Mad I know, but it was in his Will and Testament, for God’s sake, ’to be etched in granite’! I don’t think we have any choice in the matter.

If I believed, as I do believe, that the end of the world was nigh, then what ought I to say?

If I believed, as I do believe, that our civilization, our cultures, our cycle of existence, having had separate beginnings on every continent, perhaps 5, perhaps 10, millennia ago, was now approaching the final decades, then how should I behave?

If I believed, as I do, that this ‘nature’ which is dying was made up not of objects and processes but of coexistent ‘kingdoms’ of plants, of animals, and yes even of stones, who have shared this moment of consciousness, then to whom should I pray?