Context

Einstein wrote, "A human being is a part of a whole, called by us the ‘Universe,’ a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separated from the rest – a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circles of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty." (See Ervin Laszlo's "The Whispering Pond," 1996: 209; see also Einstein http://www.quoteworld.org/.)

Tu Wei-Ming’s interpretation of Chang Tsai’s (11th century) Hsi-ming or Western Inscription reads:
"Heaven is my father and earth is my mother, and even such a small being as I find an intimate place in their midst. Therefore, that which fills the universe I regard as my body and that which directs the universe I regard as my nature. All people are my brothers and sisters and all things are my companions" (Tu, "Confucian Thought," 1985: 157).

Chet Raymo sings in his book "The Soul of the Night":
"Yet I am a child of the Milky Way. The night is my mother. I am made of the dust of stars. Every atom in my body was forged in a star. When the universe exploded into being, already the bird longed for the wood and the fish for the pool. When the first galaxies fell into luminous clumps, already matter was struggling toward consciousness. The star clouds in Sagittarius are a burning bush. If there is a voice in Sagittarius, I'd be a fool not to listen. If God's voice in the night is a scrawny cry, then I'll prick up my ears. If night's faint lights fail to knock me off my feet, then I'll sit back on a dark hillside and wait and watch. A hint here and a trait there. Listening and watching. Waiting, always waiting, for the tingle in the spine." (1992: 205).

The Institute for Contemporary/Ancient Learning
www.beyondthematrix.com/inst