Page 27 of Maximum
CHAPTER8
Sharks
Maximum
On our second day in South Africa, Fleur and I drove to a beach by Simon’s Town outside Cape Town, where flocks of penguins resided.
Her parents were with us and had the decency to not ask about the pregnancy on the forty-five-minute drive. Instead they asked us about life in Ireland and then we talked about the exhibited photos they’d sold, and their past and future assignments.
I’d only ever seen penguins in a zoo and found it fascinating to see them living free in nature.
Of course, Justine and Tom had brought their cameras and disappeared to get the perfect shots, while Fleur and I met up with a local man from a wildlife preservation group.
“Do you mind if I film our meeting?” The man, who introduced himself as Thato, was shorter than Fleur and so skinny that I wondered if he was suffering from an eating disorder.
“Not at all.” Fleur gave him a warm smile.
We were on top of one of the sand banks and I sat on a bench next to where Thato was interviewing Fleur.
While he positioned his tripod and aimed the camera just right, Fleur stood with the ocean behind her, pushing back her hair, which was blowing in the light breeze.
“Let me know when you’re ready.”
Fleur closed her eyes for a moment. “Let me just connect to them again before we begin.” She stood with a peaceful expression on her face like someone meditating. But then she shifted her weight, rolled her shoulders back, and opened her eyes. “I’m ready.”
Thato stayed behind the camera when he asked his first question. “As you know we’ve had an increase in the number of shark attacks here in South Africa, specifically from white sharks, tiger sharks, and bull sharks. It’s been worst at the Eastern Cape, which has led our leaders to talk about solutions including different repellent actions. What we at the Ocean Relief Group are curious to know is, what’s the shark’s take on this? What do they think of humans, particularly the humans in the water?”
Fleur tugged a lock of hair behind her ear again and spoke in a steady voice. “They are very clear that what humans describe as attacks, they see more as encounters. The sharks don’t see us humans as food and the encounters were driven by curiosity.”
“Who are you talking to when you get these answers?”
“Right now, I’m communicating with the shark consciousness in general and what they tell me is that they’re very aware that humans play a part in the decline of food for them. Not just here but all around the world. They show me a range of fish species that are either very low in numbers or completely gone. It’s because of that lack in their normal food supply that they’ve been forced to come further inshore searching for the variation of food that they need. Many of them are hungry and with the denser population of sharks cruising the shoreline to find fish, there’s an energy of competitiveness among them to get to the limited food supplies.
“It’s that competitive energy that plays a role in what humans describe as attacks. You see, just like I can telepathically connect to the sharks right now, they pick up energy from the humans in the water. Of course, as you know, most humans who have encounters with sharks are surfers and that’s because of the competitive mindset they have while in the water. While hunting for the perfect wave their heart rate is increased, and on a physiological level they’re sending out a rhythmic magnetic energy in the ocean, signaling competitiveness. The surfer’s play of catching the perfect wave has an element of hunter and prey to it, that attracts the other predators in the water who are curious to see what prey is available that they might have overlooked.
“When a shark approaches the energy of a human in the water it’s to check out what type of competitor it’s dealing with, and most of the time it recognizes that we’re no competition at all and turns away without the human realizing the shark was ever there.
“However, if the shark decides to investigate closer they use their mouth to test out what they’ve encountered and of course when that happens, the human in the water knows the shark is there, which causes understandable panic and the survival instinct to kick in for the human. As you can imagine, that only amplifies the electromagnetic output, and with the humans splashing around in a state of fear they’re behaving very much like prey. Sometimes that results in the shark taking a test bite, but the moment they do they realize we’re not their natural food. We actually taste really bad and salty to them. They have no way of knowing that a small chew on their part is potentially deadly to us humans as we can easily bleed out from some artery they’ve severed. If I’m being frank in my understanding of what they’re communicating, it’s not their problem or their intention. If they wanted to attack and finish us off, they’d do that.
“They’re showing me that the encounters with humans are very different from attacks in the sense that when they attack prey they come from below but with humans they swim up to them in plain sight.”
I crossed my arms, listening to Fleur and finding that what she was saying made a lot of sense.
“How can we humans protect ourselves from these encounters with sharks?” Thato asked.
“Fear is a large component. Right now, many are fearful as soon as they step foot in the water, and without wanting to, they attract what they fear by sending out these images of sharks from their minds like quantum holographs. I suggest that when entering the water, which is the shark’s home and their rightful place to be, we adjust our mental state and remain calm. You could send out a silent message to the unseen that’s out there and wish for them to stay away from you. We’re all capable of telepathy.”
“Can you be more specific? How do we do that?”
“I would suggest you greet the sharks with respect and set out your intention to have recreational fun in the water. You could hold a visualization that you have a bubble around you. Not from a fragile state where you feel vulnerable because that would attract attention. It should be a bubble of peaceful energy that creates a buffer between you and anything that could harm you.”
“What’s the shark’s reaction to the repellents that humans use? I’m talking about the devices that send out sonics or electricity to keep the sharks at bay.”
“From their point of view, it piques their curiosity and draws them in to see what it’s about, so the best way is really to apply a bubble of calm, peaceful energy around you. That will work much better than any technology-based device.”
“What would you say on the sharks’ behalf to our leaders who are considering harsh methods to deter the sharks from attacking?”
“I’d like to remind them that the sharks have every right to be here and their presence in the water isn’t recreational like it is for humans. They serve a great purpose in keeping the temperature of the planet down simply because sharks and whales dive deep enough to bring cold water to the surface. Many of the initiatives around the world to keep humans safe from sharks involve damage to the sharks. What I’m getting from them is a request for a peaceful coexistence. They have no issue with our being in the water if we can be there without meaning them any harm.”
