Monks

Though the Earth has been thought of as a penal colony where we are kept away from the more sane and more responsible Cosmic inhabitants, it can also be seen as a monastery with us as its monks. We are not doing penance, thought there may be an element of that -- an activity focused on the past. We are "working out our own salvation," looking to the future, to our becoming. We look to be better than we are. This is our practice. This is our daily life.