If it is possible to steer one's own course -- and I do believe it is -- then I am convinced that the place to start is with faith, which for me is akin to a kind of spiritual gyroscope that spins in its own circumference with what is inside and what is out.  Of course, faith is just a word unless it is invested with personal meaning; my own faith is rooted in the unshakable belief in God as creator and sustainer, a deeply personal interpretation of and relationship with Christ, and an awareness of a constant and holy spiritual presence in all people, all life, and all things.  But I also want to affirm what people of faith from long ago apparently knew and that our civilization has obscured:  that there is revelatory power in the world.  This is the essence of faith:  to make a surrendering decision to invest belief in a spiritual reality larger than ourselves.  And I believe that faith is the primary force that enables us to choose meaning and direction and then hold to it despite all the buffeting chaos in life.

I believe also that -- for all of us -- there is an often poorly understood link between ethical choices that seem quite small in scale and those whose apparent consequences are very large, and that a conscious effort to adhere to just principles in all our choices -- however small -- is a choice in favor of justice in the world.  By the same token, a willingness to succumb to distraction, and in the process fail to notice the consequences of a small choice made carelessly or unethically, makes one more likely to do the same when confronted with a large choice.  Both in our personal lives and in our political decisions, we have an ethical duty to pay attention, resist distraction, be honest with one another and accept responsibility for what we do -- whether as individuals or together.  It's the same gyroscope.  It either provides balance or it doesn't.  In the words of Aristotle, "Virtue is one thing."

For civilization as a whole, the faith that is so essential to restore the balance now missing in our relationship to the earth is the faith that we do have a future.  We can believe in that future and work to achieve it and preserve it, or we can whirl blindly on, behaving as if one day there will be no children to inherit our legacy.  The choice is ours; the earth is in the balance."

"Earth in the Balance" is a brilliantly written, prophetic, even holy book, clearly pointing the way we need to change to assure the survival of our grandchildren.  I pray it will have the dramatic impact it deserves -- and must have -- for our collective salvation.  Please read it."
-M. Scott Peck,
Author of the 10-Year New York Times Spiritual Bestseller, 
"THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED"