Letter # 81 "The Monkey Mind"

Sadly, Darwin delayed publishing his theory of evolution as he was rightly afraid of criticism from the church and ridicule from society. His theory placed heavy emphasis on the evolution of man and ape. The Judeo-Christian-Islamic scriptures are not accommodating of that idea. Not only that, those scriptures make only fleeting mention of apes, and even then as a commodity: “The king had a fleet of trading ships at sea along with the ships of Hiram. Once every three years it returned, carrying gold, silver and ivory, and apes and baboons.” [Kings 10:22].
The Vedic scriptures accord a much deeper respect to apes. Hanuman, the great monkey king and servitor of Lord Rama, was a Vanara (Sanskrit: van “forest” and nara “man”; which word is comparable to the Malay orang-utan, orang “man” utan “forest”). Wikipedia informs us of the qualities of the Vanaras: “amusing, childish, mildly irritating, badgering, hyperactive, adventurous, bluntly honest, loyal, courageous, and kind. They are at least a foot shorter than an average human and their bodies are covered with light fur, generally brown in colour.”
Hanuman represents our inner strength, simplicity, good humor, energy and fierce loyalty. But living in the east or west, we tend to use the word monkey in a derogatory manner. Historically, the sight of apes was unlucky to the Arabs, and perhaps this is still the case. I hope that my Arabian readers can enlighten me on that matter. The origins of the English word monkey are vague. Perhaps it comes from Moneke, the name of the son of Martin the Ape from a medieval German beast story of 1498. By 1605, monkey was used as a loving term for a child. The term monkey business was born in 1883; monkey suit , a fancy uniform, in 1886; monkey wrench in 1858; and to make a monkey of someone in 1900. To have a monkey on one's back meant to be angry in 1860 but “addicted to narcotics" in 1930. The story of Sinbad tells of an ape-like creature that mounts a man's shoulders and refuses to get off. In the 1890s, to have a monkey up the chimney meant "to have a mortgage on one's house." Those monkeys have certainly proliferated! Finally, in 1926, the wisdom of monkeys was given tiny recognition in the retelling of the ancient story of the three wise monkeys ("see no evil," etc.). By 1946, monkey became a popular dance. In 1964, a pop-music group adopted the name The Monkees.
Now I propse a new term - monkey mind. This term, which I give with affection, is meant to describe the negative cognitions that plague our minds. Many of the people that I see for treatment have stress, anxiety and depression arising from “wrong” belief systems. Irrational attitudes to perfection, control, people-pleasing, and competence cause us much unhappiness, anger, fear and sadness. Sufferers of the malady monkey mind are quick to label themselves as losers, failures, incompetent, inadequate, pathetic, stupid, worthless, and weak. They unwittingly endorse ways of thinking that are blatantly irrational - that in the jargon of psychology are called “black and white thinking, overgeneralization, discounting, catastrophizing” etc. By challenging these wrong beliefs with rational thinking, I help them to renew their minds. The method that I use can be used by any person, on their own and without necessarily the help of a therapist. It is described in my publication: How To Trandorm Your Life By Changing Your Thoughts.
Prevention is always the best cure. Alfred A. Montapert, a modern writer, says, “Before every action ask yourself. Will this bring more monkeys on my back? Will the result of my action be a blessing or a heavy burden?”
But once your monkey mind has taken its firm grip, you must struggle to restrain and retrain it. Only by doing so can you have a return of happiness, strength, good humour, energy, confidence, contentment, courage, hope, optimism, power, loyalty, humour, and spirituality. The King of the monkeys, Hanuman represents these fine qualities. He brings rule to the monkey mind.

Jai Bajrang Bali; God Bless; Allah Hu Akbar; May The Forces Of The Universe Bring You Harmony; hare Krishna, Radha-Swami; and Nanak Naam Chardi Kala Tere Bhane Sarbat Dha Bhalla.

I wish to express my gratitude for your comments, which inspire me to carry on writing. Please forgive my fallibilities in presenting this material. Also, feel free to send this message on to someone that you might think would like to receive it. If you do send it on, my only request of you is that you send it as it is, in its entirety, and to not alter or modify any of the text, references or authorship information. Thus you will help to give credit or liability to where they are properly due.
Jas Bhopal
Copyright© 2008
References: "The Holy Bible" Online version; "The Koran" as translated by SV Mir Ahmed Ali 2005 ISBN 0-9761870-0-0); "The Bhagavad Gita As it Is" as translated by Srila Prabhupada ISBN 0-89213-268-X; The Srimad Bhagavatum as translated by Srila Prabhupada ISBN0-89213-259-0; "I Am That. Talks With Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj” ISBN 0-89386-022-0; The Dhammapada ISBN-10:1-84483-344-5; The Sacred Sukhmani ISBN 81-7205-098-4; Wikipedia.