A Simian Story

Picture this: A monkey gleefully swinging through the forest, feasting on sweet fruits, dancing with the sunshine, and singing with the raindrops. This monkey passes a pool of water every day, and often stops to quench a thirst or chase a crab. One day something very peculiar occurred as the monkey was resting at the water's edge. As his eyes were following the dance of an insect across the surface, he noticed another monkey in the water looking right back at him. Now he had heard stories about water monkeys from his friends but somehow he knew this was different. As he lifted his hands to his face and the other monkey did the same he had a realization: this monkey represents himself and they are one in the same. Identity came into being. He ran off to tell all the other monkeys of his discovery. At first they told him they had seen these strange water monkeys before, tried to kill them, and it's really no big deal. But at the demands of this monkey they all came to the realization that they were sitting next to a pool of water looking at themselves!

This changed everything. The monkeys became fascinated with their newfound identity and soon they were asking deep questions about existence and thinking big thoughts (mostly about how to control other monkeys in order to attain more bananas). These monkeys spent so much time with their own thoughts they forgot about the simple joys of watching the clouds or climbing a tree. All the other animals, plants, and spirits around them lost importance; an inanimate landscape outside of their treasured inner domain. So they worked hard to alter, develop, and improve this lifeless world into one that suited their refined habits. They called the new world "civilization" and the old world "nature". These monkeys spent such an unhealthy amount of time immersed in their own creations and ideas that they became frenzied, disturbed, ... sad.

As the Earth shook, the surface of the pool began to ripple. A distressed monkey was sitting at water's edge, head in hands, lost in her worries and fears. Her reflection became jumbled by the splashing and she could no longer discern the outline of her face. As she lowered her hands to the surface she looked past her reflection and saw the eye of a fish staring back at her. Now she had learned about fish in school and bought them at the supermarket but somehow she knew this was different. As she took a deep breath and the fish opened and closed its mouth she had a realization: this fish represents herself and they are one and the same. She then spotted an underwater plant rooted in the murky bottom, swaying with the ripples, and she had the same epiphany: they are living the same life in the same glorious moment. Her eyes lit up and her frowning face transformed into a smile of amazement. She plunged into the water, suddenly fully alive and blissful. She ran off to tell all the other monkeys of her discovery. At first they told her they had seen these plants animals & rocks, made use of them, and that it's really no big deal. But at the demands of this monkey they all came to the realization that they were all cut from the same cloth.

What's crazier? Believing that everything is alive and interwoven or believing that we are entities separate from the air we breathe and the soil we walk upon. Or perhaps the question should be which is the better adaptation, or which is more fun?

Shifting focus... to all beings winged, scaled, rooted, and furred. Softening our eyes to perceive everything within our realm of experience, the sky soil rocks and rain, as alive as our own beating hearts. Indeed every grain of sand and ray of light is alive in its own unique form and has the potential to engage our senses just as much as a charging horse or a human's smile.

There is a secret to happiness that is only a secret because the dominant culture has robbed us of our innate understanding of this concept. Everything is alive. Absolutely everything that exists is intertwining in the magnificent dance of life. Everything perceived interacts with the senses in a truly magical way that cries out "we are alive!" We are born with the intuitive understanding that everything is animate and resultantly we live life to its fullest basking in the glory that is every waking and sleeping moment. Happiness. But people have overthought the whole business by saying "there are differences between all these things we can perceive and we can make words for them to differentiate". This is all fine and good but the tragedy came when people actually began to believe their abstract constructions of words and rankings took precedence over the living breathing Earth.

We have been fooled by our frontal lobes into thinking this blanket of existence is separated into discrete exclusive categories that deserve inordinate attention and recognition. We're convinced that only certain portions of what we perceive should be considered alive and beautiful and that everything else is just the background and inanimate setting for these "more important" things. The full fruition of this frontal lobe deception is of course the oppression of human beings that belong to a different "category" than the dominator whether it be gender, skin color, or creedence.

Religion has stolen the magic out of every breath of air, drop of rain, and flying bird by convincing people that the world we perceive is devoid of magic and that holiness is found not on Earth, but in heaven. This is a privatization of bliss. The magic of everyday ordinary existence has been stolen from our senses and placed in the exclusive domain of that which is outside our sensual contact and only available to us chimps that can close our eyes to the world and conjure up the words "god" and "heaven". People close their eyes when they prey. Miserable existence results from spirituality that has partitioned life into that which is holy (outside our immediate perception) and all this junk on Earth which should be "put to use".

For millions of years long before our frontal lobes made this distinction we lived and breathed our spirituality. It's easy to do, simply quiet the chattering mind and open up the senses. Allowing the frontal lobe to play its fair part without dominating will actually lead to the rational and logical conclusion that everything is alive. Example: Lying in the forest watching the rustling of the leaves and a passing cloud. An ant on my toe and the wind against my every pore. Hearing human laughter, bird and insect song; the scent of citrus and springtime. All of these agents are participating with my combined senses, therefore they are all animate and alive. Why would I make myself miserable and overthink things by saying well that cloud shouldn't count as alive because it doesn't have a brain and that ant really shouldn't either because it can't speak my language. Simply opening up the senses reveals the knowledge that everything speaks the same language on Earth: Bird Tree Ocean Monkey Cloud. Some humans have just closed their eyes, plugged their ears, and are murmuring amongst themselves.

Some of the things the monkeys are murmuring about these days are great global crises and changing the world. They wonder what just one simian can do. They can open themselves up to the living world around them, reclaim their senses, and rediscover the magic of everday life.

Reclaiming the holiness of every breath of air.
-Chimp in the wind