If only it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere, insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?
To dwell well is to be who we truly are: to know a place that shelters the best of our humanity, a place from which to see the future with tranquility. So intrinsic is dwelling to the human condition that philosopher Martin Heidegger drew parallels: As the root of the German verb ‘to be’ is cognate with ‘to dwell,’ so a human being is a human dwelling. The old High German word meaning ‘to dwell,’ buan, also means to cherish and protect what surrounds you: your environment, in other words. In Heidegger’s analysis, dwelling involves caring for the ‘fourfold:’ earth, the divine, other humans, and sky.
• The house as a dwelling place for the body: the earth.
• Education as a dwelling place for the mind: the divine.
• The economy as a dwelling place for the other 99 percent of humanity.
• The climate as a dwelling place for all, like the unownable sky.

