Thursday, January 9, 2014

With pleasure, misery, and escape (sutra)

Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Wisdom Quarterly translation based on Frank Lee Woodward, Pali Tex Society, Book of the Kindred Sayings or Samyutta Nikaya PART IV (SN 4.17-22)

CHAPTER II, SECTIONS 17-22

In search of enlightenment

{17} Meditators, if there were not pleasure that comes from the eye, beings would not lust after (grasp for and cling to) the eye.

But inasmuch as there is pleasure in the eye, beings lust after it.

Medtitators, if there were not misery that comes from the eye, beings would not be repelled by the eye.

But inasmuch as there is misery that comes from the eye, being are repelled by it.

If there were no escape from the eye, beings could not [become free] from it.

But inasmuch as there is a way of escape from the eye, beings do escape from it.

Likewise with regard to the pleasure, the misery, and the way of escape from the

ear,
nose,
tongue,
body, and
mind....

But inasmuch as there is a way of escape from the [ear, nose, tongue, body, and] mind, beings do escape from it.

The Buddha towering in Theravada Thailand

Meditators, so long as being have not understood as they truly are the pleasure as it is, the misery as it is, and the way of escape as it relates to this sixfold personal sphere of sense then, meditators, so long have beings not remained aloof, detached, and separated with the hindrances of the mind/heart done away with -- nor has the world with its shining ones (devas), killers (maras), divinities (brahmas), nor its legions of wandering ascetics (shramans) and temple priests (Brahmins), shining ones and human beings.

But, meditators, just as soon as beings thoroughly understand as they truly are the pleasure as it is, the misery as it is, and the way of escape as it relates to this sixfold personal sphere of sense -- then, meditators, beings and the world, with its light beings... do [finally*] remain aloof, detached, separated, with the hindrances of heart/mind done away with.

*[NOTE: This letting go is accomplished by insight, not by an act of willpower or effort. Knowing-and-seeing, or insight into the true nature of things, is in itself liberating. There is no need to struggle and make the Truth true. Truth sets one free.]

[{18} The same is true of all other psycho-physical phenomena in addition to the eye, visible objects (sights), and the consciousness arising from seeing; ear, sounds, and the consciousness arising from hearing....]

DELIGHT

Silent stillness and vipassana to know-and-see

{19} Meditators, whoever takes delight in the eye takes delight in disappointment. And I declare, whoever takes delight in disappointment is not released from disappointment.

Whoever takes delight in the tongue... in the mind takes delight in disappointment, I declare. And I declare, whoever delights in disappointment is not released from disappointment.

But whoever does not take delight in the eye, the tongue... the mind -- that person does not delight in disappointment. And I declare, one who does not delight in disappointment is released from disappointment.

[{20} The same is true for visible objects (forms), sounds, fragrances, tastes, tangibles, and mind-states.]

{21} Meditators, that which is the arising, persisting, the rebirth, the manifestation of objects -- that is the arising of disappointment, the persisting of diseases, the manifestation of decay and death.

So also with regard to sounds, fragrances, tastes, and tangibles....

That which is the arising, the persisting, the rebirth, the manifestation of mind-states -- that is the arising of disappointment, the persisting of diseases, the manifestation of decay and death.

But, meditators, that which is the ceasing, the quelling, the going out of objects -- that is the ceasing of disappointment, the quelling of diseases, the going out of decay and death.

So also with regard to sounds, fragrances, tastes, and tangibles...

That which is the ceasing, the quelling, the going out of mind-states -- that is the ceasing of disappointment, the quelling of diseases, the going out of decay and death.

[{22} The same is true for visible objects, sounds... mind-states -- for all psycho-physical phenomena.]

