(DC) (Smithsonian) From ancient philosophers through the Enlightenment and today’s most eminent physicists and physicians, not a one of us can hold out our hand and say definitively where it ends, and the rest of the world begins. There is opportunity indeed in accepting both that in our human form, we cannot quite see clearly, and that eventually, every one of us—and everything—will die or otherwise disappear. Perhaps unexpectedly, not despite but amidst this suffering and loss, it is fundamentally an opportunity for experiencing joy. The Anthropocene makes poignantly and sometimes painfully evident that mountains, rivers, trees and birds are not a background to be gazed upon and appreciated, but part of what and who we are.

Presented by: Bonnie Nadzam, American writer and Zen Buddhist priest, Fellow with Harvard University’s Brooks McCormick Jr. Animal Law and Policy Program