51c9PkFculL._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_ I've been reading Ishmael, by Daniel Quinn over the past week or so. (Click on the link to find out more about it.) It began when a friend of mine turned me onto this notion of "being a Hobbit". I've always been apolitical. I am conservative on the old sense: I believe in tradition, value in the old way of doing things, and seek to maintain a way of life informed by the wisdom of the Past. I'm Eastern Orthodox because I believe that it preserves the original doctrines and practices of the Apostles. I taught in a classical school and now homeschool my children because I believe that standing on the shoulders of giants is better than chasing the whims of "progress". I'm liberal in the classical sense. I believe …show more content…
in freedom, peace with your environment, and equality of persons. I also believe that what I have received is a gift--not a privilege; and it is inappropriate for me to horde my gifts when others are suffering. Nearly irreconcilable differences in today's political culture of Us vs. Them and party purity. My friend pointed me towards his own circle of friends--shire dwellers who talk about permaculture, caring for nature, protecting the poor, loving your place (the land and the people).
In due course, I have been exploring this idea of being a Hobbit in a culture polluted by Isengard and overseen by Barad Dur. Exploration leads to discovery, and my recent discovery is …show more content…
Ishmael. Ishmael has a simple premise: a man and his teacher sit down and discuss the way things are and ask if there is a better way for them to be. This dialogue covers ancient history, biological evolution, religious instruction, and the progress of Civilization from the Fertile Crescent forward. The real surprise of the story is that it's a dialog between the author--presumably Quinn--and a gorilla communicating through a psychic connection. I'll admit I was sceptical, but I had been given this title by a website I trusted, so I was determined to push through to the end and see how the story developed. Even given an anticlimactic (and predictable) ending, I found the book enjoyable and challenging on many levels. Question 1: what is the story we hear so often, it no longer makes an impression on our senses? What is the white noise of culture, lulling us to sleep and keeping us submissive? How is it we are blind to the downward spiral in our natural world and human culture? Question 2: How did we come to be? What is the inevitable result of continuing to enact our story? Question 3: Is there an alternative to the story we're enacting?
Is there a different way to live? Can we resist the "progress" of consumption and depletion of our resources and the threat of extinction? Quinn's answers to these questions via this fanciful dialog between man and ape are intriguing and challenging--both as a person and a Christian. What Quinn refuses to acknowledge is that any religious answer is necessary. Humans are capable--as products of evolution and their environment--of coming to the answers on their own without prophets. All discussion of sin is verboten. Where I think Quinn hits the mark is that the basic human needs to be Right and the be Secure have thrown us off course. We began farming and enforced agriculturalism on the world. With the security of steady crops and food preservation, the population expanded, so more land was needed to till the earth, and Cain slays Abel again and again as the train of progress moves relentlessly over more and more uncultivated ground. There is a way to make things better, but it cannot be reached without a proper understanding of sin and the human condition. We can do better by the planet, society, our community, and each other; but we can't do it on our own. It's not enough to say that we should live like a part of the world because we evolved like the rest of the world. As Christians, we need a better answer, because humans are bearers of the imago and as such have a deeper responsibility to the planet than just
to "not hurt" people. Quinn's book opened the door to new avenues of thought for me. I'm dissatisfied with his answer, but not thoroughly. It's time we re-evaluated the impact we have on society and it's time we started to pay attention to the ambient music drowning out the warning sirens sounding around us.
Society portrays the Earth as a resource, a place that provides an abundance of tools that are beneficial to one’s way of living. As time continues on, humanity’s definition of sustainability with the ecosystem becomes minor, meaning that it is not essential to their own lives. Thus, leading to the environment becoming polluted and affecting the human population. These ideas are demonstrated through these four sources: “Despair Not” by Sandra Steingraber, which provides the author’s perspective on the environmental crisis in terms of climate change.
In the novel Ishmael, Daniel Quinn expresses his viewpoints of the human race through the telepathic discussions between the unnamed narrator and a gorilla named Ishmael. Through these conversations Ishmael is able to help the narrator understand the nature of things, focusing on answering the question “why are things the way that they are?” As the two characters continue to meet, the narrator is able to grasp the concepts presented by Ishmael which give him a different view of humans, or as Ishmael refers to his culture. Quinn explains the unhealthy relationship humans have with the Earth and how their way of life has negatively impacted it. Throughout the the story of Ishmael, Daniel Quinn draws attention to the concept of captivity, culture,
Ishmael begins when the nameless narrator finds a newspaper ad that reads: "Teacher seeks pupil. Must have an earnest desire to save the world. Apply in person" (4).
Among the people of your culture, which want to destroy the world? Which want to destroy it? As far as I know, no one specifically wants to destroy the world. And yet you do destroy it, each of you. Each of you contribute daily to the destruction of the world. This truth was stated by a gorilla named Ishmael who, through his experiences of being taken from the jungle, placed in a zoo in the 1930's, put in a menagerie, and bought by a private owner named Mr. Sokolow, had all the time in a world to think about the world around him. Daniel Quinn writes about the horrifying realities of our culture in a book called Ishmael, by stepping outside of the world as we know it and describing what he sees through a talking gorilla. Behind the bars of his cage, he was able to take a look at our culture as an outsider, to see things that we never could. This sagacious, passive, and extremely patient primate wanted to share this knowledge to others so as to stop man from destroying the world. So, he placed an ad in the paper and caught the attention of an eager student, the narrator, who was willing to save the world.