Pussy Riot: "Words Will Break Cement" (audio)

Wisdom Quarterly (Eds.); Masha Gessen, Words Will Break Cement, Terry Gross (Fresh Air)

Pussy Riot collective as punks, Lobnoye Mesto, Red Square, Moscow (Denis Bochkarev)

Nadia, the face of Pussy Riot

Because of the Winter Olympics that are coming to the Black Sea resort city of Sochi, Russia, next month, Pres. Vlad Putin had Pussy Riot (the feminist collective) members released a few weeks early. They did not ask for the amnesty, nor would they have accepted it. They had no choice, and far from thanking Putin, they are condemning the atrocious gulag system that almost approaches the misery of the US Prison System with its death penalty, torture, homosexual rape, and widespread indefinite solitary detention. No other country is as bad as us, the U.S. But Russia has its own forms of abuse -- overworking inmates, starving them, threatening them... WHYY's Fresh Air with Terry Gross talks with Russian lesbian, mother, feminist, wife, journalist Masha Gessen about Pussy Riot, members of whom she interviewed after their release from prison.

"In war, you're either a collaborator or a resister. You don't get a choice to be neutral."

- Masha Gessen

Wisdom Quarterly, being forced to choose, chooses to resist. Pussy Riot and Gessen do, too.

The Passion of Pussy Riot

Pussy Riot in glass cage in Moscow court, 10-10-12 ( Natalia Kolesnikova/AFP/Getty Images)

Words Will Break Cement (256 pages, $16)

Masha Gessen is a prominent journalist who is also a lesbian and an outspoken LGBT rights advocate in Russia. After Russia passed two anti-gay laws in June (2013), she decided it was time for her, her partner, and their children to leave. In late December, they moved to New York.

"The only thing more creepy than hearing someone suggest the likes of you should be burned alive is hearing someone suggest the likes of you should be burned alive and thinking, 'I know that guy.'"

That's what Gessen wrote recently, referring to an experience she had with one of Russia's most virulent homophobic public figures.

Gessen is the author of a critical book [A Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladamir Putin] about President Vladimir Putin, published in 2012. Her new book is about Pussy Riot, the Russian group that has used punk rock as a form of performance art to protest against Putin.

I have face! - Putin

Its most famous "action" was in February 2012 inside a Moscow cathedral [in allegedly atheist Russia, which was never atheist but always quietly Christian and Buddhist] where band members danced and played air guitar as their boom box played what they called "A Punk Prayer":

"Virgin Mary, Mother of God, chase Putin out
...The phantom of liberty is up in heaven,
Gay pride sent to Siberia in a chain gang
...Virgin Mary, Mother of God, become a feminist!"

The action resulted in the arrest of three members of the group. Two of them, Nadezhda [Nadia] Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina, were sentenced to two years in prison.

Straight host Terry Gross (nymag)

"Not coincidentally, their arrest ... launched Putin's crackdown on the opposition and on his critics, which has lasted for the last two years," Gessen tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross.

"So, in a way, both their performance and their arrests marked the beginning of a new political era in Russia."

As part of Putin's pre-Olympics prisoner amnesty, Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina were released last month, two months before their sentences were up. Gessen's new book is called Words Will Break Cement: The Passion Of Pussy Riot.

Interview Highlights

On the working conditions inside the women's prison where Nadezhda Tolokonnikova served time:

What had happened at her penal colony was that the sewing factory that has served as the lifeblood of every women's penitentiary institution in Russia, and many of the men's ones, was taking on more and more orders, so the inmates were forced to work longer and longer hours. By the end of the summer, the workday was about 17 hours... LISTEN TO INTERVIEW (37:52)

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

News of the Day; Statement of Purpose

Ashley Wells, Dhr. Seven, CC Liu, Pat Macpherson, Bhante, Wisdom Quarterly (EDITORIAL)

Left vs. Right: peace activist offers flowers to establishment army (wallpapervortex.com).

