“Our departure from Eden allows us reflection – reflection on our origin and our relations to other creatures, reflection on good and evil, and ultimately, reflection on the possibility that we are engineering our own extinction. Never having left Eden, our innocent pongid kin are not burdened with this knowledge and the responsibility it entails. Looking into the calm, unblinking eyes of an orangutan we see, as through a series of mirrors, not only the image of our own creation but also a reflection of our own souls and an Eden that once was ours. And on occasion, fleetingly, just for a nanosecond, but with an intensity that is shocking in its profoundness, we recognize that there is no separation between ourselves and nature. We are allowed to see the eyes of God.”  (excerpt from Refelctions of Eden)