What's life really about? (Capital 'L' life that is, the essence of our being here on this living, breathing blue planet, the only home our species has ever known.) To paraphrase John Donne, no species is an island: life is all about the often messy interrelationships that weave together earth's myriad of lives. We're all in this together, like it or not.
I think E.O. Wilson has it right with his theory of biophilia: to be human is to have an innate affiliation for all forms of life, whether animal or vegetable, large or small, domestic or wild. For me, nature is very much the community I belong to; other species--whether or not I like them, and whether or not I even know who they are-- are just as much kin as my human family. My previous blog, Community of the Land, focused on our relationship to that community. The topics it considers are still relevant--take a look and leave a comment about how you see our ties with land and nature.
Then I found myself drawn to consider a broader range of questions: What does it mean to be human? What do we bring to the great web of life? How can we live in a way that is comfortable, nurturing, inspiring, generous, and honors all of Earth's diversity of lives? I'm exploring those questions on my current blog Walking Nature Home. (Click on any of these links to go there.) Join me, and let's talk about it!
