An acclaimed geneticist artfully explains the diverse web of life, our kinship with other species, and the crucial need of our time to make Nature the ultimate concern of society at large and for our personal lives. The modern scientific world view has created an alienation of the spirit, since now matter & spirit are considered completely separate things, when they once were considered as one. How to preserve the scientific method which has so greatly improved our understanding of how the world works, while restoring a sense of the spiritual?

A walk in the garden, for example, may be utterly subjective, but it is through total engagement with the relationships of plants, soil, sun, water, insects, and other garden features, perceived by eye, ear, and physical touch, that we gain an experience that "puts spirit back into the fingertips." Such direct experience in nature allows us to feel that we are whole beings, not merely minds trapped in some sort of bio-mechanical body, allowing us to engage in a true conversation with the Earth.

For the author this is only the beginning, however. He advocates achieving an ecological vision, understanding that a simple tree, for example, is far more than trunk, leaves, and roots, but includes the water that moves through it, the sunlight that sustains it, the earth and air that support it, the insects that fertilize it, the fungi that help it obtain nutrients, and so on. ( )