Tag: nature

Nature Has Much to Teach Us

I Corinthians 12

12 My friends, you asked me about spiritual gifts. 2 I want you to remember that before you became followers of the Lord, you were led in all the wrong ways by idols that cannot even talk. 3 Now I want you to know that if you are led by God’s Spirit, you will say that Jesus is Lord, and you will never curse Jesus.

Daniel 5

8 All of King Belshazzar’s highest officials came in, but not one of them could read the writing or tell what it meant, 9 and they were completely puzzled. Now the king was more afraid than ever before, and his face turned white as a ghost.

Richard: When you know God with certainty, there is no need to live in fear.

World Scripture and the Teachings of
Sun Myung Moon

Chapter 4

God’s Creation and Human Creativity

Nature as Teacher

Nature has much to teach us. From ants industriously storing food to birds sweetly calling for their mates, observing the ways of nature’s creatures provides lessons about the basic morality of life. cultivating the earth and caring for animals teaches about patience, sacrifice, and God’s dependable grace when the harvest yields its abundance. Father Moon teaches that through plants and animals God provided even the earliest humans with sufficient instruction to live a life of love and value.

But ask the beasts, and they will teach you;
the birds of the air, and they will tell you;
or the plants of the earth, and they will teach
you;
and the fish of the sea will declare to you.
Who among all these does not know
that the hand of the l ord has done this?
Job 12.7-9

After the sacred volumes of God and the
Scriptures, study, in the second place, that great
volume of the works and the creatures of God.
Francis Bacon 5

Have you considered the soil you till?
Do you yourselves sow it, or are We the
Sowers?
Did We will, We would make it broken orts,
and you will remain bitterly jesting—
“We are debt-loaded; nay, we have been
robbed.”
Have you considered the water you drink?
Did you send it down from the clouds, or did
We send it?
Did We will, We would make it bitter; so why
are you not thankful?
Have you considered the fire you kindle?
Did you make its timber to grow, or did We
make it?
We ourselves made it for a reminder,
and a boon to the desert-dwellers.
Qur’an 56.63-73

Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat
falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone;
but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
John 12.24

Let us know, let us press on to know the Lord ;
his going forth is sure as the dawn;
he will come to us as the showers,
as the spring rains that water the earth.
Hosea 6.3

Everything About a Cow is Good

Psalm 119

73 You created me
    and put me together.
Make me wise enough to learn
    what you have commanded.
74 Your worshipers will see me,
    and they will be glad
    that I trust your word.
75 Your decisions are correct,
    and you were right
    to punish me.
76 I serve you, Lord.
Comfort me with your love,
    just as you have promised.

Ecclesiases 9

11 Here is something else I have learned:

The fastest runners
    and the greatest heroes
don’t always win races
    and battles.
Wisdom, intelligence, and skill
don’t always make you healthy,
    rich, or popular.
We each have our share
    of bad luck.

12 None of us know when we might fall victim to a sudden disaster and find ourselves like fish in a net or birds in a trap.

World Scripture and the Teachings of
Sun Myung Moon

Chapter 4

God’s Creation and Human Creativity

Reverence for Life

2. The Sacred Cow

The cows have come and brought us good
fortune,
may they stay in the stall and be pleased with us;
may they live here, mothers of calves,
many-colored,
and yield milk for Indra on many dawns…

They are not lost, nor do robbers injure them, nor
the unfriendly frighten, nor wish to assail them;
the master of cattle lives together long
with these, and worships the gods and offers
gifts.
The charger, whirling up dust, does not reach
them,
they never take their way to the slaughtering
stool,
the cows of the worshipping man roam about
over the widespread pastures, free from all
danger.

To me the cows are Bhaga, they are Indra,
they [their milk] are a portion of the first-
poured Soma.
These that are cows are Indra, O people!
the Indra I long for with heart and spirit.
Ye cows, you fatten the emaciated,
and you make the unlovely look beautiful,
make our house happy, you with pleasant
lowings,
your power is glorified in our assemblies. 4
Rig Veda 6.28 (Hinduism)

Behold this buffalo, O Grandfather, which You
have given us.
He is the chief of all four-leggeds upon our
Sacred Mother.
From him the people live and with him they
walk the sacred path.
Sioux Prayer (Native American Religion)

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

When I was a boy living in the country, I used to hate to feed the cows. The cows know when it is lunchtime. But I didn’t want to stop playing, so I said to myself, “Cows, wait 30 minutes,” and then continued playing for another hour or two. The cows waited for me, wondering, “Where is our master, the one who was supposed to bring us in?” If I had been a cow whose master came very late, I would have gotten angry and become violent. Yet when I arrived, the cows just looked at me without saying a word. Then I thought, “Oh cows, you are great! I’m sorry.” That happened many times.
I then realized, “Cows are better than me,” and I said to them, “Now that I know that you have an aspect greater than me, I will feed you a great deal and atone for my shortcomings.” I kept feeding them until after sunset. The cows continued to eat because their master was feeding them.
Like this, I learned many things from cows. Cows sometimes appear great and kingly as they lie in the burning sunlight on a midsummer’s day, shedding sweat and looking over the remote mountains, meditating calmly.
This is why people all over the world like to eat cow meat, not the meat of dogs or tigers. In those days toothbrushes were made of cow bone. Every part of the cow was utilized. Nothing was discarded; even their manure was used as fertilizer. Therefore everything about a cow is good.
(109:40-41, October 26, 1980)

Love the Natural Environment to Learn How to Love God

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1300

If you want to become citizens of
the third Israel connected to the Uni-
fication Church, you must receive the
Blessing. In the past, at the time of
Abraham, one had to be circumcised
to become a citizen of Israel; and in the
time of Jesus, one had to be baptized.
It is the same today. In the Unification
Church, one cannot become a citizen
of the third Israel without receiving
the Blessing. However, in receiving the
Blessing one must fulfill certain condi-
tions that are neither simple nor easy. I
continuously exerted myself and devot-
ed my whole life in fulfilling the nec-
essary foundations for these Blessings.
(19-172, 1968.1.1)

Richard: Learn more about the Blessing here.

Chong Seong Gyeong 1419

When a woman is married, she basi-
cally has to move into her husband’s
house, and so it follows that her name
also has to be moved from the old fam-
ily register into that of the new family.
Then her family registration is changed.
What is our registration? It is the cer-
tificate that gives evidence of our rela-
tionship based on the origin of true love.
(178‐207, 1988.6.4)

World Scripture and the Teachings of
Sun Myung Moon

Chapter 4

God’s Creation and Human Creativity

Reverence for Life

1, Care and Reverence for All Living Things

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

Unless you love nature and human beings, you cannot love God. (70:182, February 9, 1974)

Those who cannot love nature cannot love human beings, the owners of nature. We should love nature and other people more than ourselves. (375:20, April 13, 2002)

You love your wife, but do you love the air, sun, light, water and vegetation from which your wife is benefiting?…Unless you love nature, you cannot love yourself. If you eat the things of nature while mistreating nature, you may get sick. (385:200-01, July 11, 2002)

Nature is the closest thing to our body. We should fulfill the desire of nature, which languishes in lamentation…
If you love the natural environment of your hometown, you can know how to love your body. If you love your body, you can know how to love your own heart and mind. If you love your own heart and mind, you can know how to love God. Do so and you will not perish. (14:102, June 20, 1964)

We should love the ocean. Yet how can we, when dangers abound and so much about the ocean is unknown? By searching it out and learning its secrets, our love for the ocean will grow and grow. Likewise, there are many dangers lurking in the mountains. Yet we want to explore the mountains and brave their challenges. Then our hearts will grow deeper and wider. (391:218, August 26,
2002)

Only those who love the mountains can worship what is high. Confucius, Buddha, Jesus, and all the prophets loved the mountains… Indeed, many people treading the path of God’s providence received comfort from nature. (14:102, June 20, 1964)

