“From a very early period, Homo sapiens understood this instinctively. He used logos to develop new weapons and hunting skills; and he turned to myth, with its accompanying rituals, to reconcile him to the inevitable pain and grief that might otherwise overwhelm him” (p. 23).

“Unlike Confucianism, which originated within the aristocratic gentry, Daoism was rooted in the indigenous, tribal culture of southern China, a region of wild marshes, rivers, forests and mountains, whose people did not participate in Chinese civilization” (p.33).

“Thus nothing that we know or see is stable. Everything that seems firm and secure is in motion, circling perpetually from the ineffable source to our world and back again. The only permanent force is the Dao itself” (p. 35).

“We have become adverse to silence in the modern world and rely on endless chatter and stimulation. But in the presence of holiness, we should fall silent” (p.64).

“Sorrow, therefore, is not confined to humankind; it lies in the depths of the divine and is the foundation of all things” (p. 74).

“Animal sacrifice was central to ancient religion. Today we regard it as cruel and barbaric, but our ancestors would be equally, if not more, horrified by the casual butchering of millions of beasts in our abattoirs every day” (p. 80).

“Every day, we should try to honour in our minds the holiness of every single natural object and person that we encounter. Every day, we will probably fail; but each time we should try and start again, knowing that each person we come across is a holy mystery and that each animal or plant has its own unique dignity and beauty. All must be treated with kindness and reverence” (p. 88).

Every day, first thing in the morning and at night, for just a few moments we should consider three things; how little we know; how frequently we fail in kindness to other beings; and how limited are our desires and yearnings, which so often begin and end in our self” (p. 101).

“Compassion is the essence of religion and morality—and it is essential to the survival of humanity. That we constantly fail to put it effectively into practice is perhaps not surprising, as it runs counter to our ingrained selfishness, insisting that we dethrone ourselves from the centre of our world” (p. 119).

“Crucial too is their cultivation of reverence. In the West we rather glorify irreverence, regarding it as a courageous challenge to the establishment and a mark of individuality, but it can be pure egotism” (p. 133).

“In a censorious and unforgiving world, we need compassion—the ability to feel with all others, whether we like them or agree with them or not—more urgently than ever” (p. 135).

“We get a buzz of righteousness by denouncing certain people and things. We have to remind ourselves of how little we know of them and how, if we had experienced life differently, we might have an entirely different perception” (p. 153).

Armstrong, Karen. (2022). Sacred Nature: Restoring Our Ancient Bond with the Natural World. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.