Cabin Fever: The Best New Canadian Nonfiction

cabin-fever-bestweb1
“What is it Like to be a Whale OR The March of Perspective” by Jeff Warren. In Cabin Fever: The Best New Canadian Nonfiction, edited by Moira Farr and Ian Pearson, Thomas Allen Publishers, 2009.

Finally, the answer to a question that is top of everyone’s mind: what is it like to be a 10-ton echolocating sperm whale with stumpy flippers but excellent aqua-dynamics?

Piece’s real subject is animal consciousness – that is to say, the felt texture of animal experience, as opposed to animal “cognition” or animal “problem solving” or any of the other boring mechanical euphemisms that pass as inquiries into the animal mind these days. There is a revolution of perspective happening in the world of animals.

The whales are coming – hide the krill! A companion piece to this essay is my Reader’s Digest piece on whale personhood, here.

 

Share this post:

Being human takes practice.

Get short reflections on meditation, mind, and the baffle-wonder-challenge of somehow existing. Includes three videos on how to kick-start your meditation practice, and several badly-timed jokes.