philosophy talk: the way things are

According to Ishmael, how did things come to be this way? In your opinion, how did things come to be this way?

The novel Ishmael by Daniel Quinn tells the tale of ‘how things came to be this way’. The narrator sees an ad in the newspaper: “teacher seeks student”. He answers the ad to find the teacher is a gorilla, Ishmael who can communicate telepathically. The narrator learns from Ishmael ‘how things came to be this way’ through Socratic questioning. In this paper, I will explain Daniel Quinn’s writings of ‘how things came to be this way’, as well as elaborate on my own ideas.

According to Ishmael, there are two groups, the Takers and the Leavers. He begins with the story of the Takers by asking the narrator to explain his culture’s creation myth. The narrator first insists he does not know of such a thing, until he comes to the realization that there is a story told and accepted by the takers. He starts the story with the big bang and evolution, stating that “species followed species, and finally man appeared”. Ishmael probes the narrator further, asking him what the meaning of the end of his story was. The narrator responded, “there was no more to come. Meaning creation had come to an end”.  To which Ishmael agrees, “the pinnacle was reached in man” and everyone in taker culture knows this.

According to the Takers, creation ended with man because the world was made for man, so once man arrived, man became the focus. Ishmael points out to the narrator that the premise of the Taker story is that “the world was made for man”, and the narrator responds with “if the world was made for us, then it belongs with us and we can do what we damn well please with it”. And this in and of itself describes the way the Taker culture is: “the world was made for man, and man was made to rule it”, but before man could rule the world, “man first had to conquer it”. This was hard for man, and “ took him a long, long time to figure that out”. Man lived as though he was any other creature until he was able to conquer the world. The turning point came with the birth of agriculture, which allowed man to “take possession of it [the world]” once “this problem was cracked”. Ishmael points out that this “big moment” was the “birth of your [Taker] culture”.

So, after agriculture, man was meant to rule the world, and “under human rules it was meant to become a paradise”. The narrator says “being human, they were bound to screw it up” because “there’s something fundamentally wrong with humans”. Ishmael, however disagrees, and says “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.” Ishmael thinks that the Takers are given a story to enact that leads to the destruction of the world, and that is why Takers are destroying the world.

The story of the Leavers is very different from that of the Takers. Leavers do not believe the world was made for them, unlike the Takers. Instead, they believe “the gods made man for the world, the same way they made salmon and sparrows for the world.” Leavers see themselves as equals to other animals. They live in similar ways to other animals, in that they don’t take more than they need. Ishmael reveals that the premise of the Leavers story is that “man belongs to the world”. They leave the “running of the world to the gods” because up to this point, it has worked out well. Ishmael asks the narrator to read the story of Cain and Abel to help him understand the relationship between the Takers and the Leavers. Cain is a Taker, as he is a tiller of the ground, and Abel is a Leaver, as he is a keeper of sheep. God chose Abel’s sacrifice because he lived as a Leaver did: respecting the earth as man was made for the earth. Ishmael informs the narrator that his is a Leaver story that explains Takers. When Takers expand and take more land, “the Leavers were [are] being killed off” so the Takers can use their land. The narrator says that when the Takers expanded outside of the Fertile Crescent “Cain was killing Abel” in the sense that the Takers were killing the Leavers for their gain. So the Leavers have their own creation myth about the origin of the Takers. The Takers act “as if they were the gods themselves” while the Leavers just live their lives in the way which works best for them.

The narrator agrees with Ishmael, asks how he can save the world, to which Ishmael replies “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.” Leavers need to help the Takers understand that there are multiple ways to live in order to stop the destruction of the world. Then, the Takers “must spit out the fruit of the forbidden tree”, in essence, stop acting as though they are the gods and “know who should live and who should die on this planet”. Ishmael then tells the narrator to “teach a hundred what I've taught you, and inspire each of them to teach a hundred” in order to spread what he has learned and save the world.

‘Things came to be this way’ because this is how things have been done for as long as most people can remember. Someone did something, such as agriculture, and it worked. So then people began to copy the method that worked. Then someone did something else, and people copied that. And it continued on and that is what people still do now. They do things that worked for the people before them. If things work well, then many people don’t find a reason to change. Instead, they continue that way because that’s how things have always been done.

Also, people do not tend to question things. For example, many of my friends hate my philosophy homework because the idea of questioning what we know “freaks me [them] out”. So, when things have been done a certain way for a long time, people have even less reason to question them. If routines or beliefs aren’t questioned or challenged, things stay the same. Weaknesses and flaws aren’t found because they aren’t being looked for, so nothing changes.

In terms of a creation myth, I think Ishmael was accurate with what the general creation myth is. I feel differently. I do not know if there is a god or not, but if there is one, then I believe the god created the world. And then, the god left it alone. And the god still leaves it alone. Everything else happened without the god. So the universe was created, and then things happened. Evolution happened and then man came along through evolution, along with all the other species. Man evolved to have a higher rational thought capacity than other animals, which is why man eventually did things such as agriculture and settlement, among other things. This has led us to where we are now.

I do not believe that things were destined to be this way. I do not believe in fate or anything of the sort. Every choice a person has ever made has led them to where they are now. I also believe every person is free to do as they choose, and that is why things are they way they are. If people are free to do whatever they please, they tend to do things that will benefit themselves without thinking of the greater whole. Many technological advances benefit humans but destroy the environment, but humans initially only see their own benefit. Now, people are realizing the effect this is having on our environment, but not everyone cares. If everyone does not care, then little change will be made.

Because every person is free to live as they chose, there is no one ‘right’ way to live. I believe this is the cause of so much conflict. Everyone believes the way they are living is the only way, and the right way, and they have to ‘help’ everyone who is living differently than they are. Instead, everyone should be allowed to live as they please. Only when the way someone is living is causing harm to others should the way be changed. Harm should not be allowed because it affects someone’s way of living, and all ways of living should be respected. Through his or her own way of living, each person can give their own life meaning. But, because people do not question things and just tend to follow the herd, people rarely give their life meaning and instead search for it in religion or in others.

Things came to be this way because people simply do not take their life into their own hands. They instead follow the masses, never questioning things and always assuming what they are doing is right. Humans are very self-centered, so they do things that benefit themselves and their race rather than looking at the big picture. They do not question things because that wouldn’t align with the masses, and the way the masses do things is the way things have always been done. Things came to be this way due to inadvertent selfishness, sticking to the norm, and a lack of questioning.