Ishmael Parable

There was a long silence. I stood on the ground. I couldn’t believe my eyes. This was not good. I walked and walked. Weird sounds and creatures appeared simultaneously. No. No. Did I travel to the wrong place? That’s not possible. I did it the way professor told me to. I looked at the creature that was looking at me. It’s quite beautiful. But that’s not why I was there. I was there to do something. Research. Yes, I remembered clearly that I was there to do research. I didn’t want to disappoint my professor so I flew.
I flew in the sky. I recalled what the professor said, “Tall square gray rocks”. I was supposed to find those rocks. I couldn’t find them. I saw many brown sticks with green stuff on them, but no gray rocks. Suddenly, I noticed something. In a close distance, I saw a lot of them. “Tall square gray rocks.” I said to myself. That’s it. No joke. That was what my research would base on. “What the heck!” I shouted like a baby. The professor lied. He said there would be creatures that look like us. Nothing was there. Nothing. I forgot what the professor taught me. It was ten years ago. I opened my lab-top and turned it on.
I found the file that professor gave me. It had all the information about my mission. Okay, my mission was to save the world. That was clear. Let me explain to you why. My hometown was in danger. It was facing destruction. My mission was a to find a solution from this place. Our ancestors lived here. I knew what I wanted to find. Our ancestors. They were supposed be around these tall gray square rocks. However, I couldn’t see any of them. I flew again. I flew out of the gray rocks. I was flying on top of green stuff again.
Suddenly, I saw something moving. Quietly, I moved beside the object. It was the creature that I wanted to find. I walked up to that creature and said, “Hi, my people are facing some problems. We’re dying off.” The creature was the same specie as my people. It’s a female. It’s a girl.
“Why?” the girl said.
“I don’t know. That’s why I am here” I replied.
“I don’t know either”
There was a long silence. “I am here to find my ancestors” I broke the silence. “I’m guessing you are my ancestor.”
“No, I am not. I am different from you guys. Your ancestors are gone.” She said indifferently.
“That’s impossible,” I said impatiently, “According to the file, our ancestors are living just fine.”
“That’s a lie,” She laughed. “Why do you think they left this place?”
“They left because…what’s this place called anyway?”
“The earth.”
“I know. That’s what file tells me also. The file tells me that you are my ancestor.”
“Well, I am not,” She smiled “I am not a destroyer.”
“ I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I said angrily.
“Well, your real ancestors are gone. They destroyed themselves. That’s why part of them moved to your world.”
“No, no, that’s not the real story.”
“If you don’t believe me. Then go and fine them yourself. You will never find them.”
I looked at her. She seemed to be serious. So, I believed her in the end. “So, how do I prevent the same thing from happening again?”
“You can’t”
“What’s the truth? How should we live?”
“There’s no truth.”
“She’s talking nonsense.” I murmured in my mouth.
“You guys are doomed to face extinction because of your mindset. There’s no truth. You will never find the truth.”
“Who are you?” I shouted.
“I am the kind of creature you never want to become. A creature that is free.”
I walked away slowly. I couldn’t take it anymore. It was time for me to go. I walked to the machine that brought me here. I sat in the machine. That girl had nothing. She was naked. She was the kind of creature that I wanted to find. Nonetheless, she didn’t possess the technology and all that stuff that are described in the file. I turned on the machine and pressed the special button.
10 years passed. I finally traveled back to my world. I couldn’t believe what I had just seen. My world was destroyed. Everything was destroyed. I saw my professor lying on the floor dying. I sat beside him.
“It’s too late,” he said, “I know what you want to say.”
“What?”
“You haven’t found out the truth yet. You are the only one who can do the job now. Leave now, and create your own world. The world with free men.” He died right after he finished the sentence.
“That’s why I am here,” I said to myself. “I am here to find the truth. I am the chosen one.”

Instinct

This is a magnificent and moving film. I like Ethan Powell's unique way of thinking and living. The part I like the most is when Ethan Powell presses Theo Caulder on the table and asks him "What did I take from you?" and Ethan, almost choking to death, said "illusions". That ties back to the book Ishmael. We have all these illusions that we're in control. We're not in fact. Ethan finds freedom in the forest living with gorillas. Theo isn't free. Like the rest of us, he has to play the game. This reminded me of The Catcher in the Rye. The protagonist of the book Holden Caulfield mentions about the game of life also. We are controlled by this game that we have to play. We don't have to true freedom. We play with the rules of the game. I want to experience what Ethan experienced: living in complete freedom. Ethan realizes that we don't control anything. The game controls us. Ethan chooses to quit the game and live outside of it. We won't lose anything living outside of the game because we don't have control over anything in the first place. We only have illusions. This film also tells us that freedom is not just a dream; it can be fulfilled. The last scene of him walking into the forest is absolutely touching. I want to be able to do that too.