Meister Eckhart once said, “Relation is the essence of everything that exists.” Yet in this age of anomie, alienation, and extreme individualism, we want always to assert our autonomy–that we can live alone without the world. Yet in ecological terms, we are actually what we are because of relationships. We cannot even breathe without air as we interact with air every second of our life. Without earth and all the conditions all set for life to thrive, we are nothing. We are part of the earth and the earth is us. In evolutionary terms, we have not come to be homo sapiens sapiens without the marvelous coincidences that created our being. In sociological terms, no man is an island. One of the most maligned, daunted, and feared man in America is Karl Marx. He said that exploitation is the denial of the inner essential connection of phenomena. It is high time that we review our most important connections. How did we take care of our relationship with nature now that we have global warming and climate change? How have we nurtured our relationship with our fellow human beings now that we have war while millions are dying of hunger? How did we fare with our technology now that we have created nuclear weapons enough to destroy ten planets the size of the earth? How are we nourishing our selves physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually now that we are lost in commercialization and consumption and debt?
