The Loss of the Sacred

 At some point in our history, something precious slipped away.

We stopped seeing nature as a living being we belong to, and started treating it as a resource to exploit.

Rivers became “water supply.”

Forests became “timber.”

Animals became “products.”

The sacred dimension of life — that deep recognition of interdependence — was lost.

And without this remembrance, we live under dangerous illusions of control. We build modern weapons, nuclear bombs, and systems of power, forgetting that our survival rests on the balance of the living world. All it takes is one person believing they can press a button — and everything we know disappears.

The truth is simple: without reverence, life becomes disposable. When we reduce nature to an object, we also reduce ourselves — cutting off the roots of meaning, belonging, and care.

To recover the sacred is not about returning to the past or adopting rituals we don’t understand. It is about a shift of awareness: to once again see that every tree, every river, every breath is alive — and that our own existence depends on it.

The sacred was never truly lost.

It is here, waiting for us to remember.

What Does “Sacred” Truly Mean?

When I speak about the sacred, I’m not talking about religion or superstition. Sacred is not something distant or reserved for temples and ceremonies.

Sacred means remembering that life is alive. It is the awareness that rivers, forests, animals, and even our own bodies are not objects — they are living beings we are interdependent with.

It is also the way we show up in daily life: how we listen, how we eat, how we love, how we breathe. Sacred is presence. It is honesty. It is treating each moment and each encounter as worthy of respect and care.

When we forget the sacred, we fall into the illusion of control — believing we can dominate nature, other people, or even life itself. When we remember the sacred, we recover humility, connection, and the deep belonging we are all searching for.