Ishmael's secret
Ishmael's Secret is a novel first published in 1997 by the author Daniel Quinn . It forms the end of a trilogy consisting of the books Ishmael (German title: Ismael ), The Story of B (no published German translation) and My Ishmael ( Ishmael's secret ). The German version was published by Goldmann Verlag in 1999 .
content
In My Ishmael , the twelve-year-old Julie is a newspaper ad with the text " teacher seeks students with a serious desire to save the world. Personal application desired ”draws attention to Ismael. Ishmael is a gorilla who has learned to read and write and who can communicate with people using telepathy . At first Ismael refuses to teach Julie because he does not consider himself capable of teaching such a young child. Through persistence, Julie succeeds in getting Ishmael finally to consent. Ismael acts as Maeutic teacher for Julie and gives her an introductory course in anthropology. Ismael explains to Julie how our social system has developed to the current form, and also shows her the strengths and weaknesses of the system. Ismael and Julie see the status quo as unacceptable and want to make the world a better place. Ismael does not give any concrete recommendations, but tries to pass on his knowledge to Julie so that she understands the processes and can teach her own students in her later life as a teacher.
While Julie is attending her course with Ismael, the person Alan Lomax from the first novel in the trilogy appears again and again. Julie doesn't have a good opinion of him and tries to avoid any personal confrontation .
When it became clear that Julie's classes with Ishmael were coming to an end, they started working out a plan with the help of a friend of Ishmael's to bring Ishmael back to Africa so that he could live among other gorillas in a piece of untouched rainforest . Daniel Quinn is constructing a republic in the north of the Congo that was created through a revolution. Julie is chosen to set off from the USA via Kinshasa to Bolamba, the capital of the imaginary Republic of Mabili, to meet the political leader there and then to organize Ishmael's return. This succeeds despite some difficulties, but not least because Julie uses the methods that Ishmael has entrusted her.
Back in the USA , it's time to say goodbye. Ishmael is ill with severe pneumonia, but still manages to get him to Mabili. Julie learns why Alan was not informed about Ishmael's "move" and why it was so important that she travel to Africa in person . This was the last lesson that Ismael Julie could give on the way.
Julie, like Alan, writes a book about her time with Ishmael, but on the instructions of her friend she is only allowed to publish it after the Republic of Mabili has collapsed so as not to endanger Ishmael's life. Julie is sixteen years old when the book appears.
Ishmael's teaching
Ismael teaches both Rachel and Alan a basic rule: There are two types of people, namely the takers and the lasser (compare also the two categories of the biologist Raymond Dasmann : biosphere people and ecosystem people ) .
The Lasser are the so-called " primitive peoples " who have inhabited planet earth for more than 3 million years (current state of science). This person lives in different peoples and tribes on earth, without exploiting and destroying them. The Lasser tribes live in different geographical areas and are adapted to their surroundings accordingly. For a better understanding, here is an example: Tribe A does some arable farming and also lives as a hunter and gatherer. Tribe B does a lot of arable farming, but has not given up hunting and gathering entirely. Tribe C practically does not cultivate any arable land and lives almost exclusively as hunters and gatherers in its area. The tribes all have their own way of life, which has evolved into this form. At times there is a clash between the tribes, the A penetrate into the territory of the C, the B into the A and the C into the B. As soon as this happens, the tribe on whose territory the intruders are located reacts, with aggression and drives it away. The intruders flee back to their territory and order is restored.
“If you leave me alone, I'll leave you alone. If you are the intruder, escape. If your territory is invaded, fight. ”These are the rules of the Lasser.
Ishmael calls this behavior “unpredictable retribution”. As long as this mechanism works, the conflicts regulate themselves and the tribes and peoples live side by side relatively unscathed.
But now the taker appeared on the scene of history 10,000 to 30,000 years ago .
The takers are a people who have their home in the "fertile crescent". This people has already developed from hunter-gatherer to arable farmer. The takers have already invented storage , which means that the members of the tribe can survive periods of drought. As a result, the population is growing steadily. As a result of this growth process, more land is required to feed the growing trunk. By developing a "better" system, the tribe members can spend more time making other non-food items. They begin to develop various trades and soon also weapons and become invincible attackers for the surrounding tribes. The actual expansion of the takers is now beginning and, in Ishmael's opinion, currently encompasses most of our planet.
