The Most Astounding Fact

We at home in the universe. We are connected, interrelated, vulnerable and active participants in a world with no real gaps, and no truly untouchable realms. The things we encounter are made from the same potent materials as that with which we encounter them - and the tragedy of human conception is that we are able to convince ourselves otherwise when everything we feel, touch, smell, taste or become intimate with should persuade us that this is true. We are at home in the universe, not as strangers nor aliens but as cosmic brethren with all that is human and nonhuman, bursting forth as creative exuberance. Starting from this astounding fact, everything then becomes possible: