E.O. Wilson: Living in shimmering disequilibrium.
The naturalistic view, though, requires that we consider the broader meaning of
the sacred: the deep sense of spirituality about each other and about our
natural environment. And to sacralize, to make sacred, is in my view the end
product of evolution in our moral and aesthetic reasoning. It proceeds from
mere preference and liking, to custom, to ritualization, to law, all the way to
ascribing that behavior or perception to a profoundly important source.