Two Thirds God, One Third Man-Gilgamesh Tablets 1,2,3

The Epic of Gilgamesh is the telling of a man, a king who loses his best friend then searches for a way to escape death, searches for immortality. Gilgamesh was born in the city of Uruk. The gods created Gilgamesh with a perfect body. Shamash, the sun, gave him beauty; Adad the god of the storms gave him courage. His beauty was greater than all others like “a great wild bull.” Two thirds of him was god and the other third man. He was born king of Uruk. He was mightiest of men, none could surpass his might. The people loved him and he protected them. He set out to find men that could match or even surpass his strength but none could withstand him. But there was a problem; he had no heirs to provide for the kingdom. The people although they loved him at the same time he was a disturbance in the city of Uruk. The people of Uruk prayed to their gods for help and the gods created a man to match Gilgamesh’s strength, his equal in every way. So Enkidu was brought to the world, “born in the grasslands.” He roamed with the animals, ate and drank with them. They enjoyed his company. Then Gilgamesh had two dreams, he consulted his mother to interpret them and she told him that he would have a “friend, and a counselor.” But when Gilgamesh heard of the man supposedly stronger than him, he was furious. He sent a woman to the place where Enkidu drank from the lake to lure him into the city so he could prove his might. When Enkidu heard of Gilgamesh he became envious of him and wished to defeat him. He marched into Uruk and the people praised him, they gathered around him and kissed his feet. Gilgamesh was in the streets going to a bridal bedroom as was custom for the king. As he neared the building Enkidu stepped out and challenged him. They wrestled and fought, destroying the gate posts to the house. Eventually Gilgamesh threw Enkidu to the ground and Enkidu said to him, “There is not another like you in the world. Ninsun who is as strong as a wild ox in the byre, she was the mother who bore you, and now you are raised above all men, and Enlil has given you the kingship, for your strength surpasses the strength of men.” After these words they became friends and Gilgamesh’s dream came true. They stayed friends for a long time and the kingdom was well. But one day Gilgamesh heard news of a monster impeding progress in the woods. It was Humbaba the guardian of the forest sent by Enlil, the father of the gods. Humbaba was a monster, a giant, “When he roars it is like the torrent of the storm, his breath is like fire, and his jaws are death itself. He guards the cedars so well the wild heifer stirs in the forest, though she is sixty leagues distant he hears her.” Gilgamesh wished to challenge the beast but the council thought that Enkidu should go with him since he knew the way. Enkidu didn’t like the idea but agreed.

Where Are We Going? Ishmael chapter 13

Where are we going, one of the three questions that were asked to us at the beginning of this course. This last chapter, thirteen, was extremely short and expected. The session was over. The pupil was ready to take on the world and teach it what Ishmael had taught him. He would tell them “where they are going” what their purpose was, all that Ishmael had shown the pupil. But the pupil didn’t want to leave Ishmael in the horrible place that he was in so he decided to go back to get him. He extracted all his money from his account a total of 2400 dollars and started on his way to the circus where Ishmael was staying for the time being. He had some problems with his car and the mechanics needed about 600 dollars to fix it. So the pupil instead got a rental car, one big enough to carry Ishmael out of that dreadful place he was in. But when he arrived he found that the circus had moved on, everything was gone so he decided to go to the place Ishmael’s cage had been. He followed his feet to the place and found all of Ishmael’s belongings. Books, maps, the blankets he had used, everything was there and the pupil and I wondering what on Earth was going on when the employee in charge there answered the question. “It was pneumonia that got him-your friend the ape.” The pupil was devastated and left the place with all Ishmael’s belongings under one arm. He contacted Mr. Partridge, informing him what had occurred. When the pupil went to get the Ishmael’s poster framed he discovered that on one side it said “WITH MAN GONE, WILL THERE BE HOPE FOR GORILLA?” And on the other side it said “WITH GORILLA, GONE WILL THERE BE HOPE FOR MAN?” Ishmael’s journey had ended, the pupil’s had begun.

