4. Historical Model (Ishmael)
In the novels "Ishmael" & "The Story of B", Daniel Quinn gives a very different view of history than the one that is universally taught us in schools & accepted in our culture.
The Agricultural Revolution
Daniel Quinn proposes that the modern environmental crisis has its origins in the agricultural revolution that began about ten thousand years ago.
At that time, humans developed a vision of themselves as the pinnacle of creation--a species for whom the entire earth was intended. salvation depends upon our reclaiming our ability to live in harmony with the natural world.
Note that the fans of Quinn's books have put a few of them in you tube, in a great effort of creative collaboration which you can enjoy here (although reading the books is also recommended ...)
See Daniel Quinn Books in this e-book
Daniel Quinn
Daniel Quinn is the prize-winning author of the controversial best-seller Ishmael, The Story of B and Providence.
Quinn does not identify himself as an "environmentalist," pointing out that the term evokes the notion of something that is "out there," and somehow "not us."
The typical conception of environmentalism, Quinn argues, is one of a false-dichotomy --- a false division that says there's "the environment," and then there's "us humans" living in the environment (and somehow not a part of it).
More about him in Wikipedia
The "Cradle of Civilization"
What is "Our Culture"?
Quinn proposes that our culture is the global culture of East & West that has embraced "totalitarian agriculture" & which expanded to take over most of the planet, by its dramatically growing its population (which he argues is a direct result of producing more food).
The Leavers
What are most commonly referred to as "the native people" are termed 'The Leavers' in the Ishmael book. These are the people who "live in the hands of the Gods": who leave to the deities the decisions about who should live & who should die.
The Takers
& the other branch of humanity which adopted totalitarian agriculture he calls 'The Takers' - those who take on to themselves the godlike power of deciding what should live & what should die.
A fundamental difference between the two very different paradigms (or mind-sets, assumptions, models, etc.) on which the quite distinct cultures are based is that Takers assume that land (& everything on, in & under it) can belong to us, Leavers assume we belong to the land.
Cain & Abel
There are two stories in the Bible which make a lot more sense when read as stories that the Leavers told about the Takers (us) ... but that then we adopted as our own ...
Two Trees in the Garden of Eden
see the presentations on the first page of this chapter, for these stories in full
The Garden of Eden
Daniel Quinn inspired story of the Garden of Eden. What the story of Eden really means. The story of the agricultural revolution.
Daniel Quinn talking about his novel Ishmael
On Saving the World
An excerpt from an interview in "Thinking Allowed with Jeffrey Mishlove
Daniel Quinn on Facts of World Hunger
Here Quinn talks about the difference between agriculture & totalitarian agriculture
Globalization Impact
why are we 'devouring the world'
Quinn Lecture 2009
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
12,000 Years Old Unexplained Structure in Turkey
This possibly pushes back the date of the invention of agriculture but is in the area north of the fertile crescent, still supporting Quinn's theory. People have also searched for a literal Garden of Eden in this area lending some credence to the story presented in Ishmael.
Göbekli Tepe, is a huge hilltop archeological site (possibly 50 times larger than Stonehenge), erected on the highest point of an elongated mountain ridge some 15 km northeast of the town of Şanlıurfa, in southeastern Turkey and 500 miles away from Istanbul, Turkey. It is the most astonishing archaeological discovery in modern times and also thought to be the oldest advanced civilization on Earth.
Recent theories suggest that the 'temples' at Gobekli Tepe were created by hunter gatherer groups (thousands of bones of wild game have been found in the oldest structures) and seem to be the oldest known demonstration of an organised religion. This is still contentious, but it would seem that groups of hunter gatherers created this site for a religious, mythical purpose, galvanising these previous disparate nomadic bands into forming larger communities. It is very possible that the need for more food, and a surplus of food led to the 'invention' of agriculture. Interestingly, all the modern strains of wheat can be traced back to wild Einkorn wheat which grew close enough to Gobekli Tepe to support this theory. Other theories suggest that the brains behind these constructions and religion were an elite group of hunter-gatherers who may have been the fore-runners of our taker culture. This then reverses the idea that agriculture came before organised religion, and was in fact a by product of it.