WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.900 align:middle line:90%


00:00:03.900 --> 00:00:05.700 align:middle line:84%
What I was talking
about at the beginning

00:00:05.700 --> 00:00:09.750 align:middle line:84%
and I've been talking
about the whole time

00:00:09.750 --> 00:00:14.400 align:middle line:84%
is not one of those
subjects I think that you

00:00:14.400 --> 00:00:16.050 align:middle line:90%
have as an opinion for a while.

00:00:16.050 --> 00:00:19.530 align:middle line:84%
And then, as you pass from
one election to another,

00:00:19.530 --> 00:00:21.420 align:middle line:84%
you forget about the
last one, and you

00:00:21.420 --> 00:00:24.260 align:middle line:90%
go on to something else.

00:00:24.260 --> 00:00:32.439 align:middle line:84%
There are unresolved subjects
that have been there with me

00:00:32.439 --> 00:00:33.400 align:middle line:90%
all my life--

00:00:33.400 --> 00:00:37.180 align:middle line:84%
it's marvelous not
to find answers.

00:00:37.180 --> 00:00:41.530 align:middle line:84%
We're so oriented
in our thinking

00:00:41.530 --> 00:00:45.110 align:middle line:84%
that we think it's a
question-and-answer thing.

00:00:45.110 --> 00:00:47.890 align:middle line:84%
The question is far more
important than the answer.

00:00:47.890 --> 00:00:50.680 align:middle line:84%
And to have the question
stay for a long time,

00:00:50.680 --> 00:00:53.260 align:middle line:84%
the question will teach you
more than the answer will.

00:00:53.260 --> 00:00:55.240 align:middle line:84%
The answer, in some
ways, is a blind alley.

00:00:55.240 --> 00:00:57.520 align:middle line:90%
You think you've got there.

00:00:57.520 --> 00:01:00.040 align:middle line:84%
And unfortunately,
you've never got there.

00:01:00.040 --> 00:01:04.030 align:middle line:84%
Or fortunately, fortunately,
you never get there.

00:01:04.030 --> 00:01:17.800 align:middle line:84%
But these subjects, they've just
grown in the course of my life.

00:01:17.800 --> 00:01:21.415 align:middle line:84%
They seem to me more
crucial, more painful.

00:01:21.415 --> 00:01:24.880 align:middle line:90%


00:01:24.880 --> 00:01:33.130 align:middle line:84%
I remember 25 years ago being
shocked in Oregon when I

00:01:33.130 --> 00:01:37.480 align:middle line:90%
was reading at a small college.

00:01:37.480 --> 00:01:39.970 align:middle line:84%
And a biologist
said to me that we

00:01:39.970 --> 00:01:41.485 align:middle line:90%
were losing a species a week.

00:01:41.485 --> 00:01:43.990 align:middle line:90%


00:01:43.990 --> 00:01:47.500 align:middle line:84%
And it's been some years
now that we've been losing

00:01:47.500 --> 00:01:48.940 align:middle line:90%
more than a species a minute.

00:01:48.940 --> 00:01:52.030 align:middle line:84%
We're losing a species
every few seconds.

00:01:52.030 --> 00:01:53.410 align:middle line:90%
That's how fast it's going.

00:01:53.410 --> 00:01:56.650 align:middle line:84%
Well, this is not something
that we can replace.

00:01:56.650 --> 00:01:58.930 align:middle line:90%
This is-- it always happened.

00:01:58.930 --> 00:01:59.980 align:middle line:90%
Words go out like that.

00:01:59.980 --> 00:02:02.110 align:middle line:84%
We're doing the same
thing with cultures.

00:02:02.110 --> 00:02:07.000 align:middle line:84%
I have the uneasy feeling,
and this is very pessimistic.

00:02:07.000 --> 00:02:10.870 align:middle line:84%
One has to learn to live
with these things, I think.

00:02:10.870 --> 00:02:18.370 align:middle line:84%
What we're watching is a
form of pure acceleration--

00:02:18.370 --> 00:02:19.840 align:middle line:90%
what's behind it?

00:02:19.840 --> 00:02:20.770 align:middle line:90%
Where is it leading?

00:02:20.770 --> 00:02:22.870 align:middle line:90%
Why it's happening.

00:02:22.870 --> 00:02:25.600 align:middle line:90%
We're only part of that.

00:02:25.600 --> 00:02:28.720 align:middle line:90%
But it's not straight uphill.

00:02:28.720 --> 00:02:31.720 align:middle line:84%
It's a sine curve that
the farther it goes,

00:02:31.720 --> 00:02:34.510 align:middle line:84%
the steeper the climb
and the faster it goes.

00:02:34.510 --> 00:02:35.770 align:middle line:90%
And we see that happen.

00:02:35.770 --> 00:02:39.700 align:middle line:84%
I mean, our population
passed 1 billion

00:02:39.700 --> 00:02:43.540 align:middle line:84%
sometime in the early 19th
century, now where are we?

00:02:43.540 --> 00:02:45.610 align:middle line:84%
Look, that's all
happened in 100--

00:02:45.610 --> 00:02:49.405 align:middle line:90%
200 years, less than 200 years.

00:02:49.405 --> 00:02:51.280 align:middle line:84%
Whether it's reversible
or not, I don't know.

00:02:51.280 --> 00:02:54.430 align:middle line:84%
But what is reversible is how
we feel about it, how we think

00:02:54.430 --> 00:02:59.360 align:middle line:90%
about it, how we relate to it.

00:02:59.360 --> 00:03:00.768 align:middle line:90%
I think that's important.

00:03:00.768 --> 00:03:03.310 align:middle line:84%
If it's on the way out, we want
to be on the way out with it.

00:03:03.310 --> 00:03:04.580 align:middle line:90%
We want to be aware of it.

00:03:04.580 --> 00:03:07.277 align:middle line:84%
We want to be part
of it, and not say,

00:03:07.277 --> 00:03:09.610 align:middle line:84%
I don't care if the rest of
it goes, as long as we stay.

00:03:09.610 --> 00:03:10.600 align:middle line:90%
That's no good.

00:03:10.600 --> 00:03:11.682 align:middle line:90%
That won't work.

00:03:11.682 --> 00:03:12.640 align:middle line:90%
It won't work that way.

00:03:12.640 --> 00:03:15.610 align:middle line:90%


00:03:15.610 --> 00:03:20.050 align:middle line:84%
Our attitude toward it
is important, not just

00:03:20.050 --> 00:03:22.550 align:middle line:90%
for ecological reasons.

00:03:22.550 --> 00:03:25.570 align:middle line:90%
Not just for saving the planet.

00:03:25.570 --> 00:03:27.910 align:middle line:84%
There are so many aspects to
that, that we haven't even

00:03:27.910 --> 00:03:29.680 align:middle line:90%
addressed yet.

00:03:29.680 --> 00:03:33.533 align:middle line:84%
I mean, when people say, oh, we
must save the Amazon rainforest

00:03:33.533 --> 00:03:35.950 align:middle line:84%
because there are all those
medicinal plants in there that

00:03:35.950 --> 00:03:38.110 align:middle line:84%
are curing human ailments,
and there are lots more

00:03:38.110 --> 00:03:38.710 align:middle line:90%
to discover.

00:03:38.710 --> 00:03:40.000 align:middle line:90%
Sure, that's true.

00:03:40.000 --> 00:03:41.350 align:middle line:90%
So what?

00:03:41.350 --> 00:03:44.320 align:middle line:84%
I mean, the other
side of that is

00:03:44.320 --> 00:03:49.030 align:middle line:84%
how come there are those
medicinal plants in the Amazon?

00:03:49.030 --> 00:03:52.090 align:middle line:84%
Those plants were there before
there were those diseases

00:03:52.090 --> 00:03:52.660 align:middle line:90%
to cure.

00:03:52.660 --> 00:03:54.610 align:middle line:84%
They're about
something much older.