Greenpeace continues to turn up the heat on its “Save The Arctic” campaign, this time with a melancholy video featuring the music of Radiohead (“Everything In Its Right Place”), a voiceover from Jude Law, and one very sad polar bear, lost on the streets of London. “As the Arctic sea ice melts, polar bears are being forced to go far beyond their normal habitat to find food and look after their young. This film is a powerful expression of how our fates are intertwined, because climate change is affecting all of us no matter where we live....” More

Statement of Purpose

2014 Wisdom Quarterly editors

My friends are a bunch of Bohemian left-leaning, vegetarian-ish, anti-establishment types, who think government “conspiracies” -- activities planned in advance rather than just events that happen for no particular reason -- are something to point out.

Try this at home, but make sure you film it so we can see the carnage.

The fringe-right has never been closer to agreeing: everyone sees that our government conceals the truth, deceives us, and tricks the public as if it were in their job description. The left is called names because we are not running a PR campaign. Everyone is looking for the truth. We hope.

The left pushes against the sexism and racism and socioeconomic inequality of our Western history; the right seems to want to do all it can to conserve or it get back to an imaginary “golden age” of 1850's/1950's sexist, racist, class-bound “prosperity,” and that means being pro-war. We oppose war and a war mentality (like waging “war” on drugs, the poor, disease, education).

Brave, beautiful Kajol Kahn, 8, loves deadly snakes (nagas).

The Buddha (B. Tan/flickr.com)

The “war on poverty” was a terrible name and notion for a wonderful program. The right hates it. We need a social safety net, which is the only thing that kept us from entering a new Great Depression. This Great Recession is due to who? Banking conspiracies -- planned events to impoverish the many to benefit the few. Thank you, The Fed, the private banking consortium that runs monetary policy. What will the government be doing about it? Everything it can to keep those private bankers going, apparently in the hopes of getting corporate jobs after their government careers.

Meet you on the golf course? - Git 'er done!

Even the right can't want that, but those bankers are part of the right, conservatives, class-warfare opponents of everyone else (the 99%). The moderate right wing -- namely, the Obama administration -- swings hard to the right. Although labelled “left” or “socialist,” things in Washington D.C. are actually, if we look at the facts and numbers, just a continuation of previous Bush administrations. Who is destroying the environment, making and expanding wars, aching to drill in Alaska, to frack everywhere, to drain public resources and destroy the last remnants of Native American lands? Bush-Obama.

Learning from the past. But wrong lesson.

Obama is not Bush. He might as well be. Under the surface, he just continues his policies. Whoever controlled the former controls the latter. The movers and shakers behind the scenes -- groups we call the “military-industrial complex” -- are the same. Isn't Obama worse for appearing so much nicer, speaking so much better, and uttering much nicer sounding lies? Bush and Cheney were odious. Even the right is ashamed of them now. Obama and Biden have been continuing the same policies, in some cases making more draconian choices, but we are all just glad it's not Bush.

Wolves can be a human's best friends with understanding.

Revolucion hasta la victoria siempre!

“Evil” is a terrible word, almost always misleading and pointless to accuse anyone of. Yet if it applies to Bush and Cheney, one has to conclude that it applies to Obama for continuing on the same disastrous course.

The right wastes no time accusing Obama of every problem we face, when they were so quiet about Bush doing the same things. That leaves the left sitting on its hands. We can't criticize a guy who speaks so nicely, who says all the right things (even if they aren't true), and we sure can't side with right wing wackos.

But if someone is correct, even if they are on the right, we have to give them credit. Maybe they are motivated by racism or party politics or fantasies of American exceptionalism, and wild dreams of being the “true” patriots, sovereign citizens, and blah blah blah. And maybe racist dictator Hitler created the Volkswagen (folk's wagon). We can't say a line of cars is wrong because a creator is wrong.

Living in harmony with local environment

Like Smiley and West, we have to call out Obama. Like Ed Snowden, Jeremy Scahill, J. Assange, Michelle Alexander, G. Greenwald, Amy Goodman, Chelsea Manning, and the next maverick -- all wonderful activists for freedom and justice -- we have to call out the actual guilty parties and policies wherever they come from, whatever sheep's clothing they put on. We have to save the world, or at least some part of it!

Save Afghanistan; US out!

