Monday 17 September 2007

Fighting Inner Reptile- Knowing the Darkness Within



Ok, last poll didn't really interest you- It was a tie.
Prisons not a hot topic here then, in spite of the media.

OK, this week, the question will be about you.

But first, let's remember Inner Monkey.
Happy Inner Monkey, trying to guide you towards Love.
Love for all your species.

After all, it does work better, as Inner Monkey knows.
But why are you so hard to guide?

Well, Inner Monkey is guiding you towards love.
Away from our deeper roots.
Because although Monkey is Loving and Curious, we have a darker history that we are climbing up from.

Inner Reptile.
Lurking deeper still- hiding inside Inner Monkey.
The urge to simply survive.
The urge to pure self.

The primal instinct that causes animals to devour their young or kill their mothers.

Mammals are lucky creatures. They rise above the true evils of nature, a nasty brutal survival game.
Survival of the nastiest, as much as survival of the fittest.
And the wonder is, that such a nasty concept, yield at its pinnacle to something like us.



But let go of Inner Monkey and Inner Reptile steps in.

Inner Reptile takes Love and Curiosity and warps them.
Warps them to Reptile way.
Warps to self.

And so we see Inner Reptile cutting us back.
Instead of unconditional love, Inner reptile makes it conditional.
A bargain.

'I'll Love you, but only if you NEVER show another man affection.'

All that is bad, is Inner reptile perverting good.
Each evil, is a love gone wrong.

Which of the seven sins does not entail Love?



Sloth- Love of rest, love of doing nothing. Wasting your life.

Gluttony- Love of the Earth's bounty, taking and filling yourself with more than you need, while others starve.

Lust- Love of Sex, but Love of it, to the exclusion of the Bond that should be felt to truly celebrate the gift of life.

Avarice- Love of the means to gain the fruits of the earth- and the means to rule.

Envy- Love of anything you don't have, but feel entitled to.

Wrath- Love of whatever drives you so much, you lose perspective of the more important Love- To Mankind.

Pride- Love of self, and Love of IMAGE of self.

Inner reptile is indeed cunning. He uses our own strength against us, seeking to drag us back to his ways.
Back to an animal, back to the nasty ways of nature we have climbed so far to escape.

That's Evil.
The act of impulse before feeling.

Evil is not a fallen Good.
Good is a risen Evil.



And Inner Monkey drives us forward.

So let's kiss goodbye to Reptile ways.
Let's stop owning bits of the earth.
Let's stop owning it's bounty.
And let's stop owning eachother.

And just enjoy it- enjoy life.
While we have the chance.

Because it truly is an amazing experience to live through.

So, is your Inner Monkey winning?

Have your say!

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

My virtual persona seems to place me within the Reptilian camp.

“I had become something, as if born again. I had hung between possibilities before, between the cold truths I knew and the heart-sucking conjuring tricks of the Shaper; now that was passed: I was Grendel, Ruiner of Meadhalls, Wrecker of Kings!
But also, as never before, I was alone”. H/t John Gardner

Anonymous said...

oh my gosh, I was just coming to grips with being a monkey...and now I have reptile in there too?

Is there anywhere in your book that says we also come from hippopottomus's because after polishing off the last bit of cake I am now feeling very much related to that animal.

:-)

Anonymous said...

I think I have spent my whole life trying to keep my inner reptile under control. Ever vigilant.
I think this post puts the monkey ones in perspective.

"Evil is not a fallen Good.
Good is a risen Evil."

I'll have to think about this but it's an interesting idea.

Anonymous said...

My inner monkey is leading the reptile hands down. Life is an amazing race.

Anonymous said...

Reptile...

So far back is that ancient part of our minds, yet it many it is dominant.

Wouldn't reptile be a dominant factor in the prison debate which you had up yesterday? Many in there exactly that, large lizards in cages, waiting to get out so they can feed and satisfy they baser urges, probably in ways that will land them there again, soon.

Reptile is definitely beyond thought crimes, by the book, anyway.