The evolutionary principle of unpredictable retribution ends through the system of the takers, who confront the Lassern as almost invincible opponents . One tribe after the other is either assimilated or, if it opposes it, destroyed. The takers no longer retaliate, but have become annihilators, and the system of nature, which has developed over millions of years, is falling apart. The climax of this process reached today is likely to be shifted into the future.
Ishmael approaches his students in different ways. In the first volume, Ishmael , he begins with Alan Lomax in Genesis and the story of Abel and Cain , the fratricide. In Ishmael's Secret , this step towards Julie is not dealt with in such detail, presumably because the reader already knows these processes from the first volume.
For a better understanding, here is a brief description of Ishmael's statements.
Ishmael assumes that Genesis was written by the Lassers and was addressed to the takers. However, the story is misunderstood by the takers. The Lasser did not describe the fall of man to the effect that after being driven out of paradise, man should subjugate the earth and man had acquired divine wisdom. On the contrary: man has moved away from the gods through the fall of man. Since then he has assumed to be the ruler of the earth and to be able to transform it according to his ideas. He disregards the first law of nature that applies to all living beings on this planet: the law of life, which prescribes a sustainable use of the earth and does not even provide for its exploitation. No living being on this planet exploits its environment and practices destruction instead of unpredictable retribution, with the exception of humans.
The story of Abel and Cain, which in the Old Testament immediately follows the Fall of Man, describes, according to Ishmael, the struggle of the takers against the Lasser, with Cain representing the takers and Abel, who is killed by his taker brother, the Lasser.
What is repeated in both stories is that Ishmael speaks of a myth of our culture - the myth that is performed every day and questioned by only a few. These are, among others, his students Alan and Julie. With his lessons he tries to drive this myth out of the heads of both of them, to tear it down, so to speak, and to create space for something new.
Ismael does not pass on any prompts or suggestions for solutions to his students on how exactly they should save the world. But what always shines through is the call to be yourself the change you want to experience in the world. But he suggests a concrete action to both of them: to become a teacher themselves and to have as many students as possible. If you don't reach a hundred, then only ten, and if you don't succeed, at least pass the knowledge on to someone else and thus pave the way for a good, happy and, above all, new future.
Ishmael's secret as teaching material
Excerpts from the book are part of the lessons in some schools, especially in the USA, but also beyond. A list can be found on the website set up by Daniel Quinn.
Availability
The book Ismael's Secret was first published in German in 1999 by Goldmann Verlag. The book is now no longer in circulation and is only available on the second-hand market for prices from 60 euros. Despite an online petition to the publisher, no new edition is planned so far. However, the book is still available in some German libraries and can be borrowed there.
James Lee and Discovery Channel
On September 1, 2010, the 43-year-old American James Lee took three hostages in the lobby of the headquarters of the Discovery Channel and threatened to kill them and detonate a bomb if his demands were not met. Lee wanted to blackmail the station and force it to only broadcast programs that teach people a responsible approach to the earth. He was referring directly to the book of Ishmael's Secret and specifically to the chapter on Revolutionaries . Lee worked out an 11-point plan, his manifesto , in which form his demands should be implemented. Lee was shot dead by the police after about four hours and the hostages were released unharmed.
Text output
- Ishmael's secret . Goldmann Verlag, 1999, ISBN 3-442-44202-8 .
Web links
- http://www.ishmael.org/welcome.cfm (English)
- http://www.kurskontakte.de/article/show/article_474ee6263e478.html
Individual evidence
- ↑ Ishmael's Secret . Goldmann Verlag, 1999, ISBN 3-442-44202-8 , p. 4.
- ↑ Ishmael's Secret . Goldmann Verlag, 1999, ISBN 3-442-44202-8 , p. 322.
- ↑ Ishmael's Secret . Goldmann Verlag, 1999, ISBN 3-442-44202-8 , pp. 294-296.
- ↑ Ishmael's Secret . Goldmann Verlag, 1999, ISBN 3-442-44202-8 , pp. 226-249.
- ↑ http://www.ishmael.org/Origins/Ishmael/Companion/schools.cfm
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from June 21, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ http://opac.stadtbibliothek.goettingen.de/wopac/index.asp?detmediennr=0 ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from January 22, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/01/AR2010090106710_3.html?wprss=rss_print
- ↑ http://media3.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/metro/documents/leemanifesto.pdf?sid=ST2010090103923