The Buddha and Buddhism teach two things above all other things, wisdom and compassion. So many right wing people -- Tea Partiers, Republicans, Libertarians, Reactionaries, and Xenophobes -- talk about the Christ and Christianity. If everyone were true to his/her espoused ideal, wouldn't we all get along milk and water? Oh, Green Partiers, Democrats, Occupiers, Radicals, and Philanthropists, we have to rise above because the right is unlikely to extend a hand first.

If Chito could get along with a reptilian, we can all learn something.

News of the Day

US "War on Poverty" (KPFA, Jan. 8, 2014
This is the 50th anniversary of LBJ's "War on Poverty" address with Prof. Annelise Orleck, Dept. of History, Dartmouth College and Sharon Parrott, from the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities.

The Pentagram, our U.S. Dept. of War

US Imperial War(s): The Pentagon "is very reluctant to label anything a ‘base’ because of the negative political connotations associated with it," said Alexander Cooley, a political scientist at Barnard College and Columbia University who studies overseas bases. "Some of these facilities, such as the Manas Transit Center in Kyrgyzstan, may not be officially counted as ‘bases,’ but it is the most important U.S. facility in central Asia..." More

Bad Religion, The Offspring, Linkin Park, and Heart want to help victims of climate chaos

in the Philippines after Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda at the Nokia in L.A. (musicforrelief.org)

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

How to reach enlightenment: 3 things

Amber Larson and Dhr. Seven, Ashley Wells, Wisdom Quarterly; Ven. Nyanasatta (DN 22)

There are four meditation postures -- walking, standing, sitting, and lying down. Because the goal is calm-wakefulness, sitting is best in the long run (Sue90ca/flickr.com).

The Buddha's mudra (Nilantha Hettige)

As the new year is about to begin (judging from the more accurate and ancient lunar calendar), it's time to commit. Nothing is so useful, so sane-making, so beneficial as intensive practice.

The Dharma is just a set of ideal ideas, a beautiful view of the universe, which explains everything important. But it is never real until we make it our own insight, our own realization. "Buddhism" is not a system of belief; it is a system of practices (a systematic set of practices, a path). The Truth is there for all to see -- yet the only ones who'll see it are the practitioners.

How to (jhanasadvice.com)

What is there to practice? The historical Buddha Shakyamuni said three things are crucial.

First, there's restraint, the Five Precepts. These make us human. They are VIRTUE (sila).
Second, there's CALM-collectedness (samadhi), the beginnings of the first four absorptions (jhānas, dhyana) or enough focus, togetherness, unification of mind, enough appeasement of the heart to be serene and stable.
Third, there's WISDOM (paññā, prajna). By adding four specific kinds of mindfulness practices, four "foundations" or pillars, to the serenity-practice, liberating-insight arises.

Meditation means more than intensive sitting.

If the ultimate aim of the Path is nirvana then the way there is enlightenment. Enlightenment needs insight, and insight arises on a foundation of calm-"concentratedness."*

A serene, tranquil, purified (i.e., a heart/mind temporarily released from the oppression of the defilements and fetters) is possible with basic virtue aided by a focus that excludes all other stimuli. (If meditating on breath, stay with the breath all of the time in all postures, moving slowly, remaining silent). The time to build this focus are periods of intensive meditation, which build momentum until one breaks through to complete freedom.

Compassion accompanies virtue and increases with the purification that results from tranquil-concentratedness.* Its consummation is arrived at with wisdom. There is no wisdom without compassion.

*"Concentratedness" is odd wording, of course, but we use it to emphasize the effortlessness involved in getting there, getting to that "zen," that dhyana, that jhana. The route is the opposite of "trying," "struggling," and "efforting" -- as if one were trying to get, grasp, or cling to a goal. The way to "strive" is to let go, to practice the yogic art of sthirasukha, "effort-ease": Sit up, sit still, sit silent. (This is the effort arrived at by letting go of "doing"). But then just sit sinking into a very pleasant wakeful-ease (arrived at by letting go of "struggling").