00:03:54.610 --> 00:03:57.970 align:middle line:84%
They're about some balance
that was being kept.

00:03:57.970 --> 00:04:00.940 align:middle line:84%
More important is to find
out what that balance was

00:04:00.940 --> 00:04:03.970 align:middle line:90%
and to try to restore that.

00:04:03.970 --> 00:04:08.050 align:middle line:84%
I think this is a subject
that is so enormous.

00:04:08.050 --> 00:04:13.030 align:middle line:84%
And whether we solve it or
not, the important thing

00:04:13.030 --> 00:04:20.470 align:middle line:84%
is to go on trying because it's
part of the great privilege

00:04:20.470 --> 00:04:23.530 align:middle line:90%
of being alive.

00:04:23.530 --> 00:04:27.250 align:middle line:84%
I mean, the great
elation of being alive.

00:04:27.250 --> 00:04:30.670 align:middle line:84%
The elation of that child,
I was seeing the grit,

00:04:30.670 --> 00:04:31.420 align:middle line:90%
the grass growing.

00:04:31.420 --> 00:04:34.600 align:middle line:84%
And it wasn't just
satisfaction, it

00:04:34.600 --> 00:04:36.550 align:middle line:84%
made me very happy
to see that grass

00:04:36.550 --> 00:04:38.950 align:middle line:90%
grow through the flagstones.

00:04:38.950 --> 00:04:41.680 align:middle line:84%
And I've seen it on
old airports too,

00:04:41.680 --> 00:04:44.710 align:middle line:84%
coming up through the
[INAUDIBLE],, great.

00:04:44.710 --> 00:04:55.300 align:middle line:84%
Let me get the manuscript
of the new book that's

00:04:55.300 --> 00:05:03.400 align:middle line:84%
coming out in September, and
read a few poems from that.

00:05:03.400 --> 00:05:09.310 align:middle line:84%
And a few even more recent than
that, and that will see us out,

00:05:09.310 --> 00:05:12.160 align:middle line:84%
then you can go home
and get upset about it.

00:05:12.160 --> 00:05:22.030 align:middle line:90%


00:05:22.030 --> 00:05:23.980 align:middle line:84%
In the middle of
this book, which

00:05:23.980 --> 00:05:29.755 align:middle line:84%
is called The
Shadow of Sirius, I

00:05:29.755 --> 00:05:31.130 align:middle line:84%
want you to think
about the title

00:05:31.130 --> 00:05:39.110 align:middle line:84%
for a minute Sirius is
possibly the brightest

00:05:39.110 --> 00:05:42.890 align:middle line:84%
star we know in the universe,
at least I've heard it said.

00:05:42.890 --> 00:05:46.280 align:middle line:90%
Sirius means the dog star.

00:05:46.280 --> 00:05:51.180 align:middle line:84%
There is no shadow of Sirius,
of course, except there

00:05:51.180 --> 00:05:52.970 align:middle line:90%
is in our imagination.

00:05:52.970 --> 00:05:55.720 align:middle line:90%


00:05:55.720 --> 00:05:59.990 align:middle line:84%
And there's a center
section of the book,

00:05:59.990 --> 00:06:01.720 align:middle line:90%
which is full of elegies.

00:06:01.720 --> 00:06:05.380 align:middle line:84%
And a lot of people don't seem--
who have read individual ones,

00:06:05.380 --> 00:06:08.410 align:middle line:84%
don't seem to realize that
they're all about dogs.

00:06:08.410 --> 00:06:13.720 align:middle line:84%
I believe the grief for
animals is a thing on its own.

00:06:13.720 --> 00:06:15.730 align:middle line:84%
I think it's every
bit as severe.

00:06:15.730 --> 00:06:20.830 align:middle line:84%
The worst grief I've ever felt
in my life has been for dogs.

00:06:20.830 --> 00:06:22.240 align:middle line:90%
And I've lost my parents.

00:06:22.240 --> 00:06:23.870 align:middle line:84%
I don't mean I didn't
grieve for them.

