You are not IN the universe, you ARE the universe, an intrinsic part of it. Ultimately you are not a person, but a focal point where the universe is becoming conscious of itself. What an amazing miracle.
~ Eckhart Tolle
Urubamba River, Machi Picchu, Peru – photo by Donyanedomam, bigstockphoto.com
The deeper we look into nature, the more we recognize that it is full of life, and the more profoundly we know that all life is sacred and that we are united with all life that is in nature.
~ Albert SchweitzerAutumn
Tree Magic – photo by Ian 2010, bigstockphoto.com
What does it mean to say that nature is personal? In the broadest sense, it means choosing a different paradigm from the Western idea of nature as machine…It means holding the possibility that all things on Earth, even rocks and mountains, have their own will and intention.
~ Ursula K. LeGuin
Valley of Flowers Sanctuary, Himalayan Mountains, North Sikkim, India – photo by SB Stock, bigstockphoto.com
As if we all have an unknown superhero power, the very power of creation lies invisibly enfolded within our field of attention. Quantum physics reveals to us that turning the gaze of our attention towards anything is a powerful creative act that alters, energizes, and potentiates whatever our gaze falls on.
~ Paul Levy
Sunset, Durdle Door Arch, Dorset, England – photo by ianwool, bigstockphoto.com
We do not ‘come into’ this world; we come out of it, as leaves from a tree. As ocean ‘waves’, the universe ‘peoples’. Every individual is an expression of the whole realm of nature, a unique action of the total universe.
~ Alan Watts
Aurora Reflections, Stokksnes Black Beach, Iceland – photo by stroop, bigstockphoto.com
In the dimension of oneness everything is included. There is nothing higher or lower, nothing that is not sacred.
This is not an idealistic spiritual theory but a knowing that belongs to the basic principles of life: everything is sacred and can live in harmony and balance.
~ Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee
Grand Tetons Inhabitant – photo by Terra Tirapelli
Wisdom requires not only the investigation of many things, but contemplation of the mystery…The rational approach starts from the idea that everything is explainable and that mystery is in some sense the enemy. This means that it prefers pejorative, and even wrong, answers to admitting its own lack of understanding…
We struggle over words when the slime mold solves the maze, because our concepts don’t fit the data. It is not that nature lacks intelligence, but that our own concepts do.
~ Jeremy Narby
Life in an Autumn Forest – photo by g215, bigstockohoto.com
The Green Cathedral represents the sacred places, the silent spaces. It elevates the natural landscape to the respectful position it deserves.
It replaces doctrine and dogma. The Green Cathedral recognises the ruins of the past as part of present and future narratives. It attempts to recalibrate the senses and reconsider time. It celebrates the joy of the rural reverie. It is in all countries. It is open to everyone.
~ Benjamin Myers
Green Cathedral Doorway – photo by Charles D, bigstockphoto.com
In its oldest form, prayer consists simply in speaking to the world, rather than solely about the world. We should recognize that it is lousy etiquette to speak only about the other animals, only about the mountain forest and the black bears and the storms, since by doing so we treat such entities as…objects, able to be comprehended and represented by us, rather than as enigmatic powers with whom our lives are entwined and to whom we are beholden.
~ David Abram
Garden of the Gods, CO – photo by Mr. Klein, bigstockphoto.com
Inherent in the very essence of life and the multiple patterns of its arising. Sacredness is the radiant expansion of the heart, the devotion to life that rises in contemplation of the inexhaustible mystery that is unity in diversity, the One manifesting through the whole of creation.
~ Eleanor O’Hanlon
Sacred Space – photo by a_lisa, bigstockphoto.com
The answers we seek lie in nature—nature is always sharing her teachings with us. The answers also lie in our own inner wisdom. We must shift the focus of our energy from our heads to our hearts, where we can listen to this wisdom.
~ Sandra Ingerman
Rockland Lake, NY – photo by Devadana Sanctuary
On its own, a tree cannot establish a consistent local climate. It is at the mercy of wind and weather. But together, many trees create an ecosystem that moderates extremes of heat and cold, stores a great deal of water, and generates a great deal of humidity. And, in this protected environment, trees can live to be very old.
~ Peter Wohlleben
Autumn Forest – photo by sozeimel, bigstockphoto.com
The whole aim of [Indigenous] cultures is to let the world know that they too belong to the same family and to start caring for the land, for the environment, for the mountains and waterways and the trees and every other living thing on this earth as brothers and sisters and family members. That’s our greatest dream and desire, to see that happen…
That’s the good part about it. We are not alone. The whole purpose of our living is to relate well to every other thing as family. Once we do that everything will be made right.
~ Uncle Bob Randall, Aboriginal Elder
Mooney Falls, Havasupai Canyon, AZ – photo by EarthCaptured, bigstockphoto.com
Each Other, “All my Relations” is a worldview shared by many indigenous cultures around the world, “particularly those of the North American continent,” that maintains “we are all family, bound to humanity as a whole as well as to the Earth, the plants and animals that share it with us, and to the stars and other heavenly bodies in the universe.” Although philosophical values differ from culture to culture, there is a common thread among many indigenous communities that the land is not owned—animals, rivers, oceans, and mountains are not an endless resource to be pillaged for personal gain. Instead, the Earth is seen as alive, and an entity to be in relationship with that does not exist outside the self.
~ Alexia Lassman
Grand Teton National Park – photo by Terra Tirapelli
People who feel more connected to nature also tend to hold more egalitarian views, according to new research published in the journal Environment and Behavior. The study provides some preliminary evidence that exposure to nature can reduce social dominance orientation, a measure of person’s acceptance of hierarchy and inequality among groups.
“Urban greening is often taken as a measure to fight climate change. We can see tons of reports quantifying the cost of climate change, and economic benefits of planting trees,” said study author Henry Kin Shing Ng of the University of Hong Kong. “To me, the psychological benefits of exposure to nature are just as important. The natural environment can be an effective, and relatively cheap, measure to enhance social and psychological well-being in people.”
~ Eric W. Dolan
Koko-en Garden, Himeji, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan – photo by mmovel, bigstockphoto.com
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