I, The Radiant Monkey, will now speak to thee, revealing great secrets hidden from before the creation of the world. These secret knowledges and understandings have never truly been secret, but are esoteric, that is, inner understandings, like the meat nut which is protected by the shell of the ordinary and of the consensus reality of the ordinary humans upon the earth. It is like the yolk within the egg; the germ within the seed, from which new life grows.


I, The Radiant Monkey will propound my understanding for the benefit of mankind - I am the Over Man of Nietzsche, the goal of all inner religious teachings and the results of all authentic spiritual disciplines.


I, The Radiant Monkey, will reveal the truth to which mankind is blind and which he does not wish to see.


Man has reached a cul-de-sac - a dead-end, where he mistakes technological progress with emotional maturity. Men are like lemmings who are headed for a cliff from which there is no return. Mankind has all the animals within him -- his inner self is a zoo, and the cataclysm is near. Man is a swine; he shits where he eats and unless he works upon himself for the benefit of all mankind he is doomed. All men wish to change the world -- they think that if only others would obey them peace could be brought about, but he fails to work on himself because his own self does not obey him. Since his self is the closest human being to himself, how can he imagine that he could turn others, since he cannot even attain mastery over his own self.


Many eons ago the animals revolted. The lion said to the mouse and to the elephant and to all the other animals: "I, the great lion, am a proud being -- the lord of the jungle, but my pride is founded in my Virtue - I only kill to eat, and only such as the Lord of All has commanded me. The mouse said "I am sneaky, and I scurry into cupboards and tight places, but I also have Virtue - and I only act under the auspices of the Lord of All." The elephant also spoke, and said: "I am powerful and can trample underfoot large trees or anyone who bothers me, and I could trample the houses of men and be done with them but I do not, because I too have Virtue and act only according to my nature. But with Man it is different; he has stolen all of our virtues and turned them into vices." The Eagles said "We too have been stolen from. Our keen eyesight has been given unto man. But we use our eyesight to obtain food and are virtuous -- but man uses his eyesight to lust and to bear his vices outwardly. Is this not shame?"


Thus all the animals debated amongst themselves. They wondered why Man had been appointed above them with his vertical spine and opposable thumb. They decided to take their grievances to the heavenly councils and they asked for an audience with God - our father and Creator of All Forevermore. This audience they were granted.


Before the all seeing eye of God they spoke, each in turn, and explained how man was soiling the earth and not holding to his virtue, which is to be a conduit of energies connecting heaven and earth.


Man is a Nail, said one. He is crucified by being born into one body in one time in one place in one set of circumstances. This is the inner meaning of the crucifixion. But he does not wish to stay put but he wanders over the surface of the earth, destroying it. A nail has only one purpose - to connect two other things together, and man's purpose is to connect heaven and earth. A bent nail is worthless, and only good for the slag heap.


Man is a Light Switch, said another. During the nighttime he is like us - his spine is horizontal and he lies in dreams which serve the Moon and Earth. When he awakens in the morning with the dazzling light of the Sun, is spine is vertical and it is his natural virtue that his spine be clean like the filament in a light bulb. Then he can conduct the current from your Throne down to the Center of the Earth and back. Then his Virtue would radiate forth in all directions reaching the horizon. But man's emotions are clogged. They are like a sewer full of negativity and rancor. He is governed by the outside and although his body is awake, his mind continues to sleep horizontally. He lives in daydreams; remembrances of past pleasures and worries of future troubles. He does not know the word NOW. Man is opaque -- thinking only of himself and despoiling our own nests and dens and lairs as well as his own. He would need to become translucent before even hoping to become radiant, but he does not care of anything except himself. He has been told to shine his light before men and all other creatures, but his light is darkness and he is in the grip of his own devils.


Man is a Filament, said yet another. He should connect Heaven and Earth and Radiate a particle of your own Radiance in all directions. Instead he is a swine who over eats until his belly bursts and his corpse stinks. Surely you should destroy this bent creature and install a new sentient being upon the earth to govern it.


God pondered all of these arguments at length and finally rendered his judgment. He said: “I agree with everything that you have said. I am going to destroy man or let him destroy himself. It will be the fire of my wrath this time”.


Just then Satan overheard this, and as he is also a lawyer he stepped up and asked for an opportunity to speak. This he was given, and he said: "It is not meat that a court should convict a defendant without him being given a chance to defend himself. Please allow me the opportunity to go down and walk upon the Earth and find a Man who is willing to defend mankind against these charges." God thought quickly and said “Yes you are right - go quickly, for my wrath is great and my patience with Man is at an end.


