Micro

by Michael Crichton

there was no objective truth, only the truth that’s established by power.

In fact, there are more small living things in this little square of earth than there are large living things on the entire surface of our planet. Think about it. We humans live on the surface. We think that’s where the life is. We think in terms of people and elephants and sharks and forests of trees. But our perceptions are wrong. The truth of life on our planet is very different. The real bedrock fundamental life—teeming, burrowing, breeding, continuously active—is down here, at this level. And this is where the discoveries are going to be made.”

What is it about nature that is so terrifying to the modern mind? Why is it so intolerable? Because nature is fundamentally indifferent. It’s unforgiving, uninterested. If you live or die, succeed or fail, feel pleasure or pain, it doesn’t care. That’s intolerable to us.

Nature was not gentle or nice. There was no such thing as mercy in the natural world.

“There is a Zen saying that a wise man can live comfortably in hell.