Each plank in our floor is unique, and yet when the planks are laid side by side, they resemble one another like brothers and sisters, faithful to the design of oaks. All of science is based on the faith that there is such a grain in things, at least in everything that can be measured. Finding a logic in life is harder than finding order in the blinking of quasars or the dance of quarks. Nontheless, I believe in such a logic. I believe there is a moral and well as a physical grain in things, and that our chief business is to discover what we can of that pattern and to align ourselves with it.
Nature proves nothing about morality.
The grain in the field, such as wheat or corn, and the grain in the wood are akin, for they both reveal the earth's fertility. Wood grain speaks to us of wildness, the push of sap from roots into the tips of branches, the stress of wind, the struggle for a place in the sun. The same current of wildness flows through us, as we are reminded by surrounding ourselves with beautiful and patient wood. Scott Russell Sanders teaches at the University of Indiana in Bloomington. A winner of the Lamman Literary Award, he is the author of more than 20 books.