Past: Conference Introduction

This was the description of the first IshCon conference, held in November of 1999. It still accurately describes IshCon's mission related to bringing people together face-to-face to explore these ideas.

The purpose of IshCon is to explore the ideas presented in Daniel Quinns Ishmael novels, how they affect our lives as individuals and as members of a larger world community, and how we can integrate them into our everyday thinking.

Specifically, the goals of the conference are as follows:

• To review and explore the ideas in Ishmael on a personal level, so that our individual understanding is enhanced and our ability to convey them to others is strengthened.
• To understand better our place in the Taker culture, the nature of the Taker and Leaver cultures, and ways for us to create a new vision for the culture of which we want to be a part.
• To affirm and encourage each other's personal understandings of our new vision, and to foster their growth by forming connections with others with similar visions.
• To discover ways to make the ideas in the Ishmael novels more available and accessible to those who have not yet been exposed to them.

We intend to achieve these goals by the following methods:

• Creating a positive atmosphere that encourages personal exploration of ideas and how they work in our individual lives
• Providing a safe and encouraging setting to foster sincere and deep discussion of these ideas with other conference participants
• Providing resources to conference participants that will assist in furthering their understanding of these ideas after the conference
• Establishing a network of conference participants to facilitate the creation of a support system and resource pool for those interested in "spreading the word"

Expectations / Rules:

We have very few expectations or requirements or rules for partcipants.

• While it will be immensely helpful for you to have read one or all of Daniel Quinn's novels, it is not required. As Ishmael and the other novels are the inspiration for this conference, much of our discussion will center around the ideas contained in them, but the ideas are universally applicable, and not inaccessible to folks who are new to Quinn and his writings.
• We ask that there be no use of drugs or alcohol during the conference or anywhere on the conference grounds.
• We expect that all conference attendees will act in a respectful and open-minded manner towards other partcipants. We seek to have intimate and sincere conversation in a setting where all are focused on listening and speaking in productive ways.