We humans tend to see things in isolation. We see ourselves and others as individuals, not realizing how our very existence, our consciousness, our brains, and our physiology, depend on all those in the past before us, stretching far back in time. When we look at other animals, we imagine an unbridgeable gulf between us and them. The threads that connect all life-forms are simply not visible to us and so not a part of our daily consciousness. You must train yourself to think and feel differently, always seeking to pick out the hidden threads. Imagine that there is a Whole that every event and phenomenon is a part of—the Whole that is your psychology and all your unconscious motivations stretching back to early childhood; the Whole that is you and all the various influences in your life, including parents, friends, society, and the cultural zeitgeist; the Whole that is you and all the past generations of humans that have shaped the world you now live in; and finally the Whole that is you and all the life-forms that have led to the evolution of humans and that live within you.

When you look at the world, stop fixating on all the separate forms you see and view it as all one—one throbbing, pulsating web stretching from 4 billion years ago to the present, with you as a tiny but necessary speck on a single thread.