er the abstract truths propounded by many of our scientific colleagues or the disembodied spiritual certainties propounded by so many new age teachings - than we do to the much more ambiguous, difficult, and dangerous world that we experience face-to-face, here and now, in the flesh.
The animate earth around us is far lovelier than any heaven we can dream up. But if we wish to awaken to its richness, we'll need to give up our detached, spectator perspective, and the illusion of control that it gives us. That is a terrifying move for most over-civilized folks today - since to renounce control means noticing that we really are vulnerable: to loss, to disease, to death. Yet also steadily vulnerable to wonder, and unexpected joy.
For all its mind-shattering beauty, this earth is hardly safe; it is filled with uncertainties, and shadows - with beings that can eat us, and ultimately will. I suppose that's why contemporary civilization seems so terrified to drop the pretense of the view from outside, the God trick, the odd belief that we can master and manage the earth.
But we can't master it - never have, never will. What we can do is to participate more deeply, respectfully, and creatively in the manifold life of this breathing mystery we’re a part of.
David Abram during an interview with Derrick Jensen entitled ...Alliance for Wild Ethics || The Perceptual Implications of GAIA
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