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Ishmael: Religion and Agriculture Destructive Towards Man’s Future
Since the beginning of time, man has lived a hunter-gatherer lifestyle, supporting himself by hunting animals and living off the land around him. This lifestyle is considered to be living in the hands of the gods. Meaning, the gods decide man’s fate, including who should live and who should die, and what resources would be available to him. As a result, man was considered equal to animals, neither one was more powerful than the other. This meant man would have to compete to survive like all animals do. Because of this competition, man would have to evolve. Evolution was necessary in order to support and prevent man from becoming extinct. Man evolved from Australopithecus all the way to Homo sapiens sapiens, which is today’s mankind. However, around 10,000 years ago or in 8000 B.C., man believed he was meant to rule and conquer the world and decided to take control of his own life and take it out of the gods’ hands. By doing this, man was suggesting that the gods were not needed any more, and instead were fine without them. In order to separate from the gods, man would have to become an agriculturist. This would require man to create his own food by harvesting and producing the necessary crops, maintain cattle, and settle down. Settling down would allow man to abandon the hunter-gatherer lifestyle and begin to produce more food than what is needed and save for hard times. Thus, allowing man to not worry about droughts or any other natural disasters that could cause him to have a shortage of food. According to Ishmael, agriculture and religion have both been destructive to man’s future.
The start of the agriculture revolution occurred around 8000 B.C., in Meso...
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...e diversity of the community, and ultimately destroying mans chance of survival. Because religion involved the gods controlling man’s life, the gods were abandoned and pushed to the side. Man wanted ultimate control over his life, which can only be achieved by taking his life out of the gods’ hands and placing it into his own. By doing this, man will work to gain complete control of his life, but will fail and perish in the process. As Ishmael explains, the only way to end this path towards the destruction of mankind is to, “teach a hundred what I’ve taught you, and inspire each of them to teach a hundred” (248). Meaning, everyone must teach one another about the horrible acts mankind has been exhibiting for the past 10,000 years. And although life seems great right now, we must return to the lifestyle of hunter-gatherers because that is how man is meant to live.
Takers have come to the assumption that humans are the main product of evolution and the world was made for them to rule. The narrator states, “my conditioning tells me-Mother Culture tells me-that living in the hands of the gods has got to be a never-ending nightmare of terror and anxiety” (227). This belief has led to catastrophic results like global warming, extinction of animals, and the slow destruction of the Earth. The Takers’ cultural ideal lead them to believe that the gods restrict man to be in complete control, which places themselves equal to or above the gods. Ishmael, a self-proclaimed Leaver, refuses to accept this premise. He explains the main thing wrong with the Takers culture supports them acting against the world and that they don’t even realize
Throughout the course of A Long Way Gone, we see Ishmael going through a number of hardships. Many people would consider these difficulties overwhelming, and near impossible to overcome. However, Ishmael shows resilience and overcomes hardships all through the book and displays the human condition through these complications in his life.
Ishmael highlights that people should learn from each other and learning from your peers is an important part of learning and life. If we didn’t learn from each other the world would never thrive or be able to adapt to the changes that the modern day brings. The moral responsibilities of humans that the text highlights are essential to living a good life. The responsibilities that are discussed are important in the teaching of religious education. All teachers have the responsibility to develop skills and qualities in their pupils that are beneficial to their lives and the lives of others.
To many people religion is a sanctuary. It helps them escape the chaos of their normal lives and become a part of something much bigger. For Jews during the Holocaust, religion helped them survive at first. They remained adamant that God would not allow the genocide of millions of his people. But as time went on, they began to question the existence of god. Elie witnesses the death of one of the inmates Akiba Drumer; recalling, "He just kept repeating that it was all over for him, that he could no longer fight, he had no more strength, no more faith" (76). Many people live for religion; they go on with their lives and no matter how horrific the situation may be, they remain resilient of the fact that god will pull them through any situation. But when this faith is lost, people begin to question their existence. Jewish people grow up knowing that God would always be at their side. The realization that God was not there for them took its toll. Elie loses his faith in God...
Hello my name is Daniel Quinn and today I will be talking to you about the parallels between the film Baraka and my novel Ishmael. To give you all some context before I start, I will explain the premises of both pieces of work. Baraka is a non-narrative documentary film that was released in 1992. Throughout the film there is no narration or dialogue, it is just a compilation of multiple events. Some of what is shown includes natural events, life, human activities and technological phenomenon. The film was shot in multiple locations that includes the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, the Ryoan temple in Kyoto, Lake Natron in Tanzania, burning oil fields in Kuwait, the smoldering precipice of an active volcano, a busy subway terminal, tribal celebrations, of the Masai in Kenya, and chanting monks in the Dip Tse Chok Ling monastery.
In the first chapter of the Holy Bible, Genesis, God creates the world. In this creation he creates man on the same day, yet man stands divine like at the peak of the creatures. Rousseau, in the Second Discourse, recalls that when he was a beast he ate mainly fruits and nuts. Eventually, he rose to his human status and began to eat meat. One must face the idea that animal meat, not fruits and nuts, is "the human food." Kass later on discusses how vegetarians seem to alter the balance of nature and fails to distinguish between man and animal by only eating vegetables, fruits and nuts. According to Genesis, the early ancestors were originally strict frugivores (fruit pickers), but when God restarts the human race again with Noah, he then shows the hierarchy of humans and animals. He then brings humans to the point that they are to eat animal flesh in order to balance the nature of the world. Human beings, although being praised for being superior, are animals both in their nature and in their origins. According to Aristotle, the soul, though thought by humans to be the only creatures to obtain it, is more that consciousness and is acquired in all animals even plants. Even in Genesis, God thought that animals and humans should be similar in this fact in order to be his companions. Though Genesis discusses creation of the "humanity" of the human being, Leviticus brings forth the dietary laws in which humans must obey when looking for divinity.
