I Belong To The Earth

James Smetham,1880, Unsplash

“Once I thought that to be human was the highest aim a man could have, but I see now that it was meant to destroy me. To-day I am proud to say that I am inhuman, that I belong not to men and governments, that I have nothing to do with creeds and principles. I have nothing to do with the creaking machinery of humanity — I belong to the earth!”

— Henry Miller

This statement by Miller seems like a creed to me, proving the opposite of what he intends. I can understand his disappointment. I can understand that desire to exit the rampant human confusion, but one can’t jump out of the human context at will.

I think it’s smart to hold beliefs and principles loosely. But we all belong to both the earth and the stars. We are both a hundred percent physical as well as a hundred percent spiritual. Holding one to the exclusion of the other is walking on one leg.

The earth is a spiritual creation. Its beauty and terror are spiritual as well as physical. Drawing a line between the two is an exercise in futility. We keep trying to fit life into compartments with labels on them. It’s a fiction. Everything is a seamless whole.

Human reason is a helpful tool, but it can never really see things whole. It can only break things down into parts. To grasp the whole…