Knowing and seeing (Sukhothai-tourism)

This is the diligence, the general-mindfulness, the vigilance that leads to success. The specific mindfulness practices that follow are outlined in the Maha Satipatthana Sutra; they are detailed under a qualified meditation instructor, one who has succeeded on the Path. As Americans, we say we'll do it ourselves, but we won't do it ourselves. Even the Buddha could not have done it himself, if we read his story carefully.

Teaching members of the Noble Sangha (Community) are not easy to find, but they exist. Contact us and we will point them out. Many of them are not monastics. People say they do not exist nowadays, but they do. When they cease to exist in the world, there will be no more Buddhism. The Path will go unknown until it is rediscovered aeons later.

“There is only one thing more painful than learning from experience and that is not learning from experience.”

- Macliesh

The wandering ascetic Siddhartha found out the hard way that struggling, trying, stressing, and straining is the way to FAILURE, frustration, fraud, and finally giving up. Most educated people have heard the story of how Siddhartha became the Buddha. Note that it was not by severe austerity, energy (virile effort, viriya), and determination. It was by not giving up yet dropping the struggle. He realized that he had been avoiding the jhanas (absorptions), that he had been afraid of pleasure. But jhana is a blameless pleasure; it is supersensual.

Happiness awaits. Enlightenment guaranteed!

Craving, indulging, and delighting in sense pleasure does not lead to the fruit of enlightenment. But the absorptions alone do not lead to enlightenment either! It is only when they are used in the service of establishing a base for the setting up of the Four Foundations (Pillars) of Mindfulness. Then the absorptions catalyze the process. If mindfulness is the nitro, then absorption is the sweet glycerine. Insight is almost immediate, like an explosive chemical reaction with the right balance of ingredients. What are the ingredients? Just these three: virtue, calm-concentratedness, and wisdom.

How long will it take?

By the way, how long will this take? That's easy. Practice in this way and enlightenment will take seven days, or at most seven years. Enlightenment is guaranteed. Read the sutra. Near the end it says:

Sutra: Enlightenment guaranteed

"Fourfold Setting Up of Mindfulness," Maha Satipatthana Sutta (DN 22, MN 10)

The shift: meditation changes our perspective (PeterFroehlich/flickr.com).

..."Verily, meditators, whosoever practices these Four Foundations of Mindfulness in this manner for seven years, then one of two fruits may be expected -- highest knowledge (full enlightenment) here and now or, if some remainder of clinging is yet present, the stage of non-returner.

"O meditators, let alone seven years! Should any person practice these Four Foundations of Mindfulness in this manner for six years... five years... four years... three years... two years... one year, then one of two fruits may be expected -- highest knowledge here and now or, if some remainder of clinging is yet present, the stage of non-returner.

"O meditators, let alone a year! Should any person practice these Four Foundations of Mindfulness in this manner for seven months... six months... five months... four months... three months... two months... a month... half a month, then one of two fruits may be expected -- highest knowledge here and now or, if some remainder of clinging is yet present, the stage of non-returner.

"O meditators, let alone half a month! Should any person practice these Four Foundations of Mindfulness in this manner for seven days [a week], then one of these two fruits may be expected -- highest knowledge here and now or, if some remainder of clinging is yet present, the stage of non-returner.

"Because of this it was said: 'Meditators, this is the direct way that leads to enlightenment, to the purification of beings, to the overcoming of all sorrow and misery, to the destruction of disappointment and grief, to reaching the right path, for the attainment of nirvana, namely the Four Foundations of Mindfulness.'"

We have a BODY: "Bigfoot" to tour (video)

Rick Dyer; Tim Gerber (KSAT.com), Evan Bleier "Hunter vows to tour with Bigfoot's body across N. America" (UPI.com, Jan. 6, 2014); Pat Macpherson, Dhr. Seven, Wisdom Quarterly

Self-described professional Bigfoot hunter Rick Dyer only recently recovered the beast's alleged body after court battle.

