Religion

Ishmael: An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit incorporates much religious material. Ishmael's focus is on the very different stories Taker and Leaver peoples are enacting about the meaning of the world, divine intentions for the world, and human destiny. Thus, he takes for granted a spiritual force, which he generally expresses polytheistically as "the gods." Using the biblical stories in Genesis 1-4, Ishmael suggests Adam is a cultural progenitor rather than a biological one, for by reaching for Life and trying to control his environment rather than live by the gods' graces, he brings down the inevitable curse of death on his endeavors. He strives to exalt himself to be lord of creation and to exempt himself from the laws of nature. As he becomes a Taker agriculturalist, he murders the Leavers whose territory he covets to put under crops. Ishmael's approach has no need for higher...