What is clear and speaks without contradiction and paradox? Where can we find a consistent response to our ponderings? Our printed Bible is laden with difficult communications and parables. It is one of the reasons there are so many different teachings of the same words, each teacher claiming to be the "only right one". In contrast "Nature" speaks with a unified mind. Gravity is always gravity. The "E" chord has always sounded the same since the first time I tuned a guitar over 2 decades ago. My favorite Bible is Nature.
Jesus said there are many things he would like to say but we couldn't bear them. "Now I speak in parables and symbols, but a time is coming when I will speak plainly of the Father."
Spirit of Truth coming and guiding us in understanding all things. It will bring us to an understanding that will not contradict our practical understanding of the world. Science and Religion will no longer oppose one another, but will harmonize to bring our minds into balance with Nature and it's eternal principle.
From "World Scriptures":
Reverence for all life begins with the recognition that human beings are but one species of living beings. All living beings are God's sacred creations, endowed with spirit, consciousness, and intelligence. Our reverence is heightened by the recognition that the interdependent web of life is wonderfully self-sustaining and productive. We see the results of human depredation of the environment, which have damaged the original balance of nature.
For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
1. Christianity; Romans 1:20
****God and his nature is a self-evident Truth, Seen in Nature, the things of Creation
The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof,
the world and those who dwell therein.
2. Judaism and Christianity. Bible, Psalm 24.1
This earth is a garden,
The Lord its gardener,
Cherishing all, none neglected.
3. Sikhism. Adi Granth, Mahj Ashtpadi 1, M.3, p. 118
Even in a single leaf of a tree, or a tender blade of grass, the awe-inspiring Deity manifests Itself.
4. Shinto. Urabe-no-Kanekuni
The stream crosses the path, the path crosses the stream:
Which of them is the elder?
Did we not cut the path to go and meet this stream?
The stream had its origin long, long ago.
It had its origin in the Creator.
He created things pure, pure, tano.
5. African Traditional Religions. Ashanti Verse (Ghana and Ivory Coast)
All you under the heaven! Regard heaven as your father, earth as your mother, and all things as your brothers and sisters.
6. Shinto. Oracle of the Kami of Atsuta
I say, "Just as the consciousness of a man born without any sense organs [i.e., one who is blind, deaf, dumb, crippled, etc. from birth] is not manifest, likewise the consciousness of beings of earth-body [e.g., atoms, 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."
9. Jainism. Acarangasutra 1.28-161
CSG - 1/2 - 5.3 Nature is a textbook teaching the ideal of Love.Tao gave them birth;
The power of Tao reared them,
Shaped them according to their kinds,
Perfected them, giving to each its strength.
Therefore of the ten thousand things there is not one that does not
worship Tao and do homage to its power. Yet no mandate ever went forth
that accorded to Tao the right to be worshipped, nor to its power the
right to receive homage. It was always and of itself so.
Therefore as Tao bore them and the power of Tao reared them, made them
grow, fostered them, harbored them, brewed for them, so you must
Rear them, but do not lay claim to them;
Control them, but never lean upon them,
Be their steward, but do not manage them.
This is called the Mysterious Power.
10. Taoism. Tao Te Ching 51
Come back, O Tigers!, to the woods again,
and let it not be leveled with the plain.
For without you, the axe will lay it low.
You, without it, forever homeless go.
11. Buddhism. Khuddaka Patha
A horse or a cow has four feet. That is Nature. Put a halter around
the horse's head and put a string through the cow's nose, that is man.
Therefore it is said, "Do not let man destroy Nature. Do not let
cleverness destroy destiny [the natural order]."
12. Taoism. Chuang Tzu 17
They gave the sacrifice to the East,
the East said, "Give it to the West,"
the West said, "Give it to God,"
God said, "Give it to Earth, for Earth is senior."
13. African Traditional Religions. Idoma Prayer
The solid sky, the cloudy sky, the good sky, the straight sky.
