"A human being is part of the whole, called by us 'universe', a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separated form the rest Ð a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves form this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. Nobody is able to achieve this completely, but the striving for such achievement is in itself a part of the liberation and a foundation for inner security." ---Albert Einstein
Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than out right exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing. To keep our faces toward change and behave like free spirits in the presence of fate is strength undefeatable. ÐHelen Keller
This is what you shall do: love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to everyone that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have patience and indulgence towards people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown, re-examine all you have been told at church or school or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul, and your very flesh shall be a great poem. --Walt Whitman
If I regret anything, it is that I behaved so well. ÐHenry Throreau
There comes a time when we must draw a line across the ground of our home and of our being, drive a stake into the land and say to the bulldozers, earthmovers, governments and corporations this far and no further. ÐEdward Abbey
When we get out of the glass bottles of our ego,
And when we escape like squirrels turning in the
cages of our personality
and get into the forests again,
we shall shiver with cold and fright
but things will happen to us
so that we don't know ourselves.
Cool, undying life will rush in,
and passion will make our bodies taunt with power,
we shall stamp our feet with new power
and old things will fall down,
we shall laugh, and institutions will curl up like
burnt paper.
ÐD.H. Lawrence
Copyright Mendocino Environmental Center 2000
Permission granted to excerpt or use this article if source is cited