The Sacred Balance

I have come across a number of profound sections throughout David Suzuki's book The Sacred Balance. 

The following is just one of many that I would like to share:

To heal our planet and ourselves, we need to move away from "pathological individualism. We don't live on the earth; we live in it."  explains Sarah Conn. 

We must begin to see ourselves as part of our environment, not separate from it. Our identity goes beyond flesh, blood and our actions and thoughts. Our identity includes our natural world, how we move through it, how we interact with it and how it sustains us. When we forget that we are embedded in the natural world, we also forget that what we do to our surroundings we are doing to ourselves. 

If we continue to think of ourselves as separate from our surroundings, we will not be sensitive to the consequences of what we are doing,  so we can't see that our path is potentially suicidal. If we do not see ourselves as part of the natural world and become further detached, we risk a greater sense of loneliness, a lack of meaning, purpose and sense of belonging. Without experiences in nature, we develop ignorance and apathy. (160-163)

Michele Ward