How To Catch A Monkey

The South Indian Monkey Trap is an age old method for catching troublesome monkeys looking to steal food from local villagers in parts of India. This simple but ingenious trap consists of a coconut that has been carefully hollowed out at one end and chained to a pole in the ground. Some sweet rice is then placed inside the coconut through the hollowed out opening, which is big enough for the monkey to place its hand in and grab a handful of rice, but too small for it to then remove its clinched fist with the sweet rice. Eventually some monkeys would come along, discover the rice, reach inside the coconut, greedily clutch as much of the rice as possible, thus making a fist in the process, and suddenly find themselves trapped.

Oddly enough,there is no actual physical barrier preventing a monkey from escaping the trap – they could just let go of the food and they would be free. There is, however, an incredible mental barrier. Due to the scarcity of food at times, monkeys have it ingrained in them from birth that when they see food, they must hold on tight. This principle which has served them so well in the past creates in the mind of the monkey an inability to re-evaluate the rice in the context of their new found circumstances, costing them their freedom.

Have you come across individuals who, for some reason or the other, adhere to certain archaic ideals and place a very unrealistic value on, for example:

• Earning a certain amount of money by a certain age;
• Obtaining a particular physical appearance;
• Following a particular career path; or
• Acquiring certain material possessions.