We don't know how to live, and are destroying the world while doing it, is Ishmael's message. I found this book exceptionally important, it's ideas and interpretation of the biblical accounts of Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel relevant to global issues such as global warming and extinction. Relief washed over me from finally finding relevant, sensible and meaningful interpretations of a book (the bible) which, so i've been told, contain 'wise and practical' information for living.
Being raised by a very devoted Christian mother and in church every week on sunday when I was a child has left me with many unresolved questions about who and what God is. Largely, I've never found going to church meaningful and I've always wondered what it all meant. Today, being a little more experienced and educated, I find myself more inclined toward the non-sectarian spiritual practice of silence in meditation, not tainted by custom and dogma. If there is a God, or divine being, this to me seems the sensible path to find Him with. Even so, small traces of guilt from childhood pester me. Is Jesus really the ONLY way to heaven? Will I go to hell? Are all other religions false? More and more I find these questions central in my life, and that everything else is secondary, even inconsequential. Brought up in a modern and technologically driven culture, I've never felt like I 'fit'. I'm an only child with affluent parents and have it relatively easy, but I've never been driven to join the 'rat race' or felt any worldly inclinations to accumulate and 'be successful.' What's it all for?
Cain is still killing Able today, and you'll have to read Ishmael to fully understand what this means for yourself. What a great read!
Ishmael
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