3 minute read
Ishmael is a Hebrew name just like Isaac. Ishmael means God listens.
One of the most famous openings in classic literature is the line
"Call me Ishmael" from Herman Melville's 1851 epic literature classic, Moby Dick.
Ahab is the mysterious captain obsessed with killing the white whale, because an earlier encounter with the whale, left him without one of his bipedal appendages.
This story is a powerful allegory whose true meaning, like most other mythical texts has continued to remain obscure and mystified scholars for decades.
Well here in steemit, we have these entities called whales whom every newbie (minnow) wants to become, or get their attention on a post. Ahab spent his entire lifetime chasing a whale and even "died" killing it.
Well steemit life is a bit like this, the minnows work their butts off, till one post they finally get the marquee whale to follow or befriend them, on the way to becoming a whale themselves.
As with all mysterious literature, the Moby Dick has a morale so unbelievably beautiful, that generation of scholars haven't been able to understand it. Even this explanation I give so casually here will be dismissed as poppycock. It's not my own original thought, I heard it myself years ago and went me a whaling with the ferociousness of captain Ahab.
What exactly am I rambling about?
Ishmael is Ahab, born again. Not the kind of caricature stuff where people are chanting some gobbledygook, and claiming the fire of the Holy Ghost at the same time, as some sects do. No offence to you if that's your thing, carry on.
Not that, I am talking about what a great man in antiquity, taught and called the Kingdom of Heaven. If you make it into this realm of being he called the Kingdom of Heaven, it's like you have the scales taken off your eyes, (and I mean literally I use no metaphor here) to understand literature, poetry and the world like no one around you can. You begin to hear the Universe sing, the world becomes your teacher, art speaks to you, literature explains itself, poetry reveals it's secrets and all the world will think you are mad, like Ahab.
Alas, having acquainted yourself with the goddess wisdom, she will instruct you as with Herman Melville, the gospel writers, and all the great poets, satirists and philosophers of the ages. On how to write it out in a way that anyone who reaches the gates of the Kingdom, will immediately see the instructions left by those gone before. Instructions read and used everyday by the world, yet totally unaware of its contents.
So steemit might have us chasing the almighty $$$ we see the whales racking up, but somehow I know the founders have unleashed a revolutionary system that has a deeper game with world changing consequences in the not too distant future. If you are a steemit founder and you get to read this and smile. Maybe I am right.
For me, writing is my best form of communication, so I will just ride the wave and enjoy. Nevertheless, I GO A WHALING! and will not stop till I look in the mirror and say
"look mummy, I am now a whale."
A killer whale is still a whale, right? ©WB
Call me Ishmael :)
