From The Heart Aroused:

The abiding image of a diverse and rich ecology is the Amazon rainforest. As human beings, we look at the rainforest and see an ecology made up of thousands of species that fit together exquisitely. The image is so satisfying to us, because when we see the forest, and all the disparate forms, odors, and cries that make it up, we intuit a life where all our own strange and eccentrically exotic parts can fit too. A place where the cross-grain of experience makes not a disconnect, but a mysterious, embracing pattern. A balanced, intricate ecology, in effect, asks us to stop choosing between parts of ourselves, according to what we think belongs and what does not. A mature ecology needs its microscopic leaf molds as much as its panthers. It does not make a choice between them, saying, “I’ll take three dozen of those gorgeous Panthers, and cancel the tacky leaf molds.” If it did, the rainforest would soon, as the metaphor goes, be out of business. No leaf molds, no compost. No compost, no life.