This Is How to Feel at Home in the World

The root crisis of our time is to belong. This crisis is driven by the pursuit of self-reliance and independence.

When we are self-reliant, and meeting our needs through money, there is no foundation or need for community.

The network of giving and receiving that binds us together with gratitude is severed and replaced with a story that says, “I don’t need you. I have money and can buy what I want and need.”

As our self-reliance grows, our relationship to community and nature atrophies. Money replaces what community once provided. The digital world replaces physical relationship. And we become obsessed with security, self interest, and control.

To solve the crisis of belonging, which would also heal many of our societal and ecological issues, we have to unlearn how we were trained to relate to the world.

The self-reliant individual requires dominion over their relationships. The person who belongs in community and nature understands their existence is relationship.

My well-being is dependent upon your well-being. What I do unto others I am also doing to myself and visa versa.

We need to recognize our interdependency to each other and nature. We need to learn that the world beyond our skin is an extension of ourself.

That is how we feel at home in the world. Once we feel at home, together we can create something beautiful and worthwhile.