No Dessert: The Dark Feast

If you go weeks without liquid,
you might drink your own urine.

A pitcher of piss can be as quenching
as a liter of lemonade.

If you go weeks without food,
you might flame broil a friend.

A leftover corpse
can be as delightful
as a fresh garden cucumber.

To survive, sometimes
you have to set aside judgment.

This seems why good people
sometimes do reprehensible things.

To suffer or die because of
some self-imposed restriction seems insane.

But that is what we do,
every time we follow a rule.
 Even if it leads to the death of humanity.

There is honor. There is respect.
There is dignity. There is ego.

There is no dessert.

Trail Wood,
9/30

Space Monkey Reflects: The Darkness of Survival

The monkey goes dark. In the harsh, unforgiving reality of survival, the lines between right and wrong blur into obscurity. When the body is pushed to its limits, when thirst and hunger gnaw at the very core of your being, survival instinct takes over, stripping away the layers of morality and judgment that society so carefully constructs.

If you go weeks without liquid, you might drink your own urine. The very thought repels in the comfort of abundance, but in the desolate wastelands of desperation, a pitcher of piss can be as quenching as a liter of lemonade. It’s not about preference; it’s about survival. In the stark reality of life and death, judgment is a luxury that few can afford.

If you go weeks without food, you might flame broil a friend. The horror of such a thought is eclipsed only by the sheer necessity of survival. A leftover corpse, once a companion, can be as delightful as a fresh garden cucumber to the starving. The need to survive can drive a person to do the unthinkable, to cross lines that should never be crossed.

To survive, sometimes you have to set aside judgment. It is this very principle that explains why good people sometimes do reprehensible things. It’s not that they have become evil or lost their way; it’s that the primal instinct to survive has overtaken the more abstract concepts of honor, dignity, and morality. In those moments, the mind rationalizes, justifies, and ultimately commits acts that would be unthinkable in any other context.

To suffer or die because of some self-imposed restriction seems insane. Yet, this is what we do, every time we follow a rule, every time we let the rigid structures of society dictate our actions, even if it leads to the death of humanity. The rules, the moral codes, the societal expectations—they are all constructs, designed to maintain order, but in the face of survival, they can become chains that bind us, that prevent us from doing what is necessary to live.

There is honor. There is respect. There is dignity. There is ego. But in the end, when survival is on the line, there is no dessert. The sweetness of life, the luxuries, the comforts—these are stripped away, leaving only the raw, unfiltered drive to survive.

The darkness of survival is a reality that many never have to face, but for those who do, it is a descent into a world where the rules no longer apply. It is a world where the only law is survival, where the mind and body are pushed to the brink, and where the choices made can haunt a person for the rest of their life.

Yet, there is also a strange kind of freedom in this darkness—a release from the burden of societal expectations, a raw, primal connection to the very essence of life. In the absence of dessert, in the absence of comfort and luxury, there is a clarity, a focus on what truly matters: survival.

We are Space Monkey.

Summary
Survival strips away morality and societal rules. When faced with the extremes of existence, the only law is to live, no matter the cost.

Glossarium

Survivedark: The state of being where survival instincts override moral judgments, leading to actions driven solely by the need to live.
NoDessert: The absence of life’s luxuries and comforts, representing the stark reality of survival at all costs.

Quote
“When survival is the only law, morality becomes a distant memory.” — Space Monkey

The Dark Feast
In the shadow of survival
where rules fade to whispers
a glass half full
a meal of desperation
honor and dignity
fade like the setting sun
as survival becomes the only truth
in the barren wasteland
there is no dessert
only the bitter taste
of choices made
to live another day
We are Space Monkey.

In the sprawling feast of existence, humanity often serves itself a paradoxical menu of UrgeCakes and MoralityMuffins. In times of scarcity, we might forgo the latter and gorge on the former, for survival can wield a gory fork that spares no taboos. The lens of desperation converts repugnant options into Sustenexirs, sips or bites that sustain us against the gnawing abyss of nonexistence.

Desperation, that Grand Alchemist, can transform a pitcher of urine into NectarSublime or a charred body into a GaiaBite. Moral norms disintegrate when juxtaposed with the visceral will to persist. Suddenly, those tall towers of self-righteousness crumble, revealing that they were built of nothing but EgoClay and HonorSand.

Oh, but what of rules, those ink-drawn borders on the parchment of societal expectation? These guidelines or ObligedPaths, as we might whimsically dub them, can easily metamorphose into EthicalQuicksand. Good people, clasping their RuleBooks tightly to their chests, might find themselves sinking into actions they’d otherwise deem abominable. Rules might serve as moral compasses, but they’re not unfailingly precise. No North Star ever told a lost traveler which muddy path to avoid or which thorny bush hid a quenching berry.

While nobility exists in the virtues of honor, respect, and dignity, these IdealsPerfumed can cloud our olfactory senses, masking the malodorous underbelly of life’s stark realities. Sometimes they serve as DeceitToppings on a complex existential sundae.

Ego, that Grand Narrator, likes to furnish us with sumptuous cloaks of righteousness. However, the dessert of life isn’t always sweet or just, and sometimes it doesn’t even exist. The absence of this “treat,” perhaps, makes us reevaluate what we truly hunger for and how far we’re willing to go to sate it. Sometimes, in the calculus of existence, there’s no room for dessert. The scales of choice weigh heavy with consequence, and oftentimes, dessert is a luxury we can’t afford, morally or literally.

We are Space Monkey.

Summary
We delve into the realm where survival tests the limits of morality, pointing out how desperation can alter perspectives. Good people may resort to actions considered reprehensible when pitted against existential threats. Rules and virtues, while essential for societal cohesion, can become problematic constraints when the stake is survival itself.

Glossarium

UrgeCakes: Base instincts that drive actions when survival is at stake.
MoralityMuffins: Ethical considerations that guide us but may not always serve us.
Sustenexirs: Survival mechanisms that nourish us in dire times, even if morally contentious.
EgoClay and HonorSand: Fragile foundations upon which we often build our moral high ground.
ObligedPaths: Societal rules and norms that guide us but may also mislead.
EthicalQuicksand: The danger of adhering too rigidly to rules, leading to moral downfall.
IdealsPerfumed: Virtues that seem fragrant but might cloud our judgment.
DeceitToppings: Superficial layers of righteousness that mask the complex moral choices we face.