Lucifer in his guise of Satan then flew down to the earth and asked for a Man willing to defend mankind step forward - but there were none willing to stand before the August majesty of our Creator, each thinking that they would be burnt up by their sins. Finally the devil in frustration grabbed a lowly shoemaker from Damascus, who although he declared that he was not a True Man, would still be willing to humble himself in front of the heavenly hosts in order that all would not be lost. This is what he said:


"I am not the True Man - I am but a lowly cobble smith, but I know of the True Man, the Nail which holds together heaven and earth; the Light Switch who serves all of Creation; the Filament who lights up the world against its innate darkness. Those who are true Men have taken a vow not to reveal themselves but to live in secret, lest they cast their pearls before swine. Therefore none of them have dared reveal themselves in this clause.


But I know something else about man and the True Man - that the True Man is like a gemstone - a diamond or an emerald or a pearl. These gemstones which are hidden in the earth are created through tremendous pressure and suffering. In fact, we call the pearl the tears of the suffering of the oyster - this is why it is so precious to woman.


As it takes tremendous pressure and a long time to create a diamond out of simple coal which is only fit for the fireplace, so the True Man requires the pressure and suffering of living amongst the negativity and the insolence of ordinary men. His quiet suffering of their manifestations and sins of ungodliness are required in order that he may become adamantine like the Diamond. Then he is a fit vessel for your light to shine through, and through the facets of his personality different aspects of your greatness reach the Earth.


Even his flaws (and every diamond has flaws) have value -- like the flaws in the crystal ball, they allow such a man to see the future, or to evidence other supernatural powers. These he does not use, but they serve as a reminding factor for him of his position and his duty, which is to serve you and to help you govern the Cosmos, thereby lessening your own suffering.


So while it is true that there are very few Real Men upon the earth, I implore you for the sake of the True Man to stay your hand for a little while, in the hopes of getting man to recognize his dead end and turn around before it is too late. As they are, men are like lemmings who have gone insane and who head for a cliff from which there is no return. I beg you and all the animals for just a little more time."


Our August and Divine Majesty and all the animals heard the words of the humble shoemaker from Damascus and the animals began to mumble amongst themselves. God bid them to be quiet for a time so he could think. After such time he turned to the animals and asked them, "What do you think?  Should I stay my hand and withhold my wrath for a time? What do you think of this idea of the True Man?"


All the animals, whose spines are horizontal and who had been mumbling amongst themselves, said of one voice: "For the sake of the True Man and the requirements of his suffering, which is like unto our own suffering, we would be willing to wait in hope -- as is your hope, that Man would turn and face himself and the animals within him from whom he has purloined all of his virtues. To be The Nail; The Light Switch; The Filament which connect heaven and earth -- none of these can we do lest we stand on two legs, which non-are able to do except for perhaps the monkey. This is a Virtue which we cannot attain to: The Nail, The Light Switch, The Filament, The Conduit between Heaven and Earth. These are the virtue of the True Man. For his sake we would allow without complaint that things remain as they are.


God said "I agree with you. Let there be a little time. But man must turn around and quickly, lest my patience wear too thin. I think you are right -- the Monkey might be placed in man's stead -- but the monkey too suffers from too many of the same frailties and flaws as ordinary men -- should the monkey attain to the status of a man he would likely fall into the same vices and become the Depraved Monkey. Then what would I do?


“No, Man himself must turn and face his inner animals, especially his inner monkey.


“Man's flaw is that he thinks he is already an angel who can fly away at any time -- thus he abandons his physical body to be like an old maid whom no one loves. He thinks he is a Lion -- king of all, but his roar is hollow and he is filled with fear. He thinks he is an eagle who can fly away from his crucifixion, but it is not so. He is hypnotized and ordinary men hypnotize each other into the consensus reality that is leading all creation into shame. He must turn and face his inner monkey and other animals. Like disobedient children, he only needs to turn the doorknob of their room and look within, and like rowdy children they will settle down and be quiet. Then each animal can attain to its own dignity and virtue. I will call the new man The Radiant Monkey. He will no longer be opaque, but he will travel a new road -- through opaqueness to translucency and finally he will attain to the virtue of radiance. Thus ordinary man is like the tight rope of Nietzsche’s “Thus Spake Zarasuthra”, upon whom the tightrope walker must tread.  He will be at war but only with himself. He will have contempt but it will be for his old self. He will have pity but it will be for the past. The New Man will have Compassion and a taste of my own Bliss, and I will come and sup with him.


Thus ends the story of the revolt of the animals.


I, The Radiant Monkey do declare it so. Om Sat Yum, Selah! Amen!


Copyright © 2007 by Richard Lloyd. All rights reserved.


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