To offer something to think about prior to our gathering, here is a quotation that relates to Berry’s thought:  “In reality there is a single integral community of the Earth that includes all its component members whether human or other-than-human.  In this community each being has its own role to fulfill, its own dignity, its inner spontaneity.  Every being has its own voice.  Every being declares itself to the entire universe.  Every being enters into communion with other beings.  This capacity for relatedness, for presence to other beings, for spontaneity in action, is a capacity possessed by every mode of being throughout the entire universe."