As the Yanomami of Brazil put it, “The environment is not separate from ourselves; we are inside it and it is inside us; we make it and it makes us.”

In this way, we begin to see that White Man’s time is a very real threat to human health and the quality of the human experience. The constant urgency, the relentless activity, and most of all, our radical de-synchronization with the natural rhythms of the living world—these things extract a destructive toll on the human body and spirit. Time

all life on Earth is intimately related. Like it or not, we are all kin: every human, every nonhuman animal, every plant, every insect, every microorganism. As individuals, we are simply the most recent leaves on

Powerful machines and vehicles deprive us of essential physical challenge, leading to atrophy and diseases of under-use. Sedentary living even weakens our brains and our spirits. Inactivity diminishes the production of vital neurotrophic hormones that are essential for optimal neurological function.

Most importantly, we now know that self-control is a neurophysical capability that’s trainable, just like a muscle.

“Being normal” is no longer a viable strategy for survival. In a sense, abnormality is our only way forward. We need to go against the grain of several million years of evolution, extending our minds and overcoming our short interests. Attention as usual isn’t going to cut it anymore.

Not only do we think with our bodies, we also think with habitat. The qualities of the natural and artificial world inevitably shape our ideas and our creations. Architects and interior designers know full well that people think and feel differently inside various structures. And of course, we experience radical differences in emotion and cognition

The same body-habitat alliance is still at work today. In a normal human setting, children and young adults are quick to form bonds with their habitat, a phenomenon we now call “place attachment.” The human nervous system, primed by a million years of evolution, readily soaks up the features of the natural world, mapping it to the brain and body.

We’ve built entire industries and massive layers of infrastructure specifically for the purpose of easing the burdens of survival, exposure, and physical movement. But now our success is beginning to look like a Pyrrhic victory; we’ve beaten back the forces of nature, but in the process, we’ve very nearly defeated our own health. This brings us to