It's a play on titles from self help programs which utilize ellipsis. For example
I lost 20 pounds in 4 days, and so can you.
This is a kind of strange ellipsis, because just tacking on "[lose 20 pounds in 4 days]" doesn't really create a grammatical sentence, but it's something like that. The ellipsis would be clearer if the sentences were
I lost 20 pounds in 4 days, and you can [lose 20 pounds in 4 days] too.
I am America, and you can [be America] too.
And the ellipsis is not so great with "to be", either. Here's some discussion from Language Log:
http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/004522.html
Would you mind providing some details, please?
Is perhaps the more 'correct' and slightly more formal way of rephrasing your question. Or the example given by @unorthodox grammar is just as good, and slightly less formal:
If you don't mind, would you please provide some details...?
The please is optional in either place, as the 'would you mind?' conveys enough politeness in my opinion, but it wouldn't hurt to add it in. It would usually come immediately before the action that you are asking the other person to do, i.e. please provide... or tagged on to the very end of the question
If you have quite a long sentence, the 'please' can be placed at the end of the clause where the actual request is made – to avoid waiting for the end of a very long sentence:
Would you mind providing some details please, for us to capture the steps required for future requests?
Alternatively:
Would you mind? Could you (please) provide some details...?
Is a bit more conversational. (Not something you would write in a formal email). Both of the examples you gave I have seen written or heard in everyday conversation, and yes, they do look/sound slightly odd constructions.
If you are making the request in an imperative, but still polite manner, the 'please' can come at the beginning of the request:
Please provide some details for us to...
Best Answer
It is not darkly enigmatic, nor particularly profound, and a dictionary search of any confusing word(s) should make it clear to you. Trust yourself.
Part of the interpretation depends on what it's context, but it can stand alone.
A paraphrase might be
If one was philosophizing on our alienation from Nature, it might mean
When we lived in an agrarian society (or perhaps even before that), we had a deep sense of our world, living with (and accepting) nature, including the harm nature can do as a part of the cycle to which we belonged. Our "flight or fight" responses (this is so common it's almost a cliché) were acted upon appropriately. In our industrial and technological advancement, we lost our deep relationship to nature and to suffering, and now find ourselves without a sense of belonging in our world, either the one of nature or the one of our creation.
If it is being used in a context of not being at one with out spiritual nature, one can interpret it in that light. In fact, one can interpret it in all manner of contexts.