The earth grows people
The earth grows people the way an apple grows apple trees. The earth is not infested with living organisms—we are are symptomatic of the earth, which is symptomatic of the universe.
If there is any such thing as intelligence or love or beauty, you find it in other people. Those things exist in human beings, and if they exist in us, it means that intelligence and love and beauty are symptomatic of the scheme of things.
Apples are symptomatic of apple trees; roses are symptomatic of rose bushes; and we are symptomatic of the universe. The earth is not some big rock infested with living organisms any more than your skeleton is a series of bones infested with cells. Yes, the earth is geological. But this geological entity grows people, and our lives on earth are symptomatic of a peopling solar system, which in turn is a symptom of our galaxy, and our galaxy is a symptom of a whole company of galaxies, and goodness knows what that’s a symptom of. —Alan Watts, *Out of Your Mind
- see also: we are collaborative compound organisms, creating our reality together
- previously: we are the process of the universe, not the end result of it