There are times when it’s better to let sleeping dogs lie and other times when you might as well kick the big dog. For what truly troubles us will not leave us alone; it dogs our steps and shades our door. In the black dog times everyone is in trouble and it’s better to go looking for the right trouble before the wrong trouble finds you unawares.

In the black dog times there’s more than enough trouble to go around. No matter where you turn in nature or in culture there’s necessary work to do. It isn’t simply that the garments of culture have worn thin, exposing everyone to the raw greed of materialists and the fanaticism of fundamentalists. It’s as if humanity has broken a secret bond with the world of Nature and become estranged from “inner nature” as well.

Michael Meade – the World Behind the World