New York City and the Washington D.C. metropolitan areas are truly dark, living hells. It is better to live on an island where you have to travel three miles 3 before meeting another soul, and if you walk all day, you might see ten people at most. If you live in such a place, perhaps the eye of your original
mind will open. Even in a rural area where you are with nature for 80 percent of your day and with people only 20 percent of the time, it is not easy to keep a balance.
I recommend that city dwellers spend time in the wilderness. We must resolve the problems of air and water pollution; otherwise, how can humanity survive even 300 more years?
Today we can enjoy a civilized life even in a rural area. With the Internet and the telephone, even if you were to live on top of a 7000-meter-high peak in the Rocky Mountains, you could still reach everywhere in the world. I am going to the jungles of South America. Although there are many mosquitoes, there is clear air, clean water and bright sunshine. Sometimes I go to an island in
the Pacific Ocean, where the air is good and the water is clear. I go where the environment is good and there is no pollution, so I can converse with nature. When I am with nature, I am close to God.
(339:164, December 10, 2000)

God Made the Universe for Me

Watch or listen to the latest Richard Urban Show: Why Abstinence Matters-4: Sex Outside of Marriage Harms Society.

Cheong Seong Gyeong 1132

If we read the Bible, it tells us that
Adam and Eve fell by eating of the fruit
of the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil, but then what does it mean that
they covered their sexual parts? If the
Christian churches had a mind to inter-
pret the Bible a little more intellectu-
ally, they would immediately be able to
understand the origin of the Fall. Why
were Adam and Eve ashamed of their
sexual parts? Why did they cover them?
They should have covered their mouths
and hands. There is nothing wrong with
sexual organs. However, since people fell
through them, these parts of the human
body became a palace of shame where
heavenly love was violated. A spring of
true love should have welled forth from
there, but a fountain of false, devil-
ish love gushed out instead. That place
therefore became the stronghold of
worst kind of love. (202-199, 1990.5.24)

Cheon Seong Gyeong 1239

1.1. What is the Blessing?
1.1.1. The meaning of the Blessing

The Blessing signifies the True Par-
ents and true children coming together
to fulfill the purpose of creation.

God exists with dual characteris-
tics. These dual characteristics are posi-
tive and negative, the former represent-
ed by the man, Adam, and the latter by
the woman, Eve. The children are thus
a combination of the two of them. In
this way, according to God’s ideal, the
first, second and third generations are
formed. Out of the three generations,
it was the generation of Adam and Eve,
the second generation, where the prob-
lem occurred.
Adam and Eve did not become
one in God’s love. If they had, they
would have formed a love relationship
in which God could dwell. They also
would have established the standard
of love through which God could have
naturally formed a relationship with
Adam and Eve’s children. This would
have been the Blessing. (32-239, 1970.7.19)

The Blessing Ceremony of the Unifi-
cation Church is not simply a wedding
through which a man and a woman come
together and form a family. Until now,
all weddings were solely for the sake of
the people getting married. But our wed-
ding ceremony is significant and neces-
sary to set a condition to indemnify the
past and return joy to God. Therefore,
we conduct our ceremonies in a sacred
and splendid manner. Divine Principle
clearly explains to us that our wedding
ceremony alleviates God’s bitter grief
that was caused by the Fall of Adam and
Eve. It goes beyond the standard of hus-
band and wife, which Jesus was unable
to attain. (22-212, 1969.2.4)

World Scripture and the Teachings of
Sun Myung Moon

Chapter 4

God’s Creation and Human Creativity

The Sanctity of Nature

3. Mother Earth and Her Children

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

When we were created, the universe lent us its elements to constitute our bodies. This means the universe gave birth to us. It is our first parent. Our fathers and mothers are our second parents, the parents who brought us into the world. God, who gave each of us a spirit, is our third parent. Thus, human beings have three sets of parents. (106:84, December 9, 1979)

People in ancient times had a close relationship with nature. Then the natural world and the spirit world were close to human beings—not distant and foreign as they are to people living in modern times. When people entered a grove of giant trees, they looked at them reverently and thought, “For thousands of years these trees have been here; through countless cycles of quickening in spring and dying in autumn they remain unchanged; their shade makes a pleasant environment for all creatures.” Observing them, they recognized that they were deficient in many aspects, and so they
worshipped tall trees, great rocks and high mountains.

