Astronomers claim that the big bang brought time and space into being. In their absence, there was no where or when to speak of, and consequently no relationships of any sort: now and then, here and there, this and that are discernable only within the territories of difference that time and space create between things. In this (meta)physics, difference and distinction turn out to be exactly what allow everything to relate to everything else. Logically and paradoxically, it is only through the precondition of separation that connection and kinship are possible.

— Planet by Gavin Van Horn, John Hausdoerffer, Robin Wall Kimmerer, and 1 other (Kinship: Belonging In A World Of Relations, #1) (Page 23)