The Sacred Balance, 25th anniversary edition: Rediscovering Our Place in Nature (Foreword by Robin Wall Kimmerer)

ore, a forest as a sacred grove rather than lumber and pulp, other species as our biological kin rather than resources, the planet as our mother and life-giver and not an opportunity, then our actions will reflect far greater humility, respect and responsibility.

A human being is part of the whole, called by us the universe. A part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separate from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons

Once, our worldview embedded each of us within a world in which all the parts were intricately interconnected. Each of us could be at the centre of this multidimensional web of interconnections, “trapped,” in a sense, by our total dependence on all of the strands enfolding and infusing us, yet deriving the ultimate security of place and belonging.

We must find a sacred resilience and balance within a constantly changing world.

Albert Einstein was asked one day by a friend “Do you believe that absolutely everything can be expressed scientifically?” “Yes, it would be possible,” he replied, “but it would make no sense. It would be description without meaning—as if you described a Beethoven symphony as a variation in wave pressure.” —RONALD W. CLARK, Einstein: The Life and T

assumptions and beliefs that underlie our destructive demands and activities. The way we see the world shapes the way we treat it. If we regard a mountain as a deity rather than a pile of

To become human, one must make room in oneself for the wonders of the universe. —SOUTH AMERICAN INDIGENOUS SAYING

We are the Earth, created of and animated by its sacred elements: earth, air, fire and water. As social animals, it is love that makes us fully human, and we know who we are through spirit and ceremony.

Human creativity and productivity are the basis of economies. Since it is assumed there are no limits to our imagination, economists believe endless growth is possible, and is the very definition of success and progress. Following the Great Depression of the 1930s, the Second World War provided the stimulus for global economic recovery. The transit

This calls us to undertake a transformation from a worldview of domination and exploitation to a kin-centric worldview that acknowledges our utter dependence upon the life-giving gifts of other species, before whom we can only bow in gratitude. Gratitude awakens the impulse to return the gifts, to enter the covenant of reciprocity.