“Religions typically give prime importance to a reality greater than the individual self, a reality to which awe and respect, and sometimes even love or fear, is due. Guidance is sought and expected from this greater reality, which may or may not be conceived of as God, and which may encompass all of life, and even all that exists.”
“It has hatched and is desperate / to mate and die. Now, at 2 a.m. / in its middle age, the luna moth rests cockeyed / on my window ledge, lurching again at light…”
“All species and the Earth itself have interdependent roles within Creation. Humankind is not the species, to whom all others are subservient, but one among many. All parts, all issues, are inextricably intertwined. Indeed the web of creation could be described as of three-ply thread: wherever we touch it we affect justice and peace and the health of all everywhere.”
“It is not only the scriptures of truth, but the sun and moon in their orbits, and the stars in their courses, will all testify of the mercy, goodness, and power of God. Neither shall we be induced to worship these, notwithstanding their brilliancy. We shall neither bow our knees, nor lift up our hands to any created object, because this would be denying that God who is above us all. Not only these, the most brilliant objects of his creative wisdom with which we are acquainted, but all the works of his hands proclaim themselves the workmanship of deity.”
“To learn why you feel compelled to remake and consume the world, live alone in the wilderness for at least a week. Take no books or other distractions. Take simple, adequate food that requires little or no preparation. Don’t plan things to do when the week is over. Don’t do yoga or meditation that you think will result in self-improvement. Simply do nothing.”
“One of our biggest difficulties, I think, is that we live so much in language and so much in a mediated world of electronic media and print media, all of which tends to distance us from our connection to the natural world. Getting into that sense beyond language is not only healthy for personal spiritual renewal, but it’s also crucial to reconnecting with the natural world, which is a nonverbal world.”
“Of course inanimate nature, that part of nature most easily thought of as made of atoms, cannot be totally unlike ourselves. According to the doctrine of evolution, inanimate nature is merely an early stage of ourselves. The only sound way to hold to the particulate, mechanistic doctrine is to insist that we also are mere particles in motion, a machine which is part of a larger machine.”
“To listen for the heartbeat of God is to listen both within the vastness of the universe and within the intimacy of our own hearts. And it is to know these distinct ways of listening as essentially one, as two aspects of the same posture of consciousness.”
“Underlying all truths is the universal truth of a Divine present in all… This reflects the emphasis in Ubuntu theology, of the radical communal unity of humanity through the interdependent interpenetration of the Divine within all of creation, including human beings; through their intimate relationship with the Divine as created beings, each person is free to fully express the truth of their individuality while also acknowledging that such individuality can only exist as each individual is united with the rest of creation through the Divine.”
This month we examine how our relationship with nature can inspire our spirituality. We will read about Friends who have experienced divine ecstasy or received messages in the wilderness, consider our responsibility as stewards of the earth, and be invited to participate in exercises that strengthen our connection to creation.
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