The book Ishmael is a 1992 novel by Daniel Quinn. It examines mythology and how we human are the end product of evolution and that everything has been built up to the point of us being in this world and that we are here to rule it. The book is mostly written in Socratic dialogue between the narrator and a Ape called Ishmeal. The Gorilla but a Ad in the newspaper that has caught the narrators attention, as it read “TEACHER SEEKS PUPIL. Must have an earnest desire to save the world. Apply in person.” They start to discuss how “everything came to be this way” for mankind and that the learning subject will be captivity of man under distorted civilization system. He is using the Nazi Germans to show that we are either being captive by the believe of being superior, or of the captivity of those around them.
He also lays down some ground definitions for the narrator:
1. “Takers: "civilized." The culture born in an Agricultural Revolution that began about 10,000 years ago in the Near East. The culture we live in right now. My culture.
2. Leavers: "primitive."
3. A story: as an interrelation between the gods, man, and the earth, with a beginning, middle, and end.
4. To enact: is to strive to make a story come true.
5. A culture: as a people who are enacting a story.”
He proceeds on explaining the story of the takers. The myth says that man were made to rule and save the world, that they are the last object in the long branch of evolution and that they are the ultimate being. He is also saying that have been flawed, that we cannot obtain the knowledge for that and that we only destroy the world more and more. The story of the taker begins about 8000 BC, just like the agricultural revolution and the leavers history line goes from before 3,000,000 BC until now. Ishmael says that the story of Genesis was written by the Semites, and later adapted to work within Hebrew and Christian belief structures. He thinks that Abel and his death represent the nomadic Semites and their losing conflict with agriculturalists. As they were driven further into the Arabian Peninsula, the Semites became isolated from other herding cultures and, according to Ishmael, illustrated their situation through history, which was later adopted into the Hebrew book of Genesis.
"There's nothing fundamentally wrong with people. Given a story to enact that puts them in accord with the world, they will live in accord with the world. But given a story to enact that puts them at odds with the world, as yours does, they will live at odds with the world. Given a story to enact in which they are the lords of the world, they will act as the lords of the world. And, given a story to enact in which the world is a foe to be conquered, they will conquer it like a foe, and one day, inevitably, their foe will lie bleeding to death at their feet, as the world is now."
He points out one law that humans believe does not count for them as they believe they are on earth to rule it and this law of Limited Competition. “you may compete to the full extent of your capabilities, but you may not hunt down competitors or destroy their food or deny them access to food. In other words, you may compete but you may not wage war."
Ishmael then tries to explain why man thinks that way and uses the Story The Fall of Man and tells a tale which explains why the fruit was forbidden to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Eating the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil provides the gods with the knowledge they need to rule the world, the knowledge of who shall live and who shall die. The fruit nourishes only gods, however, the gods saw that if Adam were to eat from this tree, he might think that he gained the gods' wisdom and in his arrogance, destroy the world and himself “And so they said to him, you may eat of every tree in the garden, save the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, for on the day you eat of that tree, you will certainly die." He denies that the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil was forbidden to humans just to test humans condition. Instead, Ishmael thinks that the Tree shows the choice to bear the burden of responsibility of deciding which species may live and which should die. This is a necessary decision agricultural peoples must make when deciding which organisms to cultivate, which to displace, and which to kill in protection of the first.
To begin the Leavers' story, Ishmael proposes to his student a hypothesis: the Takers' Agricultural Revolution was a revolution against the Leavers' story. The leavers lived in the hands of God, they didn't think of themselves as the ruler or ending of evolution and took only what they needed and left the rest alone. The takers built their own food supplies and had enormous food supplies in the end which allowed them to live without the gods which made them think that they have gained the same knowledge like he gods as they can't die from hunger anymore, so they have become owner of their own lives in their point of view. Here we see that he is not only pointing out a technological change but also a mythical.
"So we have a new pair of names for you: The Takers are 'those who know good and evil' and the Leavers are 'those who live in the hands of the gods'."
He continues and points out that by living in the hands of the gods, man is in the condition under which evolution takes place. Australopithecus became Homo by living in the hands of the gods. Man became man by living in the hands of the gods. "by living the way the bushmen of Africa live; by living the way the Krenakarore of Brazil live... Not the way the Chicagoans live, not the way Londoners live." "In the hands of the gods is where evolution happens." According to the Takers' story, creation came to an end with man. "In order to make their story come true, the Takers have to put an end to creation itself-- and they're doing a damn good job of it!"
Ishmael concludes “The premise of the Takers' story is 'The world belongs to man.' ...The premise of the Leavers' story is 'Man belongs to the world.'"
"For three million years, man belonged to the world and because he belonged to the world, he grew and developed and became brighter and more dexterous until one day, he was so bright and so dexterous that we had to call him Homo sapiens sapiens-- which means he was us."
Eventually he tells the narrator how he thinks he can save the world "The story of Genesis must be undone. First, Cain must stop murdering Abel. This is essential if you're to survive. The Leavers are the endangered species most critical to the world - not because they're humans but because they alone can show the destroyers of the world that there is more than one right way to live. And then, of course, you must spit out the fruit of the forbidden tree. You must absolutely and forever relinquish the idea that you know who should live and who should die on this planet."
"Teach a hundred what I've taught you, and inspire each of them to teach a hundred."
Question I came up with were:
What exactly was the story of Cain and Abel? I have heard the story before but it doesn't quite explain to spread of agriculture for me and I would like to know more about that. In the book the narrator seems to be really astonished at that point and I was wondering why exactly because they didn't actually summarize it in the book again.
Why was man not satisfied with the life he had as a leaver? In the book they talked about how they talked with the god and about this one fruit in the garden of Eden but that doesn't seem to be enough prove to me. I don't think that the earlier could just talk to the gods like that, and it all makes it seem so blurry. Was it just because they wanted to be like the gods themselves because in the one tale Ishmael tells the leavers have been quite happy and it is hard for me to get my head around of the first thought and try of why man thinks of themselves as so much higher and as he end of evolution.
I did like the book, it does have some good points and I do have to agree with his thoughts. We do live in this mess because we had the feel and need to make ourselves so much more powerful and important and I think because of all these past conflicts that it will end up with us all dying because we have tasted the fruit of gods, which can be seen as metaphor for everything we possess and want to possess right now in modern time. I honestly wouldn't mind going back and become leavers, but I guess I would need to have to stream of everyone doing it in order to get somewhere.
Yes I would recommend it because it has been a great read and really enlightening as well. I think we should all have this certain amount of knowledge like this, that there can be hope if we would just all work together on ourselves, no matter if you believe it or not. It's the same with religions, we might not believe it but we still want to know about the many different opportunities there are out there to experience and that has always been part of humanities curiosity.
