24 May 2009

Ishmael, Book Review II

I will offer only a few observations on the book. First, a point of clarification: Ishmael paints a powerful and accessible picture, but, we ought not confuse this picture with others. Though Western, white, patriarchy provides a clear example of the taker mode of operation, takers are not identical with the West, with whites, with men, or any combination of those. Beijing, Robert Mugabe, and Margaret Thatcher do not offer an alternative to the taker mythology. Takers have made nearly the entire planet into a prison, and we humans are its occupants … all of us. Getting out of the prison is more important than redistributing privileges within the prison. The ecological revolution trumps all others.

Second, a call for elaboration: Quinn’s meditations on the first chapters of Genesis are provocative, and they could be usefully read alongside Hugh Brody’s considerations in The Other Side of Eden. Likewise, his alternative account of the history of the world contrasts nicely with the account in Hegel, Marx, Fukuyama, and Sayyid Qutb. It could be filled out by reading it alongside the works of Paul Shepherd. (I am planning to review some of Paul Shepherd’s books next.)

Third, a few critical comments: The “either / or” dichotomy (either takers or leavers) that forms the basis of the book supports its thesis as well as a bicycle at full stop supports its rider. Still, I can concede its usefulness for making the book accessible. However, our rider definitely falls over when Quinn provides only one of the two wheels; that is, he gives us the “either” without the “or.” Quinn develops the taker mythology but never gives as much attention to the leaver mythology. His leaver mythology doesn’t speak much about the gods and doesn’t really take the form of a story. This is a damning criticism in the terms the book set for itself. Instead, he frames leaver mythology in terms of biological and evolutionary laws. It is highly doubtful that this is the way leavers of various stripes would formulate their mythology.

Further, Quinn’s leaver mythology embraces the values of romanticism and democracy; species and forms of life are valued for their own sake, possess their own rights, and no group imposes its form of life on the others. This stands in tension with his evolutionary-based claim that the universe is moving toward intelligence and self-awareness, that such qualities are more complex and are presumably better or a genuine “advance.” Humans were the first to make this break-through, that other forms of life will follow and they will hail us for helping keep their futures open. Leaver mythology begins to look like a mishmash of ideas from the political left of the sixties, not from as yet unassimilated tribes in Brazil. Surely an intelligent, self-aware gorilla could offer a more significant paradigm shift than this.

Ishmael, Book Review I

Quinn, Daniel. Ishmael: An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit. A Bantam / Turner Book, 1992. ISBN: 0553375407

Ishmael shares a genre with Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance; both alternate between 1) a symbolic narrative and 2) a series of straight-forward but allegedly mind-blowing lectures. I don’t know if this genre has a name.

The narrative: In Ishmael a teacher is looking for a student who wants to save the world. The narrator, Alan Lomax, is the student; the teacher, Ishmael, is a gorilla who communicates telepathically. (Yes, you read that right.) Ishmael lives in an office building, where he also conducts his classes with Mr. Lomax. Four-fifths of the way through the book he is evicted from the office building and sold to a carnival.

The lectures: Ishmael helps his student unearth the mythology / worldview / ideology of the civilized world, those he designates “takers,” and of those civilizations that “history left behind,” whom he calls “leavers.” For the takers, the gods made the world for man to rule, but man first must conquer it. When he finally conquers and rules, the world will be paradise. However, man has a tragic flaw that keeps him from fulfilling this mission. For the leavers, on the other hand, man belongs to the world. The world tends toward complexity, self-awareness, and intelligence. Man is first to achieve self-awareness, and his job is to keep the future open for other species to also advance in complexity, intelligence, and self-awareness. (Remember, this is a gorilla talking.) All can now see that human culture will crash within a few generations. From the leaver view, this is not the result of a tragic human flaw; it follows from acting out the taker mythology. Takers have not really transcended nature, but they have acted as though nature’s laws no longer apply to them. The result is a reduction in complexity and diversity of species, but also of actual and potential intelligence and self-awareness. Natural law will bring the taker experiment to a close, not, however, before the takers themselves have nearly destroyed the planet.

Ishmael, the gorilla, having taught the human all he has to teach, offering to be now his friend rather than his teacher, dies due to lack of good care in the carnival.