The earth produces herbs. The herbs cause us to live. They cause long
life. They cause us to be happy.
The good life, may it prevail with the air. May it increase. May it be
straight to the end.
Sweet Medicine's earth is good. Sweet Medicine's earth is completed.
Sweet Medicine's earth follows the eternal ways.
SweetMedicine's earth is washed and flows.
14. Native American Religions. Cheyenne Song
Perhaps if we are lucky,
Our earth mother
Will wrap herself in a fourfold robe of white meal,
Full of frost flowers;
A floor of ice will spread over the world,
The forests because of the cold will lean to one side,
Their arms will break beneath the weight of snow.
When the days are thus,
The flesh of our earth mother will crack with cold.
Then in the spring when she is replete with living waters,
Our mothers,
All different kinds of corn,
In their earth mother we shall lay to rest.
With their earth mother's living waters
They will be made into new beings;
Into their sun father's daylight
They will come out standing;
Yonder to all directions
They will stretch out their hands calling for rain.
Then with their fresh waters
The rain makers will pass us on our roads.
Clasping their young ones [the ears of corn] in their arms,
They will rear their children.
Gathering them into our houses,
Following these toward whom our thoughts bend,
With our thoughts following them,
Thus we shall always live.
17. Native American Religions. Zuni Song
God's hand has touched even every small blade of grass which grows in the field.... All creatures we see contain God's deep heart and tell the story of God's deep love.
8. Unification Church. Sun Myung Moon, 6-28-5
From "The Holy Way of the Couple (Family)" Book 1 - Chapter 2
5.3. Nature is a textbook teaching the ideal of love
Some people who pray have called nature the number one Bible. It does not take second place. The Bible that describes the history of Israel does not always give a clear message. Do you know how much I shook my head as I read it? It can be very ambiguous; people understand what they want to from it, as if it were a fortune teller telling their fortune. For some it is a way to escape from reality. So the natural world created by God is better than the Bible at carrying out the hard task of judging the facts and clarifying everything from beginning to end. (20-270, 1968.7.7)
Connections are made beginning in extremely small places. Your individual self is also a life in which 400 trillion cells are connected. Among all beings in the ideal world of creation centered on God’s love – that is, the great universe – there is not even one that is born outside God’s heart. A poet who feels such a thing must be a great poet. If there were a poet who could feel and express the cosmic heart when he saw a shaking leaf, he would have to be a poet of the universe. We have not thought about how everything in heaven and earth that unfolds around us without our being aware of it exists together with God’s love. When you enter into a mystical state of mind, you can see that the principle of the universe is contained in one small grain of sand and how the endless and inexhaustible harmony of the universe is contained in one atom. We cannot deny that all existence is a result of some unknown yet complex force. Beyond the molecules there are atoms, and beyond the atoms there are elementary particles. These things, rather than existing unconsciously, exist with a certain consciousness and purpose. Thus, you should thoroughly understand that all existing beings have come about through God’s loving hand. So they are inevitably connected to God in heart.
