John and Joan

October 2, 2001

From Joan Ocean

When I first met John Cunningham Lilly it was in Montana at Featherpipe Ranch in the 1970s. His workshop flier had appeared in my apartment mailbox in Orange County, California. I had never heard of him, but the flier caught my attention. It said he would talk about his off planet contacts with life forms on other planets. I decided to attend.

John was there with Toni, his wife. And I felt very close to her. Everyone did, she was such a warm, people-oriented person. At the two-week workshop John spent a lot of time talking about the dolphins and his Janus communication project. I was not interested in that. I wanted to hear about the ETs. But John kept talking about dolphins and playing tapes of their sounds -- which resonated over the beautiful rolling hills of Montana. Soon I was dreaming of dolphins every night.

We had a warm friendship that was spent walking and talking together. He affectionately named me Seven Seas and I called him Cunningham! He always remembered me as the one who broke apart his Samadhi tank at the Ranch when a scary looking creature 'appeared' in the tank and I decided to get out immediately. Unable to find the exit door in the dark I pushed against the sides and proved the manufacturers claims that you could get out of this coffin-like box whenever you needed to. The salted water poured out through the cracks, the light poured in and I found the exit door! Subsequently I spent many nights in the tank thoroughly enjoying the out of body and weightless experiences that John pioneered.

In California, we 'coincidentally' (a la John's Coincidence Control) met many times at the facility, Esalen Institute in Big Sur. We had a common friend by the name of Jenny O'Connor who channeled The Nine ("…our light is as bright as that of Sirius.") I remember they counseled John to set aside his research projects for a while and go to the dolphins and spend some time with them in their natural habitat. John's questions to The Nine were so interesting and profound that my appreciation for the cetaceans grew in leaps and bounds as I felt their energy coming directly through him. With his sharp mind and his ability to get to the core of what was important in our thoughts and ideas, wasting no words, he was a highly evolved consciousness leader at Esalen Institute and people flocked around him to experience his wisdom.

John with Joan, Estelle Meyers & Philip Bailey

We spoke at many conferences on the same stage and in the cetacean world had common friends. The laughs and insights we shared during these gatherings were the reason I enjoyed attending…… always new ideas, profound realizations, thought provoking conversations with deep feelings of love and acceptance for many different advanced civilizations.

When John moved to the Big Island his health was failing and he spent many mornings in my garden at Dolphin House, reading, smoking and enjoying the peaceful ocean view.

Eventually he moved to Maui and I did not see him as often. I was happy to hear he was "talking Whales" to people on boats and being with his friends Kutira and Raphael of the Kahua Hawaiian Institute.

Earlier this year, I visited with John and Philip in Kihei, Maui with some friends who were taping our conversation. The tape was running, John and I remained in silence, communicating on other levels as we often did. After 5 minutes passed, John looked up at my friends and with a sleepy-eyed grin, said, "Did you get that?"

There are many people in the cetacean world who know John as a friend and mentor, especially the cetaceans themselves! It is through the dolphins in him that I began my contacts with the cetaceans. I will always be grateful….. And I will always remember his twinkling eyes and his insightful, hilarious comments, as he taught us to communicate on many levels, leaving the unnecessary chatter behind.

I see you now, John . . . free ….. and happily conferencing with our extraterrestrial friends about the state of the planet. We remain in contact through our common appreciation of higher consciousness and our wise friends the dolphins and whales.

With love, always,

Joan Ocean

To save cetaceans it is painfully clear that we must save the humans, change their minds--on a grand scale. Books and videos are no substitute for the experience of direct human dolphin interaction…We need millions of humans to become educated about cetaceans and understand how special they are. Those who have encountered dolphins know how they were changed by them and know what I'm talking about.

The forces against the cetaceans are very powerful, and incomprehensibly wealthy…If divided, conservationists, oceanariums, scientists, government, and other thinking people concerned about Cetacea, have no chance against the true enemies--who are plenty happy that we stay divided…But please don't limit the public's access--educating them is the most important part.

Dr. John C. Lilly, 2001