
This is a summary of the book Ishmael by Daniel Quinn.
The book Ishmael is a fictional book about a gorilla named Ishmael that develops the ability to telepathically communicate. The book is a sharing of his insights and knowledge with a human. The book is very theologically focused, but provides some important social commentary regardless of religious perspective.
We have an entirely incorrect assumption about what enables our species to survive extinction, you know, what we are facing right now with global warming, competition mentality, and basically everything else. Humans have to follow the same laws as any other living being. We are subject to gravity, aerodynamics, genetics, thermodynamics, and all the other ones. We aren't exempt to any of natures laws yet we think we are exempt to the impact of our actions on the planet and the laws the govern them. There are natural laws that, when broken, have natural consequences.
Humanity may not be done evolving. Humans have evolved several times according to science. Who says we are done doing so? This refers to psychic or spiritually based evolution.
That our myth of our own self importance is incorrect. Humans are not the pinnacle of creation and the universe, galaxy, or even solar system wasn't created just for us. We have a lot of sentient life all around us that it was also created for. Nature is based on harmony. The book says that God created humans to create order, but we shouldn't do so by betraying ourselves and our nature or nature in general. Human nature is currently under the assumption that subjugating nature is humanity's purpose, a view that is not only destroying the planet but causing the deaths of countless living beings.
Real change is predicated upon humanity realizing that it's been wrong. We've thought we were above god or gods for nearly 2,000 years now. We've assumed that we were meant to rule in absolute power, as gods, and conquer all of those that stood in our way. Turns out God isn't really about conquering, it (he/she) is all about harmony (nature), because all of it is God. Our delusion that we are above the Source (God/nature), and consequently above each other, is incorrect. The truth is predicated upon finding harmony with what is.
The book mentions how the classic story of Cain and Abel was actually a feud about being a pastor versus using the land for farming. Cain wanted to farm, harvest the land, dominate it, and grow as a species, a beautiful sentiment. Abel wanted to herd animals and live in harmony with the land, also a beautiful sentiment. Unfortunately ideological compartmentalization doesn't exist and Cain's desire to dominate extended to more than just the land, he chose to dominate other people, even to the extent of killing his brother. This doesn't just apply to Cain and Abel. We have adopted a mentality founded upon killing things to dominate them. Different religion? Dead. Bugs on my crops? Dead. Raccoon in my backyard? Dead. Trees in my way? Dead. I could keep going. Our primary ideology as a race has become one of supreme control centered around killing or incapacitating that which opposes us. In killing that which is around us, we are inadvertently killing ourselves.
Another misunderstanding is that the life of the "uncivilized" is terrible. The author says hunter-gatherers worked about 2-3 hours a day and are among the best fed people on Earth. I have no idea if that's correct and I'm feeling too lazy to research it at the moment but the possibility that we are wrong about our lifestyle is certainly worth consideration. Maybe we are the crazy ones working 8+ hours a day and still barely scraping by. When someone works 12+ hours a day in a sweatshop 7 days a week and lives in indentured servitude, something is deeply wrong with the way we've chosen to live. Something is deeply wrong in our society.
Another item that's wrong is that we are obsessed with excess. It's not about having what you need, it's about having 1 million times what you need while snubbing your nose at the suffering and dying people you could help with that money and buying extravagant mansions, boats, clothes, and cars instead. Those are our heroes, the ones that tabloids follow, the ones that control governments and policy for their own gain, the ones destroying our planet thinking themselves beyond the consequences due to their wealth. If that doesn't make you angry or deeply sad, I'm concerned about you. 50% of the worlds wealth is controlled by 1% of the population, 85% by the top 10%. That leaves 15% of resources for the other 90% of humans. That's pretty fucked up. The one person the world recently agrees upon as the worst person to ever live, Adolf Hitler, killed millions of people, yet the same thing is happening on a daily basis with the withholding of resources. Adolf Hitler was only able to kill all those people because we didn't stop him immediately. We allowed him to rob and dominate the Jewish people and kill them with impunity and only when he threatened to take over the world did we take notice. We, as a species, are complicit in the deaths that occur on a daily basis due to idolizing the withholding and hoarding of resources.
The book says that prophets are only necessary because we don't know how to live in harmony. There is no certain knowledge about how humanity should live. Many who read this could provide counterpoints to every argument on the right way to live, brilliant and well-thought out ones, ones that are accurate, but the fact of the matter is that we don't have a blueprint for how to live. No one knows the actual solution, with the exception of the prophets. Basically all religions were started by a prophet, whether or not the person was called that, and most of the world is heavily invested in religion, many to the point of dying for it. The book says that prophets are guides to help humanity recognize the lies that we have found ourselves in.
The one person that the Western world reveres as having broken the laws of nature was crucified for doing so. He showed humanity it's own lie, that power (emphasis on spiritual power) was gained by love and harmony rather than dominance and chaos, and he was killed for it. And then he broke that law! Why are we so threatened by things that we don't understand that we kill the people who not only speak on it but literally show it. It's insane!!! It doesn't even matter if it's true to me, what matters is the principle. We run from what we don't know and what scares us rather than embracing it and trying to understand it.
"If you alone found out what the lie was, then you're probably right - it would make no great difference. But if you ALL found out what the lie was, it might conceivably make a very great difference indeed."
-Daniel Quinn in Ishmael
Comments