What is "Mother Culture"

if you read my reading suggestions a few weeks back, you'll remember Ishmael by Daniel Quinn. Here's an excerpt from that book:

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“MOTHER CULTURE IS A QUIET VOICE THAT MOVES YOUR WHOLE SOCIETY. MOTHER CULTURE INCLUDES EVERYTHING IN YOUR EXISTENCE THAT PERPETUATES A MENTALITY OF DOMINATION AND DOMINION. LIKE WHEN YOU HUMANS ATTEMPT TO NARCISISTICALLY CONTROL LIFE IN SUCH A WAY THAT YOU ATTEMPT TO PUT NATURE AT YOUR FEET. YOU LIVE AND BREATHE AND EAT AN ATTITUDE THAT THE EARTH IS YOURS AND THE FULLNESS THEREOF. YET YOU ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE PEOPLE. YOU KILL HUNDREDS OF SPECIES EVERYDAY. YOU SACRIFICE TOO MANY LIVING ORGANISMS AT THE EXPENSE OF YOUR LIFE! YOU LIVE TO MASTER THE EARTH, AND DO NOT SEE THAT THE EARTH IS YOUR MASTER. WHAT BEFALLS THE EARTH BEFALLS YOU. AND YOU DO NOT SEE IT BECAUSE YOU ARE BLINDED BY MOTHER CULTURE’S STILL SMALL VOICE. BUT IT IS A POWERFUL VOICE INDEED, THAT SAYS, ‘I CREATED YOU IN MY IMAGE. YOU ARE MY CHOSEN. SUBDUE THE EARTH. CULTIVATE THE LAND. CONTROL IT—CONQUER, CONQUER, CONQUER. YOUR PEOPLE ARE CAPTIVES OF A STORY!’”

That was all our character could handle that day so Ishmael continued on another day…

“… MOTHER CULTURE IS/ARE YOUR MYTHS. THESE ARE THE MYTHS THAT SLAUGHTERED THE NATIVE AMERICANS; THE MYTHS THAT KILLED MANY AFRICANS, JAPANESE, AND JEWS. YOUR MYTHS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR WIPING OUT THE INDIGENOUS PEOPLES FROM NEARLY ALL THE EARTH. THERE ARE PEOPLE WHO EXIST IN YOUR WORLD WHO ARE THE FORGOTTEN. LIKE HAGAR’S SON, THEY ARE NOT A PART OF THE STORY ANY LONGER! THEY EXIST IN REMOTE PLACES, EXOTIC LOCATIONS ND THEY STILL HUNT AND GATHER.”

Ishmael continued on still another day…

“Your myth of existence is based on a biblical construct, like the story of Cain and Abel. You know it… Cain usurps Abel’s power as God’s favorite, by killing him. Your theology teaches you that this is humankind’s first murder. The myth is much bigger than that! Cain, which in Hebrew means, “to acquire or create” was a farmer, an agriculturalist, called the ‘tiller of the ground.’ His job is to control land.

Abel was keeper of sheep, the Sheppard, who represents hunter-gatherer peoples. Cain killed Abel. Thus, what you have is a dichotomy between agriculturalists and hunter-gatherers. But most hunter-gatherers, most Abel’s are gone, save a few places, due to the aggression of you and your ancestors. Yours is a society of Cain’s, a society of agriculturalists. Yours is a society of ‘Isaac’s’ who, maybe not purposely, changed the world from one way of living to another.

Then Ishmael pauses—takes a deep breath and says, TAKERS & LEAVERS. TAKERS & LEAVERS! One sees nature and land as something that must be named, tagged, classified and controlled. Their advanced consciousness is killing them and they don’t know it. The other group sees that there’s mutuality between human, plant and animal. There is a major difference in each group’s earth-view."