On Not Knowing Where or Who We Are

This chapter can be summed up in its entirety on a rather gloomy note within its conclusion: “Our desires and plans to make life comfortable for ourselves seem to have the reverse effect of compounding misery and doom.” ( Smith 28) Here it becomes obvious that mankind needs to change its ways, or we will only continue to hasten our own demise. As stated previously, humans are sinful by nature, which is a shame that we in turn cannot see that our true goals are aligned with our inner nature, and instead continue to be driven by temporary and selfish desires. Smith ends the passage by saying that we as Christians need to learn the art of respecting nature.We need to completely accept this nature, and in turn, treat everything else in according to their own nature. We were meant to live in harmony with other creation, not destroy it. Only by living as natural creation can we hope to achieve true happiness and harmony. It is not only our true purpose for being, but how we were intended to thrive. To put it simply, we must let our identity as creatures born from a loving God to guide our actions in the future.