“This feeling of being lonely and very temporary visitors in the
universe is in flat contradiction to everything known about man (and
all other living organisms) in the sciences. We do not ‘come into’
this world; we come out of it, as leaves from a tree. As the ocean
‘waves,’ the universe ‘peoples.’ Every individual is an
expression of the whole realm of nature, a unique action of the total
universe. This fact is rarely, if ever, experienced by most
individuals. Even those who know it to be true in theory do not sense
or feel it, but continue to be aware of themselves as isolated
‘egos’ inside bags of skin.The first result of this illusion is
that our attitude to the world ‘outside’ us is largely hostile. We
are forever ‘conquering’ nature, space, mountains, deserts,
bacteria, and insects instead of learning to cooperate with them in a
harmonious order.”— Alan WattsThe Book: On the Taboo Against
Knowing Who You Are