Davis writes that she believes the mindset of the Hebrew Scriptures is Agrarian. Only the first chapter of Genesis, contradicts her opinion. She defines agrarianism as humanity being the land’s servent and caring for the environment without compromising the existing inhibitors (43). Dikerson and Evans define Agraririanism and feraculture differently. Feraculture is the idea of conservation and preservation of the wilderness, while Agrarianism is the sustainable cultivation of land (133).
As much as the nutrition bears an extensive change as noted by Jared, the same also is clear in other spheres of life. Religion on the other side of the equation shows a significant transformation of the global community today. The article by Whiston (1987) illustrates the way religion was carried in the old days. In comparison with Jared historical analysis, a clear comparison is noted that both times life was simple. In the simplicity of judgment all religious practices were to be followed as per the ruler’s word. The rebellious one that chose to follow their choices died under the judgment of the rulers and persecutors. As if that was not enough, history still explains the heart of making sacrifices to gods on altars with fire. At this point, it seems that changes were meant for the best as people were living on bondage. Most of them followed orders and did not understand the freedom to worship. Nonetheless, does it seem to be freedom when the current society is full of pagan worship and social
Diamond states that the reason hunter-gatherer groups became agriculturists was simply because it was easier to create more food for your individual group if it was grown, this statement does have validity. Everyone would be responsible for themselves and would be expected to help out. There wouldn’t be the constant grumbling that there are so many people being lazy and living off of handouts like there are in the modern world today.
In the article “Worst Mistake in History of Human Race,” by Jared Diamond (1987), he discusses how the conversion a hunter- gatherer based society to an agricultural based one was a huge mistake. At first it was believed and is still believed by many that it has been one of the best decisions made by humans but he goes on to discuss how it is not and the disadvantages it has caused.
To become fully human men must distinguish themselves from God. When God sends the flood. He separates Himself from them by putting the world into their hands, as if to say, "There you go, you're grown up now, you take care of it." The gift of the Earth should be God's last active attempt at separation; from then on the humans should try to separate themselves from Him on their own. But like birds kicked out of the nest who try to climb back up the tree, they try to build the tower to heaven; and once again, God must intervene by creating even greater difference. This time He confuses their languages so they are not only different from God but also different from each other.
The novel Ishmael, "an adventure of the mind and spirit," opens with a disillusioned and depressed man in search of a teacher, and not just any teacher. He wants someone to show him what life is all about. And so he finds Ishmael, a meiutic teacher (one who acts as a midwife to his pupils, in bringing ideas to the surface), who turns out to be a large telepathic gorilla of extraordinary intelligence. The largest part of the book consists of their conversations, in which Ishmael discusses how things got to be this way (in terms of human culture, beginning with the agricultural revolution). Ishmael shows the narrator exactly what doesn't work in our society: the reasoning that there is only one right way to live, and that that way is with humans conquering the planet. Daniel Quinn points out that many other cultures, most notably those who have a tribal lifestyle, work, in that they do not destroy their resources, have no need for crime control or other programs, and do not have population problems. He insists that our culture is not based on humans being human, it is based on humans being gods and trying to control the world.
The blessing and curse of the Agricultural Revolution is advocated with its augmentation and dissemination. Taking the stipulative definition of “blessing” and “curse” from the original premise, one can only superimpose the layman’s terms of “negative” and “positive”. Upon examination of the two classifications within the Neolithic Period and ancient Mesopotamian civilization one can confirm the premise. Therefore, the agriculture revolution was a blessing and a curse for humanity. Human society began to emerge in the Neolithic Period or the New Stone Age. This new age began around 9,000 B.C.E. by the development of agriculture in the region surrounding the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and what is commonly referred to as “The Fertile Crescent” located in West Asia.1 The very development of agriculture had benefited humans by no longer having to move about in search of wild game and plants. Unencumbered by nomadic life humans found little need to limit family size and possessions and settled in a single location for many years. One negative aspect of this settling is that the population increased so much so that wild food sources were no longer sufficient to support large groups. Forced to survive by any means necessary they discovered using seeds of the most productive plants and clearing weeds enhanced their yield.2 This also lead humans to develop a wider array of tools far superior to the tools previously used in the Paleolithic Period or Old Stone Age. The spread of the Agricultural Revolution in the Neolithic Period also cultivated positive aspects by creating connections with other cultures and societies. Through these connections they exchanged knowledge, goods, and ideas on herding and farming.3 Another major positive aspec...
Religion has many effects in any society. It can either destroy it by proving customs wrong or it can guide it like it guides converts to believe in the religion. Religion creates two different societies and while it guides one to become stronger it will destroy another at the same time. Religion guides societies and destroys them.
The Neolithic Agrarian Revolution was the world’s first historically confirmable revolution in agriculture. It was the progression of many human cultures from a lifestyle of hunting and gathering to one of agriculture and settlement, which was supported with a big increasing population. This agriculture involved the domestication of plants and animals, which developed around 9,500 B.C. During this age various types of plants and animals derived in different locations all over the world. It converted the small groups of hunters and gatherers into more intelligent agricultural people. Those groups then formed into sedentary societies that built towns and villages, while they also altered they natural environment around them by food-crop fertilization. Therefore, allowing them to have an abundance for their food production. Just these few developments have provided high population density settlements, complex labor diversification, trading economics, the development of portable art, architecture, culture, centralized administrations and political structures, hierarchical ideologies, and systems of knowledge.