144 Quotes by Sam Keen

I think we’re always in the process of writing and rewriting the story of our lives, forming our experiences into a narrative that makes sense. Much of that work involves demythologizing family myths and cultural myths – getting free of what we have been told about ourselves.

If we don’t preserve forest habitat for spotted owls, then soon we won’t have trees to refresh the air we breathe. And we’re realizing that this applies to social ecology, as well.

Human beings are what I think of as “biomythic” animals: we’re controlled largely by the stories we tell. When we get the story wrong, we get out of harmony with the rest of the natural order.

Freedom is an inside job.

The deepest mystery comes not when we don’t know somebody well, but when we do.

I’ve spent my life cultivating knowledge of myself. But the more I know myself, the more utterly mysterious I become.

I think we’re inevitably going to be depressed when we focus the major part of our energy and attention on something that doesn’t give us meaning, only material things.

I think there are families that are very kind and supportive of people’s ability to change. People who come from such families may go through life without dipping into the dark night.

Every time I come across a rattlesnake on my farm I initially react in fear and am tempted to kill it. Then I realize I wouldn’t want to live in a world where all wild things – without and within – are domesticated.