Louisville Process Theology Network

The question of human limits, of the proper definition and
place of human beings with the order of Creation, finally rests upon our
attitude toward our biological existence, the life of the body in this world.

What value and respect do we give to our bodies? What uses do
we have for them? What relation do we see, if any, between body and mind, or
body and soul? What connections or responsibilities do we maintain between our
bodies and earth?

These are religious questions, obviously, for our bodies are
part of Creation, and they involve us in all issues of mystery.

But the questions are also agricultural, for no matter how
urban our life, our bodies live in agriculture as we live in flesh. While we
live our bodies are moving particles of the earth, joined inextricably both to
the soil and to the bodies of living creatures.

It is hardly surprising, then, that there should be some
profound resemblances between our treatment of our bodies and our treatment of
the earth.

Page 97 from “The Unsettling of America” by Wendell Berry