Carpe diem.
Seize the day. Many a person has used this quote in some way or another
to justify actions, even popularizing the meaning to the slang term “YOLO: You
Only Live Once.” Even Montclair State University, a nationally ranked
university in New Jersey, has adopted the quote for their motto. Yet
Carpe Diem has another meaning to. Instead of seizing the day, man has
seized the world. What was once a world filled with nature and Leavers
has been ravaged by Takers and their technology, artificial buildings and
pollutions to taint the purity of the natural world. Ishmael spoke of
these Takers seizing the world one day at a time. He speaks of the world
before Takers, how the gods ruled the world with confusion of how to seize the
day, seize the Leavers fates. When the gods took action, many Leavers
cursed the gods for their misfortune and when they took action, many Leavers
cursed the gods for their misfortune. But for the responsibility to not
fall on their shoulders, they created something else, something else that would
take responsibility, something else to seize the world. This “something
else” was man, and from the ribs of man, according to Ishmael, came woman, and
from woman came child.
Ishmael recounts the story of Adam and Eve in Genesis, how
the gods told Adam that if he eats from the Tree of Knowledge, he will
certainly die. In genesis, the Garden of Eden is described to have two
trees, the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge. When Adam and Eve ate
from the latter, God cursed them and banished the two to the outside
world. Yet with our newfound knowledge, Ishmael implicitly raises the
question “Are we better off with eating the fruit?” Throughout the book,
Ishmael continuously argues that Takers are ruling the world and are destroying
it at the same time. We are just like the gods, who whenever made
decisions Leavers would die off and curse the gods, only now they curse us
Takers. Time and time again, in Genesis, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, Numbers,
and Exodus, the Israelites are thrown into hardships such as being slaves in
Egypt, wandering through the desert for forty years, and more. Both
Ishmael and religious texts prove time and time again us Takers would have been
much better off without eating the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge.
(Fig.1, Thomas Cole's artistic
impression of the Garden of Eden)
Yet only these religious texts, which events in these
stories may not have even happened, and Ishmael tell us how we shouldn’t have
eaten from the tree and how the Takers destroy the world, yet again over and
over. Yet these religious texts contradict themselves, not explicitly but
implicitly. King James’ version of Genesis states that God said after
Adam and Eve ate the fruit, “Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know
good and evil.” If we have the knowledge of God, to separate good and
evil, does that mean that good was evil beforehand? Or does that mean
Adam and Eve unknowingly evil actions? According to Genesis, no, but it’s
apparently a sin to know right from wrong, to know good from evil. If us
Takers are able to notice right from wrong, wouldn’t that make us more
adaptable to learning good, because many evil people in the world don’t see
themselves as evil but doing good for the world or for themselves?
Wouldn't we be able to not only to learn what is right and do more good but
become more advanced?
Looking over history, us Takers have advanced economically,
politically, socially, and technologically. Nowadays, we can live
comfortably with cold blizzards outside our homes, discuss human history and
what we can learn from the past, and blog our assignments while letting the
whole world see our insight. We have not been victims of tragedy for all
of history. Yes, life may have been better in Eden for a long time, but
we have created our own Eden; we have conquered and harnessed the world and the
Leavers in it. Jessica Lange, portraying Constance Langdon on American
Horror Story: Murder House, states:
“Ever since I was a little
girl, I knew I was destined for great things. I was going to be somebody.
Person of significance. Star of the silver screen, I once thought. But... my
dreams became nightmares. Instead of laurels, funeral wreaths. Instead of
glory, heh, bitter disappointment. Cruel afflictions. Now I understand. Tragedy
was preparing me for something greater. Every loss that came before was a
lesson. I was being prepared. Now I know for what. This child... a remarkable
boy. Destined for greatness. In need of a remarkable mother. Someone forged in
the fires of adversity, who can guide him. With--with firmness. With love.”
(Fig. 2, Jessica Lange as Constance Langdon in American Horror Story: Murder House)
Ishmael, at the end, asks the narrator and the reader with him gone, “Will
there be hope for man?” He questions our ability to survive in a world we
destroy. Yes, science has proved global warming at alarming rate, fast
extinction, deforestation, and more. But to think that we’d be better off
without us knowledge is downright ridiculous. So many other events
happened in history that destroyed the world: dinosaurs, meteors, ice age, and
more. The world always finds a way to grow back and take everything for itself
again. Seizing the day, the gods have seized the day before. We are
no better than the gods, yet we are no worse than them either.
Quoted Sources:
Ishmael by Daniel Quinn
King James' Version of Genesis
American Horror Story: Murder House
Photo Sources:
Constance Langdon: http://nativeaudiogrrrl.blogspot.com/2012/01/character-of-week-constance-langdon.htmlGarden of Eden: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garden_of_Eden
