Why the Monkey Taunts the Beast (and how to make him stop): chronic discontent in the human situation

The Buddha tells us that holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned. Yet such patterns of behavior are ubiquitous… The cross-stitch plaque above the basement toilet of a realtor’s house read “Happiness is wanting what you have.” But think about it… how often are you free of desire for some new acquisition, some new situation, some new partner? WHY DOESN’T THE MONKEY MIND JUST LEAVE US ALONE!

Monkey Taunts uses science to explain how our species evolved to be at risk for discontent. The psychological model summarily presented here could seem like unabashed behaviorism (remember Ivan Pavlov? B. F. Skinner?) except for one major caveat; it extends stimulus and response theory into the realm of thoughts, images, and feelings (Yeeaaassss… the veritable stuff of “mind...” but be ready for a new definition of this term). Artistic license is taken in speaking of our feeling/thinking/planning capacities as the “monkey mind,” which while being largely responsible for the tremendous adaptability of Homo sapiens, has a sizable but mostly hidden tendency toward discontent. This book is about understanding and taming that downside (which can make us happier, as well as all the more adaptable).

Make no mistake, much like science is a method and the results of working the method (and not a philosophy nor a “belief system”), a practice, either secular or religious, is not something that can be squeezed into words. It is a pattern in a human’s life. It is a path to be walked... This book can only present ideas about why humans need such a pattern to attenuate discontent. Words can do no more than clarify the path and motivate walking it.