Book review about sustainability

In his definition of Takers, they were considered to be the dominant member so the society. They see humans as the rulers of the world. The Takers think that their destiny as human beings was to grow without being checked and to further govern the earth. This was in accordance with the dominance power that the thought that they had. Takers have been able to outwit all the ecological rules which governed the forms of life. On the other hand, the leaver is only concerned with what they need from the world and thus they only take what is necessary from the world and leave the rest alone.

To explain well about this theory Ishmael uses the story of Adam and Eve, he uses this myth to show that the Takers had used their dominance of the Christian culture so as to be able to dominate the world and feel like they owned it. To understand this, the myth was used by the leavers to be able to explain the culture of the takers and understand why they had turned to agriculture and why they wanted to force the leavers to adapt their way of life. The Leavers used the myth to offer an understanding on why the Takers ate the fruit of the forbidden tree, which was known as the tree of Knowledge of Evil and Good. From this three the leaver believed that the gods must eat from it so as to be able to know who was going to live and who was going to die.

The Takers started to behave like they were the gods, this is because they had eaten the fruit they thought of themselves of having gained the knowledge of the gods’. This was not true though as such knowledge did not belong to anyone who was living on earth in any form. Ishmael was able to offer a clear and simple understanding on who the taker and the leavers were. The takers were those that knew good and evil and the leavers were those that lived in the hands of the gods’.

Ishmael come out in many circumstances as an advocate of sustainable living. Sustainable living in the sense that he thinks of a lifestyle that attempt to reduce the consumption of the natural resources on earth. From the definition or rather the distinction that he had made on man on how man was divided into two, he had come out as a Leaver. Where he goes out to explain that by living in the hands of the gods, man was supposed to be subjected to the conditions of evolution. In that man was not supposed to invent his things but rather leave things to the hand of the gods’ so that they can be able to live effectively. Here he gives examples of the bushmen of Africa who lived in the hand of the gods’. In this instance he was trying to advocate for sustainable living.

When he uses the premise story of the leavers which is man belongs to the world and not like the Takers believed that the world belongs to the man. He had tried to pass out a sustainable living philosophy. This is to mean that since the gods had made the man for the world, it was important for the man to live with the dictates of the world rather than the other way round where the world would live by the dictates of man. He uses the story of Abel and Cain where he says Cain should not have murdered Abel so as to be able to live (Mcdowell, July 4, 1991). He argues that the fruit of the forbidden tree should be spit out so as to be able to dispel the notion of the Takers when they tend to decide who should live and who should die. Ishmael advocates for sustainable living in the sense that one needs not to decide what should happen on earth but rather let the world decide on what should happen.

When he distinguished between the Leaver and Takers he uses the Agricultural revolution so as to be able to point out his message clearly. The Agricultural revolution was a story that was initiated by the Takers so as to be able to counter the story of the Leavers. It is here that he made a distinction that Leavers take what need from the world and that which they don’t need they leave it to the world. This therefore explain why the Leavers were able to thrive in abundance and dwindle when there was scarcity. This is because they believed in sustainable living and they did not want to interfere with the natural resources of the world (Quinn, 1992). From the arguments made by Ishmael he seemed to lean on the Leavers side and thus made his points clearly as an advocate of sustainable development.

The book is very interesting and reading it can be read over and over again. This is a book that I would recommend to anyone including you. This is because it provides insights of various this that were taken for granted more so, on the creation story form the book of genesis. From the books the one is able to understand the developments of the world since the author focused on using scenarios that could be related with the present world for instance the killing of Abel was used to explain why one should not kill another person so as to be able to live. This has been something that has been going on in the present time.

The book also tries to show the consequence that will arise in the event that making fails to uphold their responsibility to the world. This is because the man was created for the world and thus he owns the world a duty, in the event that this duty is not upheld then the world will fail. This can be derived from the story of Adam and Eve. The collapse of the world in this present situation include global warming, extinction of certain species and modern mental illness.

Reference

Mcdowell, E. (July 4, 1995). Major Themes of Ishmael. The New York Times.

Quinn, D. (1992). Ishmael. New York: McGraw Hill.