Bigfoot, Sasquatch, Skunk Ape...

(UPI) It’s been more than a year since self-described professional Bigfoot hunter Rick Dyer claimed to have shot and killed one of the beasts in San Antonio and pictures of the disputed creature have finally been released.

Dyer said he killed the mysterious beast in September 2012 and then released a documentary, Shooting Bigfoot, that failed to convince skeptics that he was telling the truth.

Investors in the film fought in court to prevent Dyer from getting back Bigfoot’s alleged body, and he only took custody of it recently.

"I have been worried for so long. I have been put off for so long, and finally we went up to Washington (state), and we got the body," Dyer said.

Now that it’s back in his possession, Dyer is offering an assurance that not only is Bigfoot real -- he’s spectacular.

Tests allegedly confirm it's real.

"Bigfoot is 100 percent real -- there's no question about that," Dyer said. "Every test that you can possibly imagine was performed on this body -- from DNA tests to 3D optical scans to body scans. It is the real deal. It's Bigfoot, and Bigfoot's here, and I shot it, and now I'm proving it to the world."

The hunter plans to take the body on a tour across the U.S., Mexico, and Canada in order to show that he truly did slay the mythical monster.

"Bigfoot is not a tooth fairy -- Bigfoot is real," Dyer said. "The most important thing to me is being vindicated, letting people know that I am the best Bigfoot tracker in the world, and it's not just me saying it." He plans on charging a fee for the privilege of seeing the body. More

COMMENTARY

Native Americans told us, but we laughed.

Perhaps now a law will be passed protecting the flora and cryptozoological fauna of our forests.

These creatures -- which come in four humanoid varieties and exist around the world (Sasquatch or "Bigfoot," Yeti or "Abominable Snowman," Almasti or "Neanderthaloid," and Agogwe or pygmie) -- are human species.

See details: Hominoids, Evolution, and Us

The DNA is already in on other samples.

Dr. Melba S. Ketchum (as prompted by former police officer David Paulides and his North American Bigfoot Search organization) has already sequenced the DNA of such creatures and was laughed out of the world of genetic testing for her scientific assertions. Parts of the government and most of the military already knew and have been concealing the information in part, many allege, to conceal off planet interactions and defend a cover story of misleading evolutionary versions of how human life came to be on this planet. The truth is much, much stranger than hominids in our forests. More

Hominoids, evolution, and us (video)

Pat Macpherson, Dhr. Seven, CC Liu (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly; LloydPye.com; SciShow

Science vs. science: We did not evolve by gradual transition as we are taught (26:50).

Human origins? Everything we are told is wrong. But science and truth will surface.

The revolving evolving theory (RU)

(Nov. 2011) Lecturer Lloyd Pye puts it all together -- human origins and who we are as a species. Pye explains, with an amazing degree of scientific certainty, the four types of hominids on the Earth today (their archeological lines and distribution on the planet). Why has Wisdom Quarterly been talking about cryptozoology, "forbidden" archeology, ancient Indian and Sumerian mythology, or any other "outlandish" topic? We dare to question, to find in these verboten topics something about ourselves as earthling human beings. There are other kinds of humans, as we have pointed out before. But it will be a long time before mainstream science will admit its biases, errors, and cover-ups.

Hominoids (primates, prehumans): Yetis (upper montane, Himalayan range), Sasquatches (lower montane forests generally peaceful, probably omnivorous mainly-plant eaters, to be distinguished from cannibals, which Native Americans and Forest Service anthropologist Kathy Moskowitz Strain call "Hairy Man" and consider human), Almas (lower montane, possibly remnant Neanderthals, a human species surviving in Southern Russia and Western China), and Agogwes or the pygmies of the group mainly residing in jungles (South America [duende?], Africa, Indonesia). Where this would leave Australia's Yowie/Yahoo is unclear, but it is described as a Sasquatch by Aboriginals down under.

