Retired Canadian ambassador to India, Sri Lanka, and Iran, long-committed to environmental issues, James George gently argues that our planet is suffering from twin crises, ecological and spiritual, with a common source in our deep separation from nature and from each other. Inspired by the teachings of Gurdjieff, Thomas Merton, Tibetan Buddhism, and other contemplative traditions, the author shows that to avoid disaster we must wed scientific understanding to an awakening of individual consciousness and conscientiousness.