00:06:23.870 --> 00:06:25.450 align:middle line:90%
I grieve in a different way.

00:06:25.450 --> 00:06:30.010 align:middle line:84%
But grief for animals is
unbearable and unsayable.

00:06:30.010 --> 00:06:32.650 align:middle line:84%
There is no language
involved in that.

00:06:32.650 --> 00:06:34.270 align:middle line:90%
And I'm not ashamed to--

00:06:34.270 --> 00:06:35.470 align:middle line:90%
I feel that animals--

00:06:35.470 --> 00:06:37.960 align:middle line:84%
I've learned as much
from animals in some ways

00:06:37.960 --> 00:06:40.370 align:middle line:90%
as I learned from human beings.

00:06:40.370 --> 00:06:43.330 align:middle line:84%
And I'm not in the
least bit ashamed.

00:06:43.330 --> 00:06:47.530 align:middle line:84%
I feel very privileged
to think of at least two,

00:06:47.530 --> 00:06:52.810 align:middle line:84%
maybe three animals as really
important guides in my life

00:06:52.810 --> 00:06:58.510 align:middle line:84%
and how they behaved
in particular moments.

00:06:58.510 --> 00:07:01.730 align:middle line:84%
We're very lucky
when this happens.

00:07:01.730 --> 00:07:08.140 align:middle line:84%
So even this poem, people say,
well, it must be metaphoric.

00:07:08.140 --> 00:07:10.510 align:middle line:90%
But it's not.

00:07:10.510 --> 00:07:12.820 align:middle line:84%
This is what it
says It was by dark.

00:07:12.820 --> 00:07:16.170 align:middle line:90%


00:07:16.170 --> 00:07:19.440 align:middle line:84%
"When it is time, I
follow the black dog

00:07:19.440 --> 00:07:24.450 align:middle line:84%
into the darkness that
is the mind of day.

00:07:24.450 --> 00:07:28.050 align:middle line:84%
I can see nothing there
but the black dog,

00:07:28.050 --> 00:07:33.990 align:middle line:84%
the dog I know going ahead
of me not looking back.

00:07:33.990 --> 00:07:40.050 align:middle line:84%
Oh, it is the black dog I trust
now in my turn after the years

00:07:40.050 --> 00:07:44.670 align:middle line:84%
when I had all the
trust of the black dog.

00:07:44.670 --> 00:07:50.910 align:middle line:84%
Through the room, through
an age of brightness

00:07:50.910 --> 00:07:55.740 align:middle line:84%
and through shadow,
on into the blindness

00:07:55.740 --> 00:07:59.550 align:middle line:84%
of the black dog, where
the rooms of the dark

00:07:59.550 --> 00:08:06.600 align:middle line:84%
were already known, and had no
fear in them for the black dog,

00:08:06.600 --> 00:08:09.765 align:middle line:84%
leading me carefully
up the blind stairs."

00:08:09.765 --> 00:08:22.010 align:middle line:90%


00:08:22.010 --> 00:08:26.483 align:middle line:84%
This is a sort of lullaby
elegy called, Good Night.

00:08:26.483 --> 00:08:30.650 align:middle line:90%


00:08:30.650 --> 00:08:38.390 align:middle line:84%
"Sleep softly my old love,
my beauty in the dark.

00:08:38.390 --> 00:08:45.850 align:middle line:84%
Night is a dream we have,
as you know as you know.

00:08:45.850 --> 00:08:51.520 align:middle line:84%
Night is a dream you know an
old love in the dark around you

00:08:51.520 --> 00:08:57.982 align:middle line:84%
as you go, without
end as you know.

00:08:57.982 --> 00:09:02.550 align:middle line:84%
In the night where
you go, sleep softly,

00:09:02.550 --> 00:09:07.740 align:middle line:84%
my old love, without
end in the dark,

00:09:07.740 --> 00:09:10.670 align:middle line:90%
in the love that you know."

00:09:10.670 --> 00:09:12.000 align:middle line:90%