Reflection on Section 10 in Ishmael
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
"And every time the Takers stamp out a Leaver culture, a wisdom ultimately tested since the birth of mankind disappears from the world beyond recall, just as every time they stamp out a species of life, a life form ultimately tested since the birth of life disappears from the world beyond recall." (Ishmael)
This quote reminds me simultaneously of the Wade Davis and E.O. Wilson TED talks. It brings back the idea that the Leavers and other forms of life are quickly becoming extinct, and we, the Takers, aren't doing anything about it. In fact, we are the ones that are destroying them.
Takers are self-absorbed fools. All we seem to care about is the continuation of production of things that will lead to a better lifestyle. We only have knowledge of "what works well for production", but we lack the necessity of wisdom of "what works well for the people". Because of this, we destroy all other cultures and species, as they supposedly get in the way of our production. We do not realize that these Leavers are really the ones with the knowledge we lack, and that we have much to learn from them. Although we see that each Leaver culture has very specific knowledge as to what works for each of their respective cultures, their tastes, preference and vision of the world, they are still enacting the story which we are unable to enact, the one we should be enacting.
What makes us even bigger fools is the fact that although we don't know what works for us, we are not willing to find this solution. We are not willing to figure out what's best for us. We are not willing to take a look beyond our culture, to the past, to the Leaver culture, and figure out what it is that makes them successful in life, as to say. Instead we turn to prophets and lawgivers. These prophets and lawgivers give us the supposed
one right way to live. And we follow. We teach our children the same
. We do not realize that these prophets and lawgivers are like us, men, and people of the Taker culture. We do not realize that they too, have no idea as to what works for us. Instead, we follow blindly, for we cannot fathom the answer ourselves.
Driven by money, power, production, and the desire to conquer, we will not stop until we have destroyed the world, and everyone and everything else with it. We have been traveling down a path that has diverged from our past, the leavers. We have traveled much too far to look back and realize we took the wrong fork in the road, to even see the past. It's time to stop. It's time to realize that things are not going to work out for us, for the rest of the world, if we continue. We are destroying cultures, species, the earth. Is this a price we want to pay?
Labels: global ethics
