sequel octopus

the monkey has decided to visit the termite. this is the monkey which was told of
in another story- in the other story he was trapped in a bottle which was dug in
the ground. he was trapped, because in the bottle there was a banana, and keeping
hold of the banana meant he couldn't get his hand out of the bottle and just go.

as stories usually tend to, this too ends just there where things get interesting.
he was captured. he became a pet for a person who treated the monkey fine and
good- just as if he was a friend, and who also had big interest in religion and
philosophy. but the story of monkey's capture, and he man who kept him as a pet
and how he escaped as the wisest and best informed monkey on theological and
philosophical matters is, well, another story. in this one, this monkey has
decided to visit the termite in search of wisdom.

he made a long journey in the forest till he found the termite and they started
talking. and maybe there is a story of that as well, but not ours right now.

"hey termite!" said the wisest monkey, "reverend and wise termite of the woods and
everywhere else. i am here to seek information, and ultimately wisdom. i need to
ask you a question... will you please help me."

the termite was surprised. it wasn't often people came seeking help to him. "how
can i help you? you yourself are so wise, that it is hardly imaginable that you
could need any further knowledge, let alone wisdom. how can i help you?"

monkey was not aware that his story became famous, and some people really knew of
him, which made him proud, and seemed to justify the hardship he suffered while he
was still the pet of the man, and the effort it took him to learn the human
wisdom.

he said "during my days with the humans, i have heard of the wisest of stories,
and had a lot of time to listen to human debates on philosophy. and yet there
seemed to be a point where even humans were helpless finding out the answer of a
simple question, which i want to ask you, so that i can understand it."

the monkey went on "there is a branch of budhism, which is a very glorious

philopsophy, called the zen budism, and there the moks are trained with questions,
called koans, which they need to find an answer for, in order to find
enlightenment. i have such a question for you- if you care to listen to..."

the termite was intrigued, what could be the question the humans not answer, and
he could? what kind of wisdom was that?

the monkey went on "imagine there is a tree in the forest, and it falls down...
and nobody is around to hear of the falling tree made any noise or not. does a
falling tree make a noise, if there is nobody around? you are at every tree in the
forest, you live and die with every single one of them. you could tell."

a termite is not an intelligent animal, but a colony of termites is. the

collective is its intelligence and its wisdom. its state of being an individual in
a collective, where the whole is more than the sum of its parts, is its intrinsic
wisdom, which many has to learn later on. it is often just simple sentences which
make wisdom after all. very simple sentences, which can be found practically
everywhere. they are used so often that they tend to lose their meaning.

"but tell me monkey, why do you want to know? will knowing make you any wiser?"
asked the termite
"oh, yes! of course it will. imagine, my master could not answer this particular
question, although very wise and informed. knowing the answer to the question, i
will master my master, and wiser than him. you could help me."

termite said, it would have to consider the answer to this question. he would ask
other termites for their opinions, and the collective of the experiences made with
falling trees. he said he would come when he knows the answer, and went.

sometime later, as time is an insignificant factor in stories, the termite was

back. the monkey, who had seen the opportunity to excel in human philosophy, who
could become even wiser than his master, was still waiting, of course.

termite came and announced, that the collective has been aware of every single
tree falling in the forest, and as a member has always been around, they could
also say, that they had heard a sound, the typical sound of a tree falling in
every of them. except for one case where the termite was deaf and couldn't tell.
how a deaf termite can talk with others is one of the great mysteries of termites,
and is something which certainly has to be explored... but this too is not our
story, of course.

the monkey was very happy. now he knew. now he was wiser. just as he was
considering a way of thanking the termite for his help, the termite went on...

"i am afraid we couldn't be much of help. i am sorry."

the monkey was surprised now- why should this answer not help him after all? "how
do you mean termite? you just answered the question i have been trying to find a
solution for. that was indeed a big help. i don't know how i could express my
thanks to you."

"i don't think you get it. there have been great deal of trees falling in the
forest, and now you know for sure that there has been someone around in every one
of them. you still haven't found a case where no one was actually around which
would help you to judge."

the monkey considered this, and said, "if there was no one around, then there
would also be no one to tell if there was a sound or not. nobody could answer this
question."

"only nobody, actually." asserted termite.

"in that case, this question is actually absurd, and cannot be answered after all.
how could it be wisdom?"

"not entirely right." said the termite. "we thought that the question is actually
designed to be absurd, so that the individual seeking answer to it, has to face
the absurdity of the whole, and find conviction in the great plan."

it was now time for the monkey to be intrigued. "tell me more about the great
plan" he asked, "i want to know everything about it."

"termites are born to their colonies and altered to become whatever is currently
required- fulfilling the needs of the colony and therefore making tiny knots in
the fabric of existence. same is true for the trees in the forest, which is made
of trees. their role in the great plan is to be, give shelter to animals, and die
becoming food for the termites. termites decompose the trees, so that the soil is
fertile, and more trees can prosper. other animals have to be as well, so that the
trees can reproduce, and grow, to give shelter and everything else we need for
living. everything there is, has a sense, a role, a part in the whole equilibrium
of existence. and of course also their duties, so that existence, as it is, can
continue" began the termite. what else could an animal of the collective believe
after all. an animal which is perpetually part of a great plan, ceaselessly
working for it, and in which his individual efforts count. you could almost say,
that purely the belief that there is a great plan and that the individual termite
is part of it, is his drive after all, what else could he believe. what else could
his wisdom be.

"and the great plan requires of the trees to make a noise while they fall, so that
the animals can hear and come along to trees corpse, get it decomposed quickly to
become part of the life- this time with its material, recycled and restored to
life. therefore, the real answer to your question is, yes. trees always make a
noise when they fall, as it is part of the great plan, part of continuity, and
therefore their duty. and also yes, there is always someone to hear to noise, for
no tree may go wasted, and will have to be restored back to life. therefore
someone has to be there to hear and do what is necessary. if you understand the
great plan, you will also understand that the question is designed to provoke
realization of the great plan. its existence... which is a great wisdom."

the monkey was amazed of the wisdom of the termite. his inevitable wisdom, which
he inherited from his colony, which also dictated him for almost every second of
his life what his responsibilities would be, made him amazingly wise as well.

the following days, monkey asked many more questions to learn about the great
plan, and how it worked, how to read and understand it, how to accept and worship
it, be a real part of it. the monkey learned a great deal, and was happy.

and when the time came, he bade his farewell, and gratitude and left.

what he didn't learn reamins the fact that your nature is inevitably part of your
wisdom, and termites nature, being a collective one, just had to contain a big
plan.

and of course, just like all stories, this too has to end, right now, just before
things turn interesting.