Free Ralph: An Evolutionary Fable
by Stephen Wing
a Book Review by Marie-Claire Wilson
Stephen Wing gave up a 12 years career as a hitchhiker in 1990 when he met his wife, Dawn Aura, and settled in Atlanta. He now works as a newsletter editor and recycling coordinator at New Leaf Distributing Co., a wholesale distributor of metaphysical and holistic literature. He is a senior editor of New Leaf’s magazine Evolve!
A lifelong writer, he is the author of Four-Wheeler & Two Leffed: Poems. Wing has served a variety of causes as a writer, editor, and activist. Some current projects are “Earth Poetry with Stephen Wing”, an ecologically themed poetry presentation: Gaia-Love Graffiti, a collection of original bumper stickers www.GaiaLoveGraffiti.com and interfaith celebration of the Solstices and Equinoxes in Atlanta. In 2006 he became a cancer survivor and celebrated his fiftieth birthday.
His book is truly an original subject, and reading it will give you a new take on the situation of CHIMPANZEES. This talented author has given us a fresh look at the monkey and in doing so, has helped us get to know the monkey better.
In the third chapter, The Granddaddy Tree, there was a passage about family relationships.
“Kimbu climbed the long narrow ladder behind his daddy, feeling familiar excitement swell inside. He longed to scoot past Daddy and clamber up the ladder first. He knew he could reach the tiny platform at the top much faster than Daddy could. But the few times he had tried, Daddy had firmly grasped the rope tied to his safety harness and lowered him all the way to the safety net below. Kumbu had learned. Up here, Daddy was the boss. Down below it was his Mommy, with her careful system of rewards and punishments. But all of Mommy’s discipline, he realized, was only preparing him for the excitement he felt up in the lofty peak of the Big Top…..”
As you can see from the passage above, the author demonstrates an advanced sense of empathy with these animals. He writes deftly about how these animals feel, how they live, and how they communicate. The surprising part is how much, the author reveals, they have a similar structure to human socialization! It makes it easier to appreciate how they could be our ancient ancestors in the evolutionary design.
This book also brings to mind all of the long-held, culturally divers, and noble symbolism associated with the monkey and the great apes. The chimpanzee is in the family of the great apes, yet smaller than a gorilla. The chimpanzee is noted for its intelligence.
Right along with that is their reputation for being quite quick-witted, physically agile, and clever to a fault. Because of this comic ability, the monkeys and apes have been thought by some philosophers to represent the consciousness that is dissipated, and a lack of serious thought, a kind of irresponsible frivolity.
However, in most ancient spiritual traditions, the monkeys and apes are revered as sacred, as having the highest evolved souls of the animal world. This is still apparent in many middle-eastern and eastern spiritual traditions.
In the eastern cultures, the monkey king finally attains the state of being of a Buddha. The symbolism there is that of wisdom and detachment. There is even the belief that the monkey symbolizes man’s errant belief that he is spiritually superior. Thus, historically, the monkey and the ape can represent demons and gods. Perhaps the most telling about ourselves is the way today, some people perceive the monkeys and apes as a caricature of us humans, but to them, it’s not flattering. It presents us as an image to escape: brutish, lascivious, lawless, base-instinct animal. Yet nothing could be further from the truth in the society of monkeys and apes.
There is strict social order like laws, there is relational commitment, there is considerable intelligence, and there is love among them and from them to us. Most of the behavior is not at all brutish but well thought out, actions with obvious deliberations on the merits. These are just a few of the kinds of things that the author discovers in his observation of the chimpanzees.
These beautiful, sentient animals represent a kind of freedom, intelligence, and physical vitality. We are discovering day by day just how smart and affectionate they are. Affection is linked with spirituality as we experience it. As you read this fascinating book, you will discover and better understand the message that he author is conveying here. There is a very spiritual connection between man and nature, between man and animals. Perhaps the deepest spiritual relationship exists between man and monkey.
At the end of the book, suggestions about “How to Help the Chimpanzees” includes a list of some good Web sites to visit. I recommend this book to all readers, especially those who love nature and animals. This is the kind of book that you will want to read more than once.
Marie-Claire
Marie-Claire Wilson, author of The Spiritual Tarot: The Keys to The Divine Temple, is a bilingual writer and poet. She has been a practicing medium for 28 years using direct clairvoyance, the Tarot, numerology and palmistry. Office in Washington DC. To make an appointment for a phone reading call toll-free: 1-877-847-7330.
Click here to visit my web site www.marie-claire.tv
Click here to link to Oracle 20/20 where article is published.