All of these "ogres" may be described by the general Buddhist, Hindu, and Jain term "yaksha" (yakshi, yakkha, yakshasa, rakshasa) -- intelligent brutes and beasts living apart from humans. The most famous is featured in the texts by the name of the Yakkha Alavaka. Yakkhas are cannibalistic hominoid* creatures so crafty and mean that the term is often simply translated as "demon." This is not to suggest that they are actually "demons" (titans, hellions) or devils, but simply brutally callous to human suffering.

Zana the Almasti (slave, sex object Neanderthaloid)
Albert Ostman (Canadian captive of nice Sasquatch)
Native American lore (Forest Service archeologist)

The Buddha and the ogre (yakkha) Alavaka

The closest Buddhism comes to a "creation myth" is the arrival of advanced life forms on Earth (Bhumi) from space/sky (akasha deva loka) or "the heavens," a celestial plane. They then devolve into us, "Man." Interestingly, the word for the human realm is manusya-loka. This is gleaned from the Aggañña Sutra. What most fail to notice is that this discourse, often translated as "A Buddhist Genesis," does not talk about how life or existence originated. The story is about how "human" or humanoid life arrives on this planet cyclically. This did not happen one time; it happens over and over. The Buddha is famous for using Vedic lore and popular conceptions, imbuing them with a lesson, a parable of sorts. The sutra is very general and covers spans of time only Michael Cremo could countenance because ancient Indian time is measured in great aeons (maha kalpas), ages (kalpas), and epochs, which are indeterminate periods of time too large to measure and staggering to contemplate.

We are lied to about our origins on Earth

*HOMINOID: Some or all hominoids are also called "apes" [humans being the "naked ape" according to Desmond Morris; see below]. However, "ape" is used in different senses. It has been used as a synonym for "monkey" or for any tailless primate with a humanlike appearance. So the Barbary macaque, a kind of monkey, is popularly called the "Barbary ape" to indicate its lack of a tail. Biologists have used "ape" to mean a member of the superfamily Hominoidea other than humans, or more recently to mean all members of the superfamily Hominoidea, so that "ape" becomes another word for "hominoid." See Primate: Historical and modern terminology.

(Nov. 2013) The SciShow (Subbable, Facebook, Tumblr) explains where this over-simplified "March of Progress" magazine image of Darwin's evolution comes from. The scientist who used it was not confused, but we have been led to take this literally. What is it actually supposed to mean? SOURCES: wiki, evolution.berkeley.edu, mentalfloss.com, sci-news.com

The truth is much stranger than fiction.

We may be related to the "apes," but we did not evolve on Earth as they did. Archeologist Michael Cremo has found and presented evidence for the extreme antiquity of "modern" humans (Homo sapien sapiens). We are far older than 120,000 years, far older than 1,000,000 years, older than 100,000,000 years... How is this possible? What was here, what has been here and come to its demise, did not evolve from the popular fossil record many scientists use to theorize our origins on the planet. Evolution is occurring; this is not a fundamentalist Christian argument. But, as Cremo points out, we are currently devolving. Intentional genetic manipulation made us who we are, as Pye describes, and as the historical record from ancient Sumer and Egypt documents.

The Naked Ape

Naked Ape (amazon.com)

"A startling view of man [modern humans, the Homo sapien sapiens], stripped of the facade we try so hard to hide behind." In view of [hu]man's awesome creativity and resourcefulness, we may be inclined to regard [ourselves] as descended from the angels, yet, in his brilliant study, Desmond Morris reminds us that man is relative to the apes -- is in fact, the greatest primate of all. With knowledge gleaned from primate ethnology, zoologist Morris examines sex, child-rearing, exploratory habits, fighting, feeding, and much more to establish our surprising bonds to the animal kingdom and add substance to the discussion that has provoked controversy and debate the world over. Natural History Magazine praised The Naked Ape as "stimulating... thought-provoking... [Morris] has introduced some novel and challenging ideas and speculations." "He minces no words," said Harper's. "He lets off nothing in our basic relation to the animal kingdom to which we belong... He is always specific, startling, but logical." More