All around us, aspects of the modern world - diet, exercise, medicine, art, work, family, philosophy, economics, ecology, psychology - have begun a long circle back toward their former coherence. Whether they can arrive before the natural world is damaged beyond repair and madness destroys humanity, we cannot tell.
Interpretation
The quote reflects on the return to a more cohesive understanding of various aspects of life in the face of modern chaos.
Paul Shepard's quote emphasizes the interconnectedness of different spheres of human life, suggesting a trend of returning to a more coherent and harmonious understanding of our existence. He warns, however, that this resurgence in clarity may come too late if we do not address the damages inflicted upon the natural world and the potential descent into madness that could result from ignoring these issues.
In practice
In a speech about environmental awareness, one might say, 'As Paul Shepard noted, all aspects of modern life must connect to preserve our world.'
All official institutions of language are repeating machines: school, sports, advertising, popular songs, news, all continually repeat the same structure, the same meaning, often the same words: the stereotype is a political fact, the major figure of ideology.
The revival in religion will be a rhetorical problem - new persuasive words for defaced or degraded ones.
We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values.
Look at your feet. You are standing in the sky. When we think of the sky, we tend to look up, but the sky actually begins at the earth.
It seems to me that every phenomenon, every fact, itself is the really interesting object. Whoever explains it, or connects it with other events, usually only amuses himself or makes sport of us, as, for instance, the naturalist or historian. But a single action or event is interesting, not because it is explainable, but because it is true.
Anything important is never left to the vote of the people. We only get to vote on some man; we never get to vote on what he is to do.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.