Genesis

[Fuck]

This idea comes from the book Ishmael by Daniel Quinn. It is shortened from a whole chapter, I wanted to see what people thought of it.

2,000 years ago, the peoples of the agricultural revolution (which started around 8,000 BC and according to Quinn, never ended) took a story as their own, written about them by those who they killed, the hunter-gatherers. After a while, they didn't know what the story meant, and ironically it was about their own origin. They passed it on to their children's children, and so on, until it became myth.

For now, we're going to call the people of the agricultural revolution "civilized" or as Quinn says,"Takers" and the hunter-gatherers "primitive" or as Quinn says, "leavers".

Got it?

Agriculturalists=Civilized=Takers

Hunter-Gatherers/Herders=Primitive=Leavers

K.

The takers believe they have knowledge which the leavers lack. This knowledge could enable them to rule the world.

Let's go back a little.

The Gods created the garden of eden and all the animals and bugs within it. They were having disputes about which bug should eat which, as well as for creatures. They could not decide which was right or wrong because they looked at all creatures as equals. It was clear to them that any action they take would be good to some and evil to others.

They decided to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. By deciding one day the predator would go hungry and the prey would live, and the next day the predator would eat and the prey would die, they believed both acts cancelled each other out and they had achieved balance. (The Circle of Life if you will)

The other God who didn't eat from the tree used the same reasoning they used before eating from the tree. This God told them surely they are still doing the same thing. When he ate from the tree, he said "Yes, I see now". They realized this tree possessed the knowledge of who shall live and who shall die

The Gods saw Adam awakening. They saw he was very fair, and discussed whether or not they should give him the tree of "life" (NOT the tree of knowledge of good and evil) when he had reached adulthood. Another said why give it to him instead of let him seek it on his own? Letting him find it may give him great wisdom. We shall give him the care he needs as a child, then a quest as an adult. They decided they would let him find the tree of life on his own, rather than just give it to him. They also believed that him eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil would not give him the knowledge of good and evil, because they knew only they could possess that knowledge. They thought the thought of him touching it was absurd, because believing he has the knowledge of right and wrong would only be illusion.

One of the Gods said "Adam would just say 'whatever I can justify is good and whatever I cannot justify is evil'". The other Gods scoffed, saying this was not the knowledge of good and evil. They said he might look in the garden and say "what's this, the lions and wolves and foxes take the food that I want to eat. This is evil. I will kill these creatures and this will be good.

"Look here, the rabbits and grasshoppers take the fruits that I would eat. This is evil. I will kill them and it will be good. I will kill all kinds who do not serve my growth, and it will be good. Because these things are good, they must be done at any cost. Even when all the resources of this land and world are used up, I will tell others like me to grow, for this is good. I will go across the lands telling them to grow. When they can grow no more, they will fall upon the people of new land and murder them, so they can grow more."

When the Gods saw this, they decided the tree could ruin Adam by making him follow a delusion that he is above all others on the planet. They knew this could bring his own species to extinction. So one of them told him not to eat from it.

Posting part 2 in a minute...

[This message has been edited by Fuck (edited 09-10-2003).]