The Spider Monkey Trap

Years ago I heard a story about spider monkeys that I've never forgotten.

The spider monkey lives in the trees of the tropical jungles of South America, have hook-like, narrow and thumbless hands and tiny brains.

The story I heard went something like this:

In order to catch spider monkeys, hunters in South America simply walk through the jungle and drop heavy containers on the ground. These containers have very a narrow top and a wider bottom. Inside the containers the hunters drop a special kind of nut which is particularly attractive to the monkeys. Sometime later, the spider monkeys come down from the tops of the trees, smell the nut, but the tops of the containers are so narrow they have a tight squeeze to get their hands inside. Once they grab the nut at the bottom, their fist is too large to remove if through the opening. And the containter is too heavy for them to carry.

So instead of letting go of the nut, the monkeys just sit there until the hunters come back, pick them up, and throw them in a bag.

The spider monkeys are not prepared to let go of a small nut in order to gain their freedom.

I don't know if the story is true, but you get the analogy.

This morning I'm lying in my hotel room asking myself - what ideas, concepts or attachments do I need to be willing to give up in order to allow myself to grasp a bigger and better concept? What do I have to be willing to let go? I like to think of myself as a pretty logical person, devoid of superstition, and dismissive of mythology. But I know that I get very attached to my ideas, my opinions. Sometimes it's hard to let go of tightly-held ideas but, unless we do, we don't grow.

One idea I let go of a couple of years ago was that I had to earn an income. It was a major revelation to me when I realized that if I sold all of my assets, I could afford to live quite comfortably for several years while I built a start-up business. I let go of the idea that I needed to cling on to the assets I had gained, like those spider monkeys. And it was one of the best things I ever did.

Comments

[Phillip Molly Malone]

Oh, I thought you were the nut in this analogy!
Molly

[Des Paroz]

Cam, great story. I can (will) use this in productivity analogies, and also in karate talks.

Cheers mate.

[william dutton]

oh the humour, the simpsons eposide where homer does not want to let go of the can's of softdrink and so is stuck waiting for someone to rescue him.

[Andrew]

Nice post.

I have done something very similar in that I used equity is assets to free myself from wage slavedom whilst I pursued some dreams.

In this sense I got to keep the asset (putting money in my pocket) and use it's value at the same time.

[yaakov kirschen]

"Catching spider monkeys" is a great story, but if you actually believe it I've got some locked funds in Nigeria I'd like your help in releasing...
Dry Bones
Israel's Political Comic
Strip since 1973

[Andrew]

I suspected 'urban legend' and checked wikipedia but nothing was available under 'spider monkey' there.

Have you found some evidence Dry Bones to support this?

[Prince]

Hi This Story is prevailing in India too, but the monkey is not spider monkey.

Indian Story too has the same line and tone and it represents the stubbornness of people to stick to silly matters, instead of seeing the big picture.

Any way i am happy to see a similar story spread in West.

Bye

[Gnoll110]

Yer, I've heard it call the 'South India Money Trap'.

Like the high paid contractor (in an old technology area) who want/can't go to a lower paying gigs that will give him the new, improved skill set.

[chelsea cox]

heyheyheyheyheyheyheyhey!!!!!!!!!

[piranha in the amazon]

very wierd story.Anways what do they do after they capture the monkeys?

[Miriam Parkinson]

My dad had a lolly jar like that when I was a kid...

[sassy]

there r liveing breathing things not to be throne into a bag

[Kait]

heyy there im doing a science project and i choose this kind of animal!!! well i choose this kind of monkey because i love monkeys and im on a travaling volleyball team and we are called shendandoah spiders!!!

[Deedee]

This is a great story for drug users and people with other such compulsivities.

You can see this in action of you watch a movie called Animals are Beautiful People, but the same people who wrote and produced The Gods Must be Crazy. A bushman traps a baboon this way.

[Jacinta]

Hey this is a great page od information, the first time i heard of spider monkeys it was when my brother was being silly and putting names together that sounded stupuid so anyway he started yelling spider monkeys and being silly and mum said that there is such things as spider monkeys. lol
but when i heard that name i wondered how spider monkeys got there name. Do you know how spider monkeys got their name?

[Tiffany]

i have no clue why i am \writing this but i need help finding info on spider monkey nosies