Perhaps the greatest single insight of the ecological movement and the whole food movement is the simple realization that all of the different parts and pieces of life and health are equally important, connected, and mutually dependent. Inside the web of life, everything is connected. When nothing is neutral, everything is vital, and this means that everything is either complementary or insulting to our natural rhythm and balance and harmony. Our health depends on healthy organs, tissues, and cells, and these depend on nutrients. Nutrient-rich foods depend on nutrient-rich soils, which depend on sufficient sunlight mingling in the earth with billions of healthy microorganisms, abundant minerals, and trace minerals.

Interdependence is the opposite of exclusivity. In life, nothing is mutually exclusive. It is our personal responsibility to deliberate these things and make decisions that nourish and sustain the well-being of all of our many parts. The poet and Kentucky farmer Wendell Berry put it this way:

"The world that environs us, that is around us, is also within us. We are made of it. We eat, drink, and breathe it. It is bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh. It is also a creation, a holy mystery, made for and to some extent by creatures, some but by no means all of whom are humans. This world, this Creation, belongs in a limited sense to us, for we may rightfully require certain things of it. The things necessary to keep us fully alive as the kind of creatures we are. But we also belong to it, and it makes rightful claims upon us...that we leave it undiminished, not just to our children, but to all the creatures who will live in it after us."

These thoughts of Wendell Berry are hauntingly reminiscent of the Great Law of the Iroquois, the Native American people who lived in the hills and woodland areas west of the Hudson River long before the first European settlers set foot in the New World.

"In our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations."

The principle of interdependence is the web of life principle: everything is connected to everything else. The poet Ted Perry, in his amazing prose poem Where is the Eagle?, put it this way:

"This we know. The earth does not belong to man; man belongs to the earth. This we know. All things are connected like the blood which unites us all in one family. Will you teach your children what we have taught our children? That the earth is our mother? Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons of the earth. Man did not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand within it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself."

Action Step to take for principle number five:

1. Take time to think about the principles in this chapter: homeostasis, synergy, digestion, entrainment, and interdependence. What relevance do these have in your life right now? What have you learned from reading this chapter of the Journey?

   When you are able to understand and apply the first three principles of natural health--homeostasis, synergy, and digestion--you automatically initiate or engage the principle of entrainment. What we have been calling complementary habits are the actions that move all living systems in the direction of greater health and wholeness. What we have been calling insulting habits are the actions that move all living systems in the direction of disintegration, disharmony, and dis-ease.

   Everything is connected. Everything depends on the health and well-being of everything else.

   Remember to read the Habits of Naturally Healthy People. (Sometimes, understanding the principle underneath the habit can become the driving force in the process of self-discovery, which can lead to greater personal responsibility and proactivity, which can lead to greater self-mastery and optimum health.)

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