Rilke speaks of the gardener’s participation in the Universe’s Mysteries this way: “In spite of all the farmer’s work and worry, he can’t reach down to where the seed is slowly transmuted into summer. The earth bestows.”

Every so often a culture undergoes a radical re-assessment of its primary operating assumptions. It happens rarely and slowly, because such re-imaginings are considered highly dangerous and disruptive. At their most disruptive they can alter reality, which, according to Bill Vitek, is precisely what ecospherism has done.