monday morning motivator!: 12, monkey business!

200 years of darwin

so 150 years into the origin of the species and we have managed to wrench ourselves so completely out of the scheme of things that to ourselves we are virtually unrecognizable.

dave?
is that you dave?

and that is another story entirely! 

for today is monday and we are working on motivation rather than realistic naturalism or any other ism you might use to describe the descent of man. and motivation for what? well…whatta ya got? motivation for making 2009 the best year ever–beginning right now! yes! so let’s make this the best 3rd week of february ever, shall we? beginning with today! the best 2.16 ever. yeah.

so. what does this have to do with darwin and the origin of the species? yeah. well. what was it that crying kid was burbling about? “i ain’t related to no monkey.” well…sorry kid…nothing personal..and yeah, you are.

the supreme deity doesn’t make mistakes!

so let’s see how we can use that knowledge to make today the best 2.16 ever, shall we? alright. so, first off…if god or brahman or jehovah or the great creator or whatever the hell you call it decided to fashion us from apes then who are we to judge? eh? ours is not to question why, ours is to look and say, oh. hey. if we came from the apes perhaps we can get some clues from them about how to live healthy happy motivated lives…

so let’s, shall we? after all, this is monday, another monday, and it’s time for another healing agent in order to continue our theme of self healing–using the definition of healing as making whole–and using the ideal of being whole as being in that state of completion–which of course is necessary in making this the best year week day ever.

it’s just not going to be the best if something is missing, is it?

i want my knuffle bunny!

of course not! we want it all! yeah.

so. let’s look at the monkeys and see if there is something that we are missing!

now. monkeys. what do we know about monkeys?

outside. monkeys spend a lot of time outside. in trees. with fresh air. fresh water. fresh food.

okay then. there’s some clues.

we come from a heritage of fresh air, fresh water, and fresh food. and it seems reasonable to think, we are invoking darwin and reason today, that we are going to continue to need those things in order to be healthy and happy. after all–take fresh air, fresh water, and fresh food away from a monkey today and it’s going to have a decidedly less than perfect day. and keep this action up, and in a week or a month that monkey is going to get sick. yeah. and the only cure will be…fresh air, fresh water, and fresh food.

so that’s a good foundation for having a perfect day. fresh fresh fresh. and now. what else? oh yeah. a lack of bars. yeah. freedom. that was and is an important component of a healthy monkey life.

which reminds me, did you know that a major motivator for darwin’s research into the origin of the species, a primary driver for his search for evidence that we humans all came from a common ancestor, was his hatred and detestation of the horrors of slavery? and of the fake science justifications for it that were common in the 19th century? the notion that some races were better than others, because god made it so, or because science would justify it so? yeah. well, now you do!

yep. he was a charles after all. and he wasn’t going to put up with that sort of bullshit. 

so there we go. this is the week to begin to maximise fresh air, fresh water, and fresh food. and freedom. yes.

now what does all this mean?

well, the implications are–well it can go pretty far. first off.

• fresh air means get some time out in nature–trees, fields, whatever.
• fresh water means cut the coke and coffee, for charles’ sake!
• and fresh food i’m sorry to say it doesn’t come in a box or a can or a jar or a hermetically sealed bag.

fresh means fresh. so get more of it. i am. 50% fresh and either raw or lightly cooked. as little from boxes as possible. unlike havi brooks i doubt i will make my own yogurt this week, tho’ i will eat 7 stars as it totally rocks and it’s biodynamic and organic and i just know that their cows are happy, unlike those horizon cows that are so happy it takes a cartoon to express just how much (not!)

the segue into freedom

‘cos here’s the thing. those free monkeys are not only free themselves, they also don’t hold any other monkeys, or any other animals of any sort, captive and caged etc. my buddy chas darwin (him again!) not only found being a slave to be degrading, he also found holding a slave to be degrading. the entire institution. from the roots up…

social inequality and the notions of racial superiority which support the whole thing…all of this…degrading to everyone involved. even the onlookers.

now. i don’t know what chas d would think of factory farms and feedlots and caged chickens, etc. and i ain’t no vegetatian. and still, this chas isn’t eating anything that spent its life in a cage. out of common decency in the first place, and in the second place because i hold to the notion that we take on the energy of that which we eat.

• if it is canned we become canned. 
• if it’s processed we become processed. 
• if it is caged we become caged.

and that goes for fish too!

monkey business

now. of course this notion spreads. i’m working with the image of a monkey trap. a simple gourd or jar with a nice piece of fruit inside, and just enough diameter in the opening for a monkey to get it’s hand inside. and not enough room for a fist holding said piece of fruit to exit. so monkey reaches in, and can’t escape without letting go of the fruit. the prize. which is something the monkey can’t seem to do.

and so trapped is the monkey by this prize that you can walk right up and grab the little fellow, depriving him of his liberty. and we all know how much monkeys value their liberty. and now, dinner, lab subject, or pet, the monkey has surrendered its freedom to an idea, the idea of eating a piece of fruit.

that image up top

that monkey is us. and it’s not our hand, it’s our mind.

• “just a minute”
• “one more email”
• “i’m almost finished”

yeah. the massive mental trap of twitter, flickr, youtube, guitar hero, email, rss, etc…sucking our brains and our attention into the shiny little world of pixels and digital pixie dust.

wow!

so there we are. monkeys with our hands on the fruit. our eyes on the prize. unable to disengage from the digital world long enough to engage back into the meat world that we actually live in. huh. the matrix, anyone? yeah.

back to basics

fresh air, fresh water, fresh food, and freedom. the four f’s. yeah. fuck yeah! this is going to be the best 3rd week of february ever. and the best 16th of february ever. press the eject and say hello world, goodbye machines. until tomorrow!

love,

charles