Spring 2005
June 6th, 2005A human being is part of a whole, called by us the Universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separated 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 nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circles of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.
Albert Einstein
What a profound statement. As this earth day has come and gone I’ve been thinking about the connection between our treatment of our environment and of other people on this tiny planet. While I am occasionally tempted to surrender to feelings of despair I take hope in the ways that nature heals herself. Watching flowers blossom in the desert after a rain, watching what’s left of a tree send out shoots and form new branches after being cut down, seeing grass sprout up in sidewalk cracks, knowing that people can survive childhoods defined by abuse and ignorance, and mature into loving compassionate adults; all these things offer reason to hope. Continued…