ecosystem of the earth? Each species fills a niche?”

“You speak in circles. Those who are Mindful have a responsibility to protect the earth. Humans were given the gift of Mindfulness long before any of us and broke that trust! They need to be eliminated to protect the future!”

“If we refuse protection of any species are we not failing in the same manner? There is much we can learn from the humans and their failures. We do not want to repeat their errors. They were able to disregard us in the past because they were the only Mindful creatures. That is no longer the case. We can no longer be ignored.”

Sebastian spent the last year working with King Josef, Leroy and, yes, Greg. He learned how the humans had been tirelessly working to heal the land and how they were now looking for ways to help heal the still dead segments of the ocean. The humans were respectful, cautious, and sought the advice of the Mindful Ones. They were gentle with the Normals.

Tomorrow, King Josef and King Sebastian would petition for the inclusion of humans in the Great Council of the Mindful Ones, offering them the same protection from harm as was provided to all. It would be a tough sale for many, but Sebastian was certain that overcoming the prejudice and hatred could only result in a positive outcome. After all, it was prejudice and hatred that caused the downfall of humanity in the first place. It was time to give love and acceptance a chance.