Humans are born sinful and are full of evil desires, like greed and selfishness. Individualism drives us apart and poisoned our mutual relationships” (Kuyper, Abraham, and James W. Skillen 25). Kuyper says that, “Every creature, our Confessions says so beautifully, must serve man, so that man may serve God” (Kuyper, Abraham, and James W. Skillen 23). Humans being are called to serve each other; in God’s commandments He says to love our neighbor as ourselves. Kuyper says, “…the cause of evil lay in this: that men regarded humanity as cut off from its eternal destiny, did not honor it as created in the image of God, and did not reckon with the majesty of the Lord” (Kuyper, Abraham, and James W. Skillen 26). Kuyper says that “Our society is losing touch with Christ…” and that is the main problem with society (Kuyper, Abraham, and James W. Skillen
Quinn gains a unique perspective on humanity through the main character of the novel, Ishmael. Ishmael is a gorilla. And Ishmael is a teacher who communicates with humans telepathically. On the surface, this hardly seems to be a character who would appear in a serious book; more likely a children's story, a fable, or perhaps a bad science fiction novel. Yet Ishmael is none of these, and Ishmael is a strong character, with a powerful intellect and a serious purpose. The character of Ishmael needs to be non-human in order to be effective. Looking in on civilization from the outside gives him a perspective from which to criticize humanity without hypocrisy. To hear the oppressor repent is not nearly so effective as to hear the voice of the oppressed demand freedom and restitution.
We are destroying the earth in order to survive. What is our Moral Responsibility? Daniel Quinn has written a book about how things have come to be the way they are. He looks at the meaning of the world and the fate of humans. Ishmael, the main character, is a teacher of vast wisdom, as well as being a Gorilla.
Despite the increasing amount of scientific evidence that support global climate change, many countries still use fossil fuels. The U.S. in particular is considering the revitalization of the coal industry instead of focusing on the production of clean energy. This inability to change will eventually lead to our downfall and our world will become like that of Lauren’s. In order for our survival, we have to seek out other planets because we are not changing fast enough for the sake of our planet. As our world’s climate continues to change rapidly, our resources are running and we are starting to split the world’s population into two groups: the wealthy and the poor. This is a sign that our world might become like that of Lauren’s dystopia. We cannot continue to live in this world with the belief that there is a world after death, like Lauren says, “We'll adapt. We'll have to. God is Change” (Butler, 147). We, human race, have to adapt and change or else we will eventually disappear. There is no supernatural being that can save us from our own destruction because the human race refuses to change. Even if we manage to move another planet, we will eventually turn that planet into another hell. The problem is not with the world, it is with
The seceded Ecotopian nation and the country it came from can be categorized into two groups, "Takers" and "Leavers". These terms are derived from Daniel Quinn's novel, Ishmael. "Good. So henceforth I'm going to call the people of your [American] culture Takers and the people of all other cultures Leavers." "You call your self civilized and all the rest primitive." Upon entering Ecotopia, Will Weston is impressed, horrified and overwhelmed by the practices of Ecotopians. "Can things be as weird as they sound" and will he be able to "keep his sanity" among the madness he encounters? What Will does not know is that the longer he stays in Ecotopia, this "Leaver" society is going to challenge his "Taker" beliefs and mindset and ultimately change them for good.
Rollin, Bernard E.. “The Ascent of Apes — Broadening the Moral Community”. In The Great Ape Project. New York: St. Martin’s Griffin, 1993. pp.206-219.
There are some books that you can just sit back and enjoy, just let the authors words wash over you and, most importantly, you don't have to think. And then there's Daniel Quinn's Ishmael.
The Hobbit shows J.R.R. Tolkien’s belief in the ancient heroic tales of the Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian epics. He asserts that a being goes through many adventures with the help of friends who believe that anything can happen. Tolkien reveals how bravery and courage make ordinary individuals succeed at ordinary tasks.
In the beginning, God created a perfect world without sin, pain, or agony. God created this world so some of His creation would have a home and a place to serve him. However, this model of a flawless utopia became corrupted very quickly. God’s prized creation, humans, disobeyed the only command that their Father had set in place: not to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Adam and
It is likely for one to assume that a classic piece of literature set in a fantasy oriented stage will have no merits to the youths of today. The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien, however, with its crafty of usage symbolism, displays its relevance to issues that often trouble teens. As the story progresses from a children’s tale to an epic, the main character Bilbo undergoes a series of development, his experiences often overlapping with ordinary people. Reading the Hobbit will provide teens with opportunities of exploring the importance of several common but serious topics. People may encounter many of the themes presented in the book elsewhere repeatedly, but it’s possible that they never appreciated the applications it might have on themselves. When teens read the Hobbit, they perceive it as a simple fiction of adventure. Under proper guiding, they will be able to recognize and utilize the lessons of the Hobbit, and improve their attitudes and ideas about life.
...tion, but a pessimistic one because change is hindered by the system of capitalism that prioritizes the needs of the market and economy before the environment, which is a paradox in itself because markets need the environment to produce the materials that allow it to survive to begin with first place. To reiterate Wright, the progress trap is hitting modern society and people should recall fallen civilizations in order to escape what is inevitable: collapse. Delaying the collapse is not good enough, and changing the track no matter how difficult a move this is, is needed in order to prevent to sustain life on Earth.