Life is matter with intentionality.

Humans are spiritual beings. We long for meaning and transcendence,

Newton’s theism—a God present at all times—gave way to deism—an absent God whose role was relegated to that of creator of the Universe and its laws.

is as if nonliving systems have an information content that is nearly frozen—a repeatable history from inception to end—while living systems have an information content that is fluid—an unpredictable history from inception to end. Fires and hurricanes don’t evolve from ancestors.

Through gravity everything is connected,

about one trillion planets in our galaxy, some thirty billion (or 3 percent) have a mass and radius similar to those of Earth. Of those, a smaller but substantial number (about one billion) orbit G-type stars like the Sun. That’s promising but hardly enough. When the focus is on finding life, having a mass and radius like Earth’s is a long shot

life is a rare event in the Universe and that Earth is a rare planet.

Instead of paying with our lives, we celebrate and preserve life and align our values and actions according to three principles: the LESS approach to sustainability, the MORE approach to engagement with the natural world, and the MINDFUL approach to consumerism.

what measures can we implement to change the current course of civilization?