Nature loves the idea of the individual, but not the individual himself

“Are we ready to think of all humanity as a living tree, carrying on splendidly without us? We easily regard a beehive or an ant colony as a single organism, and even a school of fish, a flock of dunlin, a herd of elk. And we easily and correctly regard an aggregate of individuals, a sponge or coral or lichen or slime mold as one creature — but us? When people differ, and know our consciousness and love? Even lovers, even twins, are strangers are who love and die alone. And we like it this way, at least in the West; we prefer to endure any agony of isolation rather than to merge and extinguish ourselves in an abstract ‘humanity’ whose fate we should hold dearer than our own. Who could say, I’m in agony because my child died, but that’s all right: Mankind as a whole has abundant children? The religious idea sooner or later challenges the idea of the individual. The Buddha taught each disciple to vanquish his fancy that he possessed an individual self.”
–Annie Dillard, For the Time Being (1999)

Posted by | Comments Off on Nature loves the idea of the individual, but not the individual himself  | August 22, 2003
Category: Travel Quote of the Day

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