An unexplored planet teeming with new lifeforms

Searching for Mina Carlota, Cuba, i came across this little gem from E.O. Wilson, who surely should be knighted by now for his incredible service to our discipline. My favorite is this passage, written in response to the amazing diversity and species he was seeing in New Caledonia:

• "Take me, Lord, to an unexplored planet teeming with new life forms. Put me at the edge of virgin swampland dotted with hummocks of high ground, let me saunter at my own pace across it and up the nearest mountain ridge, in due course to cross over to the far slope in search of more distant swamps, grasslands, and ranges. Let me be the Carolus Linnaeus of this world, bearing no more than specimen boxes, botanical canister, hand lens, notebooks, but allowed not Fears but centuries of time. And should I somehow tire of the land, let me embark on the sea in search of new islands and archipelagoes. Let me go alone, at least for a while, and I will report to You and loved ones at intervals and I will publish reports on my discoveries for colleagues. For if it was You who gave me this spirit, then devise the appropriate reward for its virtuous use...."

There is something incredible and moving about seeing, touching, smelling, hearing something new and extraordinary. Put many of those things together at once and we experience...awe, beauty, fear, inspiration? Maybe this is why so many people describe feeling "more alive" in the wilderness. Thanks, Guru Wilson!