Lost and Found- Ishmael chapter 10

Instead of beginning in the building where Ishmael was living, this chapter, began with the narrator explaining a situation he was in. An uncle had come into town and “expected to be entertained” (p.187) and the pupil had to do so for the time being. He disliked every minute and wished it would end. When it was time for the uncle to leave the pupil was informed that he was required to complete a job that he had put off. Instead of telling Ishmael he started his work. Soon after he began his tooth started hurting so he had it looked at. It was removed painfully and slowly. When he was done with his work he went to see Ishmael and explain what had happened. Upon arrival to the building an officer was locking up the place. Confused as was I at this point he asked what the situation was and the officer replied “getting this place ready for a new tenant. Again confused the pupil continued to interrogate the officer and learned that Ishmael was no longer in the building. The first thing the pupil did was to find Mrs. Solokov and ask her what had happened, although he soon learned that she had passed away recently. The pupil then mounted his own investigation of what had become of the gorilla. Soon he learned that Ishmael had been taken into a carnival act so the pupil drove to the location they were stationed at and found Ishmael.
When he found Ishmael he was expecting to be welcomed warmly be his teacher as did I. But to both our surprise Ishmael replied coldly with “Shut up” (p.196) and “Just go away and leave me alone”. At this point I was extremely confused and interested for the reason Ishmael was angered. On the pupil’s second visit Ishmael was back to his old self and from their they continued the lesson the pupil so eagerly desired. They spoke of the cultures of both the Takers and the Leavers. The Takers having a culture that, in their point of view, began around 1963 and the Leavers having a culture that began as long ago as anyone could know. The Takers needing prophets and teachers telling them how they ought to live and the Leavers knowing through generations of knowledge passed down. So Ishmael ended the session with “The Takers accumulate knowledge about what works well for things. The Leavers accumulate knowledge about what works well for people”. (p.206)

Leavers vs Takers-chapter 11

The last chapter we read, chapter ten, was one that described the story the Takers are enacting. The story we are enacting together. This chapter, eleven is similar; Ishmael in his cage, at the circus act, cold and tired gives his pupil the next lesson. The story the Leavers are enacting. The Takers were the agriculturists, farmers after the Neolithic revolution and the Leavers are the hunter gatherers. The pupil begins to put himself in his ancestor’s shoes. “He’s running in place, trapped, going nowhere.”(p.220) He has his enemies behind him and his prey in front. He can neither escape from his enemies nor catch his prey. The pupil believes this life to be a terrible, harsh way to live and would not wish to live in those times. He says they have no control of their food if it is there when they need it or not, whereas we have our plants that will be there the next day if we plant it the day before. We have stores, if we want something we can go select it whenever we choose to. The pupil says that instead of trusting our lives to the gods we should instead “trust yourselves with your lives” (p.225) “In the hands of the gods you’re no more important than lions or lizards or fleas.” (p.226) The pupil wants to be out of the control of the gods and we will not be safe until “we’ve taken the whole world out of the hands of the gods.”(p.228) So the pupil and Ishmael come to their conclusion, “The Takers are those who know good and evil”, “The Leavers are those who live in the hands of the gods.”(p.229)

Escape From Imprisonment-Chapter 12 Ishmael

Our lives are ones of imprisonment and captivity. Our Taker culture acts as a prison. There are those who are “rich and powerful” and those who are “poor and weak”. We may attain what we wish depending on our status within this community similar to the prisons that keep inmates all over the world. We need to escape the fences of this prison and live lives as Leavers do. “The Leavers are the endangered species most critical to the world-not because they’re humans but because they alone can show the destroyers of the world that there is no one right way to live.” (p.249) I thought that we would revert to a primitive culture; hunter gatherers as the Leavers are described in the novel. But Ishmael has a different idea “The Leaver life style isn’t about hunting and gathering, it’s about letting the rest of the community lice-and agriculturists can do that as well as hunter gatherers.”(p.250) Our culture causes us to destroy our world and no one even cares. We need to stop polluting, to save the world. As the pupil requires we are required to “have an earnest desire to save the world, (p.2) but we lack the motivation to do so. We must consider that other the world was not meant for us, that other species will soon take there place in our society as intelligent and capable of achieving what we have. It is our job to explore our world and attain the knowledge so that we may be as teachers to the next species as Ishmael is to his pupil. The dolphins, chimpanzees, and other species will soon enter our society and we must take them as if they were our children and we their father. But first we must escape this prison we have locked ourselves in. We must have the desire to save the world.

What is a Blog?

A. What is the difference between a blog and a book?
A blog is a website created by an individual to relate opinions or facts relevant to a given topic that may be updated on by the author and commented on by other bloggers whereas a book is a collection of writings written usually printed that may not be updated by anyone.
B. How have blogs changes recently?
Blogs have become more irresponsible and sloppy. They are not as trustworthy and may contain false information.
C. Why might you read a blog?
One might read a blog in order to find information on a given topic an opinions on them.
D. Is there reason to doubt the objectivity of a blog? Why? Why not?
Yes, because a blog is written by an individual who may or may not have an opinion on the subject and has the ability to modify the content to false information.
E. If you kept your own blog, what would you title it?
I would title my blog somethingdescriptive and relevant to the content so that readers may know what they are about to read.