“So the flaw is intelligence itself, then—according to Mother Culture.”
“That’s right. Intelligence is what makes us special, isn’t it? Moths can’t screw up the world. Catfish can’t screw up the world. It takes intelligence to do that.”
“In that case, what do you make of your daydream quest? As you head into the universe to learn how to live, are you looking for angels?”
“No. That’s funny.”
Ishmael cocked his head on one side and gave me a quizzical look.
“I’m looking for intelligent races just like us—but they know how to live without destroying their worlds. We’re even more special than I thought.”
“Go on.”
“It’s like we’re specially cursed. The people of this one planet.”
Ishmael nodded. “This is how it’s generally understood, among the people of your culture, that humanity is specially cursed—somehow badly made or fundamentally flawed or even literally divinely cursed.”
“That’s right.”
“This is why, in your daydream, it’s necessary to look elsewhere in the universe for the knowledge you seek. You can’t find it amongst yourselves, because you’re a cursed race. To find the knowledge you need to live sustainably, you need to find a race that isn’t cursed. And there’s no reason to suppose that everyone’s cursed. You feel that someone out there must know how to live sustainably.”
“That’s right.”
“So you see, Julie, your daydream was very far from being twaddle. And I’m sure that the journey you dreamed of, if it could be taken, would in fact put you in contact with thousands of peoples who live sustainably without difficulty.”
“You are? Why?”
“Because the curse under which you operate is very, very localized—despite what Mother Culture teaches. It doesn’t even remotely extend to the whole of humanity. Thousands of peoples have lived here sustainably, Julie. Without difficulty. Without effort.”
Well, naturally I blinked at that one. “You mean like … Atlantis?”
“I mean nothing remotely like Atlantis, Julie. Atlantis is a fairy tale.”
“Then I have no idea what you’re talking about. None.”
Ishmael nodded slowly. “I realize that. Very few of you would know what I’m talking about.”
I waited for him to drop the other shoe, and when it didn’t drop, I said, “Aren’t you going to tell me who these people are?”
“I’d rather not, Julie. You see, you definitely have this information, and if I were to reach inside you and drag it out, then you’d be impressed, but you’d learn nothing. The midwife is there to help her client bring forth the child, not to bring it forth herself.”
“You’re saying I already know who these people are?”
“I haven’t the slightest doubt of it, Julie.”
I shrugged and crossed my eyes and did all the usual things, then told him to go ahead.
“Your Culture”
Ishmael said, “It is your culture’s deep-seated perception that wisdom is not to be found among you. This is what your daydream reveals. You know how to build marvelous electronic gadgets, you know how to send ships into space, you know how to peer into the depths of atoms. But the simplest and most needful knowledge of all—the knowledge of how to live—simply doesn’t exist among you.”
“Yes, that’s the way it seems.”
“This isn’t a new perception by any means, Julie. It’s been extant in your culture for millennia.”
“Excuse me,” I said. “You keep saying that—‘the people of your culture’—and I keep not being sure what you mean by it. Why don’t you just say ‘you humans’ or ‘you Americans’?”
“Because I’m not talking about humans or Americans. I’m talking about the people of your culture.”