(9-166, 1960.5.8)
What kind of person is a spiritual master? The one who has the heart to exclaim, “God!” while holding just one blade of grass, and who can recognize its value as being equal to his own. That person is the greatest spiritual master. A person who can sing about such a value in that way would be the greatest artist. The person who can discover the various tastes of God’s love and heart in the diversity of all things existing around him should represent the entire universe. He or she is the one who has the feeling to become friends with all things and find joy with them. If there is someone whose each and every cell is moved by such a feeling, he should be the one to represent the entire universe. Such a person is a lord of creation. Could someone who knows nothing other than eating become the lord of creation? (9-166, 1960.5.8)
If you carefully observe children, mainly they like lively creatures such as puppies, insects, birds and wild animals. Why is this? This is basically how people are. What does this mean? Their interests are aroused when they see the natural world and the earth in motion. Although, of course, there can be different levels of partners, people enjoy themselves and find it interesting to contemplate these things. In this way, they learn about all the properties of love within themselves. Observing how bugs, insects and animals live, we see that they all exist in pairs. Considering this, nature is a museum of textbooks built to educate human beings, as the object partners of God’s love, about the ideal of reciprocal relationships. (137-211, 1986.1.3)
God made the universe and everything in it to be a textbook to help His beloved sons and daughters find the ideal of love. This is why everything exists in a pair system. The mineral kingdom operates through the relationship of subject partner and object partner. In atoms, which are the structural units of matter, the protons and electrons interact in a relationship of subject partner and object partner. Without this interaction they cannot exist. Without movement, there can be no eternal existence. This is why they must interact. People observe and learn from nature as they grow up. They learn things and say, “This is what the insect world is like!” When you listen carefully on an autumn night with a radiant moon and shining stars, the sounds of the insects are like an orchestra. Why do they make such sounds? They are singing of their ideal as they search for their partners. They are whispering about love. Birds and all other animals follow the same common denominator of love in making their sad and glad sounds. They are low on the scale, and far from the axis, and yet they are circling around the axis on the same horizontal plane. This is the way all things in existence are. (137-59, 1985.12.18)
There are three kinds of bird songs: first, a song signaling hunger; second, a song sung out of love for its mate; and third, a song sung in time of danger. They are all different. We ordinary people do not know this, but in their own world they know. When they call out of hunger, all their fellow birds understand. But what does their daily life revolve around? Hunger is taken care of simply by eating, and they are not facing danger every day, either. Most of their singing has to do with going back and forth in the give and take relationship with their love partner. (137-211, 1986.1.3)
Human beings were created as a subject partner and object partner, as a pair. The world of all things, too, which exists for the sake of humankind, makes harmony under the principle of love and realizes its purpose in life and ideal through the love of humankind. For humankind, and especially for the maturing Adam and Eve, the world of all things is a textbook of love and a museum that infinitely displays the essence of love. (135-10, 1985.8.20)
All birds and animals exist in pairs. They harmonize with each other in love. Flowers and butterflies relate from two opposite poles, yet harmonize with each other. This reflects the harmonious relationship of heaven and earth. The opposite poles of the universe come into harmony based on love. It’s the same with migratory birds. Birds in the south fly to the north, and birds in the north fly to the south, loving each other back and forth across the regions. In so doing, they center on love eternally. People learn about love through the textbooks in the museum God created. When people and God love each other in joy, everything in heaven and on earth will follow that rhythm and harmonize around them. If God likes this and loves this, the angelic world also will like it. The entire created world will like it too, applauding and offering praise. Songbirds will sing praises, and beautiful flowers will offer praises through their fragrances. This created world exists in order to expand the fragrant atmosphere in which human beings, in the central position, having the highest love, can enjoy themselves. Even the ugly toads croak, “Wook, wook, wook,” when they make love. How charming! They kick with their legs and move them up and down while making love. What a delightful scene! This is the highest art. (142-273, 1986.3.13)
As they mature, Adam and Eve will come to understand, saying, “Ah, that’s how to make love.” God laid out the world of all things to serve as a textbook, to guide the ideal of human love to reach maturity. So they go on learning. As they grow bigger, they will come to have different feelings toward each other, saying, “Aha, we were like a brother and sister in the past, but now it seems. … ” They will learn, saying, “Aha, that’s the way it is.” So they will go straight along parallel lines, and then collide, saying, “You and I must meet even at the risk of death. We cannot go anywhere else.” (137-59, 1985.12.18)
Born as God’s first children, Adam and Eve were to grow from childhood to maturity in the realm of God’s protection. Since their intellect was meant to develop through this process, they would have come to realize why God created the world, and God would have educated them through the created world. The created world, with everything in motion, was a textbook to teach Adam and Eve everything they needed to know about how to live. They were to have been our first, original ancestors. You have to understand that since Adam and Eve did not reach perfection, the created world has been a model and a museum showing us how to lead an ideal life. (137-126, 1986.1.1)
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