2. Alive with Consciousness, Endowed with Purpose Religious scriptures
No creature is there crawling on the earth, no bird flying with its wings, but they are nations like yourselves. Qur’an 6.38
I say: Just as the consciousness of a man born blind, deaf and dumb is not manifest, likewise the consciousness of beings of earth-body [e.g., minerals] is also not manifest. Nevertheless such a man experiences pain when struck or cut by a weapon, and so also do the beings of earth-body. Likewise for water-beings… fire-beings… plants… animals… air beings: their consciousness and experiences of pain are actual, though not manifest. Acarangasutra 1.28-161 (Jainism)
If these [my disciples] were silent, the very stones would cry out. Luke 19.40
Every part of this soil is sacred in the estimation of my people. Every hillside, every valley, every plain and grove, has been hallowed by some sad or happy event in days long vanished. Even the rocks, which seem to be dumb and dead as the swelter in the sun along the silent shore, thrill with memories of stirring events connected with the lives of my people, and the very dust upon which you now stand responds more lovingly to their footsteps than yours, because it is rich with the blood of our ancestors. Chief Seattle (Native American Religion)
The explanation of the goodness of creation is the goodness of God… Nevertheless, certain heretics remain unconvinced, on the ground that many things in creation are unsuitable and even flesh, which of course is no more than the just penalty for sin. The heretics mention, for example, fire, cold, wild beasts, and things like that, without considering how wonderful such things are in themselves and in their proper place and how beautifully they fit into the total pattern of the universe, making their peculiar contributions to the commonweal of cosmic beauty. Nor have they observed how valuable they are even to us if only we use them well and wisely. Consider, for instance, poison. It is deadly when improperly used, but when properly applied it turns out to be a health-giving medicine. Saint Augustine, City of God 11.22 (Christianity)
Teachings of Sun Myung Moon
Human beings themselves are a part of nature. Perfect nature is sacred. (90:24, December 10, 1976)
When a stamen of a flower kisses its pistil, it exclaims, “Ah, it feels so good!” Do you think it feels such a sensation or not? The sensation of male and female for each other is the best sensation, composed of all five senses linked together. Insects may be invisibly small, yet they have eyes, ears, noses, mouths and hands, don’t they? Look carefully at the lawn; so many insects are there! With their ears they hear; with their mouths they taste; with their reproductive organs they copulate and produce offspring—in this they are like humans, only the class is different. When insects reproduce and produce offspring so tiny you cannot see them, will the parents kill them, or protect and love them? [They protect them.] When they make love, do they do it with great pleasure? Or do they say, “I dislike it”? Which? In this they are just like humans! There is no denying that God gave all creatures the sensibility to love through their five senses. With respect to love, God created male and female to have equal value. Love is the common denominator, equalizing the low-level world of insects with the high-level human world. Whether men and women, or male and female creatures, all share this God-given common denominator. (217:306, June 13, 1991)
The human body, though consisting of matter, fully responds physiologically to the emotion, intellect and will of the human mind. This demonstrates that matter has within itself elements that resonate with emotion, intellect and will—elements which constitute the internal nature of matter. This is the reason all things in the universe respond to human emotion, intellect and will, albeit to different degrees. We become intoxicated with the beauty of the natural world and experience the rapture of mystical union. We experience this because we are the center of the internal natures of all things in the natural world. (Exposition of the Divine Principle, Creation 2.3.3)
God created every species of animal and insect to be preserved, that none becomes extinct. The food chain is balanced. While larger creatures eat smaller creatures, the larger ones do not reproduce as often. Many beasts of prey bear offspring only once every two years. For lions and tigers it is two years and eight months, almost three years. In contrast, rabbits bring forth their young every three months. By having many offspring, they provide food for the larger beasts as well as continue their own species. Adam and Eve create on behalf of God, and all things were created for the growth and perfection of Adam and Eve. They may sacrifice their lives, but they are assisting in the perfection of Adam and Eve’s bodies. For this reason, people are permitted to eat anything, whether plant or animal. Greek philosophy looks at the world as a constant struggle, every creature an enemy to one another. On the contrary, they are not enemies. Such ideas arose only as a result of the Human Fall. The Marxist dialectic as described in Das Kapital states that development comes about through struggle, but that is not true. Even the vilest germs disappear when faced with their natural enemies. Do you understand what I mean by natural enemy? A tiger is the natural enemy of a dog. When a dog sees a tiger, it freezes and trembles and crawls back into its dwelling to hide. Natural enemies balance each other; thus nature takes care of every circumstance that comes along. (May 10, 2003) |