If one were able to watch the earth for a long time over geological
epochs, it would not just be the infinitesimally thin biosphere that seemed
to be alive. The body of the earth itself could be seen to churn and seethe,
rising in places to great heights, only to collapse at last into ruin.
It might even seem to possess its own ambition towards which it inexorably
evolves - very much like the tiny life-forms who dwell upon it. Forms come
into being and gather toward some distant purpose, searching like a burning
light, until they are finally consumed by the fire of their own unquenchable
longing. And perhaps some mysterious Watcher, ever eluding the brilliant
gaze of the new, sits there a time with the bones of the old, offering
some small blessing of solace for the pain of their endeavors...