100th Monkey and FSL-India: Manjunath Kannal, Mysore Zone

100th Monkey and FSL-India: Manjunath Kannal, Mysore Zone

Hello, I am Manjunath Kannal, 100th Monkey facilitator from Mysore zone. I am working for the last 4 years with FSL-India, for their long term and short term programs.

My first session with the Vijaya High School students was very exciting. I introduced our 100th Monkey program to the children. Some laughed and some smiled because of the whacky name ‘100th Monkey’. So, I decided to share the story of the 100th monkey on the Japanese island of Koshima, from the book by Ken Keyes, Jr., where scientists dropped sweet potatoes from a helicopter down to the Macaca Fuscata monkeys on the islands. 

One of the young monkeys exhibited an unusual behaviour – she did not like eating the potato with sand all over it, so she began washing the potato first and then eating it. This behaviour was followed by her family and friends. When it reached the 100th monkey, an unusual thing happened. All the monkeys on the island began washing the potato and eating it. In short, it spread to the whole island and even crossed the sea. To their immense surprise, Scientists observed this behaviour in monkeys from other disconnected islands.

100th Monkey is a hypothetical phenomenon that states that if a critical mass is reached, it has a tendency to spread and multiply in great magnitude. Its central idea is that when enough individuals in a population adopt a new idea or behaviour, there occurs an ideological breakthrough that allows this new awareness to be communicated directly from mind to mind without the connection of external experience and then, all individuals in the population spontaneously adopt it. In other words, when enough of us hold something to be true, it becomes true for everyone. 

The children were very curious about it, then all the students started thinking about what special thing we are doing in this program and they were interested to hear and know about the program. I spoke about how the youth of today have the capacity and potential to change the world and impact both themselves and the larger society as a whole. I engaged in conversations with them about the mission and vision of our program for the Indian youth.

Later, we played 2 games – ‘Say what I say’ and ‘Do what I do’. They were very happy to play the non-competitive games, which they really enjoyed, and said they had a lot of fun.                                                                   

As facilitator, I am very excited to start working with these kids. It’s not only a program for children, but also as a facilitator, there are many things to learn how to facilitate the session. I am looking forward to contributing more in this program.

As facilitator, I am very excited to start working with these kids. It’s not only a program for children, but also as a facilitator, there are many things to learn how to facilitate the session. I am looking forward to contributing more in this program.

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