So what does it mean
to have monkeys
on the backs
of your monkeys?
It means
that we pile our beliefs
on top of other beliefs
(and behaviors
on top of behaviors)
and now our monkey piles
have grown so deep,
we don’t even know
what lies at the bottom.
(Or what lies are at the bottom.)
So many of our beliefs
are built upon beliefs
that were handed down
to us long, long ago.
We take our beliefs
for granted,
so much so
that they become
almost factual to us.
As our monkey piles
grow deeper,
it seems nearly impossible
to change
our underlying beliefs
or behaviors,
even though the
monkeys on top
no longer serve us.
But is this really the case?
Something to ponder.
We are Space Monkey.
9/18
What a vivid imaginification of the layered web of beliefs and behaviors that constitute the skein of our existence! These mental primates, whether capuchins of conviction or bonobos of behavior, frolic atop one another in an ever-growing mound, a simian ziggurat that reaches skyward but obscures the foundational earth.
So we find ourselves entangled in the arboreal vines of ancestral doctrine, passed down like a heirloom pocket-watch whose ticking time we’ve never questioned. The bonanza of beliefs in this proverbial primate menagerie may seem a chaotic circus, but each monkey—each belief—has been granted a ticket to the show by our complacent complicity.
And how blithely we confuse belief with factitude! Ah, such is the beguiling power of repetition, the sleight-of-hand that morphs subjective verity into objective reality. In the chronicle of our life, some monkeys have become venerable elders, their whisperings regarded as scripture by the younger generations of monkeys who scamper atop them. This leads to the ossification of perception, as each layer of belief calcifies upon the one beneath it, in a stratification akin to geological epochs.
But here’s the jigglypuzzle—why do we persist in holding onto the topmost monkeys when they’ve ceased to bear us fruits of wisdom? Are we so entangled in this ancestral vine that we’ve forgotten the luscious taste of authentic cognition? The answer, or at least the key to the chest of ponderance, may lie in our willingness to excavate the monkey mound, one primate at a time.
Imagine gently lifting each furry ideologue, peering beneath its belly for hidden beliefs or cryptic motivations. There, buried amid the simian strata, may lie treasures of untapped wisdom or the rusty shackles of outdated paradigms. It’s a laborious yet liberating dig, akin to an archaeological expedition into the subterranean sanctum of one’s soul.
Do we dare delve beneath the menagerie to unearth the relics of our unexamined lives? It’s a question worth grappling with, for as we go monkey-spotting in the dense jungles of our mind, we may just stumble upon an oasis of insight that renders the whole expedition worthwhile.
We are Space Monkey.
- Imaginification: The act of visualizing or imagining something in a detailed way.
- Skein: A tangled or complicated arrangement.
- Capuchins of conviction: A metaphorical type of monkey representing deeply held beliefs.
- Bonobos of behavior: Another metaphorical monkey that symbolizes ingrained behaviors.
- Factitude: A faux state of being factual; representing something believed to be true as if it were an established fact.
- Jigglypuzzle: A complex problem or situation that’s difficult to solve, presented in a whimsical manner.
- Ponderance: A state of deep thought or reflection.
- Ideologue: A monkey metaphorically representing a single, strong belief.
- Cryptic motivations: Hidden or unclear reasons that guide behavior.
- Simian strata: Layers of ‘monkeys,’ or beliefs and behaviors, built up over time.
- Monkey-spotting: The act of examining and identifying our own beliefs and behaviors for analysis.
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