At some point sooner rather than later, society must respond to the deficits and losses that confront us. Many are saying it is already too late and are questioning whether their own actions can even make a difference. Recent history suggests that the majority of humanity has not seen or appreciated our intimate connection to the living Earth. Throwing our hands up is another way of practicing not seeing – not seeing the value of getting started toward caring for and celebrating life around us as inseparable from the life within us. Ultimately our efforts will need to be big. Small may not be good enough at this late hour. Then again, if enough of us truly make a small step, it may be enough to equal a big one!
Human history has often illustrated that we have wanted to reach beyond life’s integrated fabric and do something grander and more special of our own. Perhaps these insatiable yearnings to become more are to prove our worth. Now the greatest challenge of recent history is set before us. The taking fires are burning all around us. Will we be able to cool them down and put them out?
Identifying life as the ‘pearl of great price’ will, for many of us, become a new way to see. Perhaps humankind’s material extravaganza of taking and controlling would not seem so necessary if only we could believe that life, and more of it, is what we seek. We can only be as alive as the living world around us is allowed to be.
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