The Dolphin

About the Book

The story of The Dolphin is found among the computer files of a man, Tom, who has recently died. Tom, middle-aged, reclusive, and who spent much time writing on his computer, had lived at home with his mother, Elaine, all his life. After his funeral Elaine invites a neighbour to one day look through Tom's files for anything that might be of interest. The neighbour, Andrew, accepts, and a week or so after the funeral he copies seven files from Tom's computer and takes them home to review. Andrew writes a prologue to explain how he has come to be in possession of The Dolphin, and then presents this story of Tom's Dolphin.

A man, Michael, seeks the refuge of an empty farm cottage near the sea, intending to recuperate alone from the recent, emotionally unsettling events in his life. On the morning of his first day he walks out to explore his surroundings but on climbing down the coastal cliff he slips, falls, and is knocked unconscious.

On coming to he finds himself on the beach, and walks into the sea to freshen his senses. Immediately he becomes aware of a peculiar sensation in his head, one that recedes, however, when he leaves the water. Further along the beach he finds a sheltered inlet and cove of rocks. There in the water once more he suddenly becomes aware of spoken words, coming not from around him but from, it seems, inside his head. And a dolphin swims into the inlet. Incredibly, the two begin a conversation, the dolphin explaining that Michael is hearing with inner senses. At this he guesses that the earlier mental sensations he felt were some kind of preparation for this exchange.

Prompted by Michael's curiosity the dolphin enters into a dialogue with him. In disbelief at what he hears Michael interrogates the creature, growing too insistent and forceful, however, and the dolphin becomes silent and returns to the open sea. Disconsolate, Michael returns to the cottage.

The next morning Michael returns to the cove and the dolphin. The dialogue continues and he learns of the power that preconceptions exert on experience, that it is believing that makes things so, and that life is an adventure in consciousness. The dolphin speaks of the state of grace in which all lives exist and comments on the human concern with being objective. There follow observations on religion and on the idea of God; on Earth as a time and space medium in which effective patterns can materialise as physical objects and events; on the mobility of mankind's unique reflective consciousness; on our notion of cause and effect; and on the way that beliefs and values and expectations steer the materialisation of inner affective patterns. The dolphin describes the manipulative nature of both religion, which traditionally promotes the notion of a fallen species steeped in original sin, and science, which insists that we are individually insignificant in an accidental and uncaring universe. The dolphin emphasises that at heart mankind is neither sinful nor insignificant. And that the world is unsafe only to the extent to which each of us believes it to be.

The day ends, the dolphin has gone and Michael returns in the twilight to the cottage. The next morning he eagerly sets off again for the cove but then badly twists his ankle on climbing down the cliff. The dolphin uses this 'misfortune' to instruct that all experience is legitimate. No matter how it seems, there are no mistakes. The dolphin describes how illness and injury are not accidents but purposeful events. The very qualities we experience in ourselves - curiosity, creativity, spontaneity - are, firstly, expressions of consciousness; a consciousness that possesses, too, an inherent yearning for self affirmation. Whenever we discover this desire for self affirmation in ourselves, we call this yearning, this primary quality of consciousness, love.

By the instruction given the dolphin and from the discoveries to which he is led, Michael returns to his cottage.

He wakes on a new morning, to make one final discover!

About the Author

The author lives in Gisborne, New Zealand, the city that is the first in the world to see the sunrise of each new day. He enjoys his family, friends, food, Sixties' stuff, running, writing, wondering about people and things and wishing sometimes there was a wand he could wave. He is married to a patient Meg.