Every group/culture I have read or heard about, other than modern 
humans, has considered themselves a part of nature. We got into this 
mess by viewing ourselves as outside of, indeed superior to, the rest of 
nature, and our salvation may require us to realize that we are, indeed, 
part of nature.

Buckminster Fuller said, "Everything is natural" because nature permits 
it. Only some humans think we are above nature rather than part of it, 
and that we conquer it rather than just discover it.

Geoffrey Purcell wrote:
> I really don't see how Mankind can be seen as a "vital cog" of the [e]cosystem. ....