How do we as citizens put things right? By, as Jung wrote, ‘touching nature from the inside’. Walking in the woods, lying on the grass, swimming in the sea, practising gratitude for our food, the air we breathe, the water we bathe in, the animals and stars and sunsets we delight in. Seeking the ‘numinous’ again, the sacred and the awesome in the

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The story of humanity is an urban one, a slow 20,000 year drift towards a largely urban condition. A city does the same thing to individualism that a natural ecosystem does to a tree — thriving there is about living well with people who are not like you. Just as a tree revels in those multifarious interdependencies, so we do with cities.

We can spend so much time in our homes, cars, offices, and shopping malls that we feel removed from nature and separate from each other and even ourselves. With our world so circumscribed, we become cut off from a natural vitality and connection with life. We may feel numb, flat, or simply disconnected from a sense of purpose. Spring flowers and

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