"Why should your peope know what story they're enacting as they destroy the world?"
"So they can stop enacting it. So they can see that they're not just blundering as they do what they do. so they can see that they're involved in a megalomaniac fantasy - a fantasy as insane as the Thousand Year Reich." (213)
sudhi-myth.blogspot.com
Humans enacting their story of Taking, Taking, Taking from the earth, and giving back rubbish
Before reading this book, I wasn't really aware that humans had a story to enact. I thought - well, honestly, I didn't know what I thought. But I definitely agreed with Ishmael when he said that civilization has a story and a cage that they are trapped into, but they have no idea becuase they cannot find the bars of the prison.
Its important to know what story we're enacting for the exact reason that Quinn gave: so we can evaluate if what we are doing is successful or destructive, and find out which story would be better to follow. I have to admit, the end of Ishmael caught me by surprise. It doesn't seem like a terribly complicated conclusion to reach, but it really made me think. What if humans have stoped the evolution of the planet through their own arrogance?!
It's certainly an intriguing thought. I DO believe that humans ought to belong to the world the same as any other creature, and follow a peaceful way of life by denying the greed to consume and grow by all means necessary. But what if we've been halting the progress of the world, or global evolution basically, in its tracks? What if, by messing with the planet, we've altered the biological future? It's just not something I've thought of before.
THe interesting thing is, I'm taking a World Architecture class right now, which is bascially the history of architecture, from origins to around 1750. We've learned about the "architectural structures" of Paleolithic people (basically the history of teepees) and how architecture truly started changing with the Neolithic Revolution. In this class, the agricultural revolution is celebrated. Humans started progressing, started accomplishing things. Leading a sedentary life led to the birth of civilization. Of course, this is how all of my history and geography classes have taught human history, but I've never really thought about how maybe the split from a Leaver to a Taker society wasn't necessarily the best decision. Its interesting how reading Ishmael and everything else we discuss in this class has led me to observe what my other classes teach.
"We should not trust the gods with our lives?"
"Definitely not. You should trust yourselves with your lives. That's the human way to live."
...
"All the same, Bwana, what are we to do with this food if we don't need it?"
"You save it! You save it to thwart the gods when they decide it's your turn to go hungry. You save it so that when they send a drought, you can say, 'Not me, goddamn it! I'm not going hungry, and there's nothing you can do about it, because my life is in my own hands now!'" (227)
ligress.wordpress.com
What good is our food surplus when we throw so much away while much of the world starves?
Does our way of life really all have to do with a desire for control? For power? Also, I need to bring up this point - I can't understand Quinn's position on God. At first I thought he was dismissing divinity as mere mythology. BUt now the way he speaks, it feels as if he's celebrating trusting in God. Perhaps I'm missing the message he is trying to send, but that is something that has been bothering me.
Honestly, I do think this concept of power and control drives a lot of human action. It is terrifying to just trust fate sometimes - humans seem to need to be independent. Independent to an extreme. We celebrate independence in our culture. Freedom is great! Making choices is great. It truly is. But not to the point of arrogance.
Not to the point of believing yourselves the rulers of the universe.
The rulers of "the gods" or God.
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