Monkey in his compassion and curiosity is the main perpetrator of these.

Sorry to get carried away with the Orwellian concept the last time I was here. But sometimes, it seems my nation is headed that way rather quickly. Not a happy thought, to be sure.

Anonymous said...

I am still trying to work out the monkey thing... who wrote those seven deadly sins then? I never agreed to them I can tell you..

Anonymous said...

"Evil is not a fallen Good.
Good is a risen Evil." -- I love this bit!!! Mucho profound...

Love the whole monkey and reptile thing. Couldn't have said it better!

Anonymous said...

I'll be careful not to spank my monkey so much then.

Anonymous said...

I don't know about Inner Monkey but I do have a monkey mind! You know that little voice in your head that keeps interrupting your quiet time or keeps talking event though you are trying to pay attention to that...what on sorry I was listening to my monkey mind again!

Anonymous said...

I am like Princess Daisy: I look like a mammal but I'm really a dinosaur.

Anonymous said...

Inner Reptile.
Lurking deeper still- hiding inside Inner Monkey.
The urge to simply survive.
The urge to pure self.

The urge to possess and demonize.

Anonymous said...

Inner Reptile.
Lurking deeper still- hiding inside Inner Monkey.
The urge to simply survive.
The urge to pure self.

The urge to possess and demonize.

Anonymous said...

Grendel- Well, yes.
But Grendel is descended from Cain, if I recall, so you never know...

Still, it's about Free Will, so the final victory is still open...

Betty- Hippotamus, no. Not a direct ancestor to us.

But Man descends from Monkeys, and Monkeys descend from reptiles- as does Hippo.
So hippo DOES have Inner Reptile. But not Inner Monkey.

jmb- Good and Evil are realities- we know because we really do experience them.
Its best to know what they are.
Good is up, towards progress.
Evil is down, back to Reptile ways.

Good and Evil CAN be explained scientifically.
I just simplify it a bit here, because I think we need to know ourselves- even like ourselves, as a species.

Alexys- It is an amazing race, indeed.
Hey, I gave the reins to my furry chum a long time ago.

Eric- But his thoughts come from has baser instincts- in fact most instincts ARE base.
It is their harnassing by thought that is the triumph of Good.

Mind over matter.

The UK has been Big Brother land for a while now.

Mutley- Well, they are open to debate.

Basically, I think the basic rule is, as I always say.

Get Maximum pleasure, Cause Minimum pain, and try to leave the world in a better way than you found it.

Princess B- If you think about it, it makes more sense.

We are rising towards perfection, evolution is a process driving us on and up, to dizzy heights we can barely imagine.

Elcetro- K- Why? Monkeys do it.
Nothing really wrong with it, as a bodily function.
Ersatz pleasure though.

Poody- I'm kind of a goldfish with Alzheimers at times.
I find it hard to focus on meetings and things, because hey, just don't care really, and there are more interesting things to think about.

Nessa- Ah, so the dark side has won, in your case?
Let Inner Monkey free...
You will LOVE the Love you feel.

Anonymous said...

Dr Holdren- Exactly. Reptile is what we all battle to overcome.
Serenity is the final victory of Reason over Impulse.

Anonymous said...

I didn't notice the poll.

Anonymous said...

Yom Kippur is easier to understand

Anonymous said...

Brilliant observation regarding the seven sins and their ties to love.

Anonymous said...

I hope so! Cape diem, indeed, as long as we don't hurt others.

Anonymous said...

Ed- The poll was up all week.
Same every week, new poll Mondays.

Jeremy- You think? Maybe.
One of the my bedtrime reading books is on Judaism, but I've not got very far yet.

Princess P- Sadly, not entirely mine.
It's fairly standard Catholic theology, that part of the post.

Welshcakes- Well, that's how I see it. Sad thing is you can try not to hurt people, and in trying not to, hurt them anyway.

This is the conundrum. Sometimes Inner reptile impersonates Inner Monkey.