The coming fusion of science and religion, so deeply related to the sacred purpose of the human species, can also be understood in terms of the spirit of the gift. For if science is to seek the fulfillment of our role within a greater whole, then how are we to understand that fulfillment except according to the question, "What have we to give to the world?" Ecology is itself a gift network, in which each organism and each species contributes far more to the environment than the limited Darwinian calculus of "fitness" would permit. If we are no longer to see nature as an object, but to participate in it as ecological beings, then we must join that gift-giving network. No species in nature is redundant and no capability is superfluous. Surely the uniquely human capabilities that we have turned toward world conquest have their purpose too. The ascent of humanity loses its connotations of domination and separation when we think in terms of "What is our unique gift to the world?" That question will come to define future science and technology. How can we participate in the unfolding beauty of the universe? When the illusion of separation is healed, we will come to define our collective purpose in terms of beauty. Just as individuals will approach work in the spirit of art, so also we will measure a new technology not by whether it will save labor, cut costs, or generate profits, but whether it will contribute to a more beautiful world. And this will not be a salve to the conscience in service of profit; it will imbue the fundamental motivations of science. Remember, separation is an illusion. We can choose to live in that illusion or to deny it, but the basic reality that life and the universe is fundamentally provident cannot change. Life itself