This dignity was hard-won through years of tough experiences, disappointments and triumphs as a scientist and as a human being. First, Jane is aware that she is a creature. Being a creature means being aware that you were created. Jane knows that she didn't spring forth spontaneously. To be a creature is to be aware of an amazing fragility because to be a creature is to be a movement towards death.
Every day is, therefore, a gift and every tree and animal a brother and sister.
Like St. Francis, Jane has lots of brothers and sisters. So, at the risk of making Jane laugh, I would say that Jane understands herself to be a humble creature and part of an enormous family of beings on this planet. This acceptance, far from being something dreadful, was found to be liberating. Thomas Merton records a similar experience in a crosswalk in Louisville. This sense of creatureliness and feeling at one with the Earth leads to clarity about who one is as a person.