I am part of nature, a nd nature is part of me. I am what I am in my communication a nd communion with all living things. I am an irreducible a nd coherent whole with the web of life on the planet. Nature, the human community a nd the universe is connected with the Cosmos. We recognize the deep truth that I am the other. This expresses the concept fr om contempo r ary physics of “entanglement”, which is a quantum phenomenon. All atoms, all cells are connected, deeply.” The friendship is the connection we feel fo r each other, wh erever he is, other people, animals, plants, stars. I am part of society, a nd society is part of me. I am what I am in my communication a nd communion with my fellow humans.I am an irreducible a nd coherent whole with the community of humans on the planet.

The separate identity I attach to other humans a nd other things is but a convenient convention that facilitates my interaction with them. My family a nd my community are just as much “me” as the o r gans of my body. My body a nd mind, my family a nd my community, are interacting a nd interpenetrating, variously prevalent elements in the netwo r k of relations that encompasses all things in nature a nd the human wo r ld. The whole gamut of concepts a nd ideas that separates my identity, o r the identity of any person o r community, fr om the identity of other persons a nd communities are manifestations of this convenient but arbitrary convention. There are only gradients distinguishing individuals fr om each other a nd fr om their environment a nd no real divisions a nd boundaries. There are no “others” in the wo r ld: We are all living systems a nd we are all part of each other. Attempting to maintain the system I know as “me” through ruthless competition with the system I know as “you” is a grave mistake: It could damage the integrity of the embracing whole that frames both your life a nd mine. I cannot preserve my own life a nd wholeness by damaging that whole, even if damaging a part of it seems to bring me sho r t-term advantage. When I harm you, o r anyone else around me, I harm myself. Collabo r ation, not competition, is the royal road to the wholeness that hallmarks healthy systems in the wo r ld. Collabo r ation calls fo r empathy a nd solidarity, a nd ultimately fo r love. I do not a nd cannot love myself if I do not love you a nd others around me: We are part of the same whole a nd so are part of each other