They saw tall persimmon trees, thick with foliage in the summer and bare in the winter. With the arrival of spring their branches sprouted with new life: first buds, then blossoms, and finally delicious and fragrant fruit. They marveled at this, and sensed that those trees were better than they.
Where is the fragrance in human existence? Do humans give off a fragrance that beautifies their surroundings, attracting birds and insects to nest in their branches? No, compared to nature, man is humbled and recognizes his inadequacy. (November 4, 1990)

When we look at the creation, we feel a religious emotion welling up from deep in our hearts and naturally bow down before it. Gazing up at the constellations of the night sky or exploring nature around us, we experience awesome and mysterious feelings surging up from deep in our hearts. This state is the starting point of religion. While gazing at living things and the phenomena of nature, we
can sing songs that arise from the precious world of the heart within.
Playing nature’s music, displaying nature’s art and reciting nature’s poetry, all living things resonate in our hearts. Then we can relate with God, who rules the heavenly bodies. Experience the feeling that you are intimately connected to everything; then you can enter a state of the heart to rightly appreciate them. You enter a mystical state in which you can feel everything in its reality.
God created human beings to connect with all His creation, which He had made inseparably interrelated with Himself. Externally we appear to be extremely small and insignificant, but when we behold nature from this understanding, we can feel a human being’s true dignity and value. (5:344-45, March 8, 1959)

I once asked God, “For whom didst Thou create this universe?” God replied, “Sun Myung Moon, I created it for you.” As God is my God, so the universe is my universe. These are not only words; I feel it to my bones.
In springtime, I behold the beauty of the universe in the beautiful flowers and fragrances, and in the butterflies and bees flying about. These creatures show us God’s love and God’s precious value; they display the harmony of His angels. I feel connected to everything. A bird chirps; it is asking me to feed it. It wants me to help it find a mate.
I am very sensitive to the world of nature. When butterflies are fluttering together in pairs, or when a male and female bird sing together for joy, I see it as a lesson that men and women should live together with even greater beauty… and happiness than these.
When the birds and flowers stimulate me with their joy and love, I would in turn stimulate God in heaven with my songs of joy and love. I may be penniless and my clothes may be rags, yet I never feel poor. I think, “The sky is my blanket, the flowing brook is my water faucet, and the plants
growing nearby are my food.” When you feel that the house of God is your house, how can you feel poor?
When I see a small stream, I feel behind it the dignity of the great ocean. When I see a blade of grass, I think its beauty is greater than the greatest masterpieces in the world’s museums. A painting may cost millions of dollars, but it is merely man-made. It cannot compare with this small creation of God. Once I caught a bird and kissed it, saying, “You are more precious than anything in the world.”
(106:137, December 23, 1979)

Be Praised My Lord with All Your Creatures

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Luke 7

6 So Jesus went with them.

When Jesus wasn’t far from the house, the officer sent some friends to tell him, “Lord, don’t go to any trouble for me! I am not good enough for you to come into my house. 7 And I am certainly not worthy to come to you. Just say the word, and my servant will get well. 8 I have officers who give orders to me, and I have soldiers who take orders from me. I can say to one of them, ‘Go!’ and he goes. I can say to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes. I can say to my servant, ‘Do this!’ and he will do it.”

9 When Jesus heard this, he was so surprised that he turned and said to the crowd following him, “In all of Israel I’ve never found anyone with this much faith!”

10 The officer’s friends returned and found the servant well.

Proverbs 29

29 If you keep being stubborn
    after many warnings,
    you will suddenly discover
    you have gone too far.

World Scripture and the Teachings of
Sun Myung Moon

Chapter 4

God’s Creation and Human Creativity

The Sanctity of Nature

3. Mother Earth and Her Children

And God said, “Let the earth bring forth vegeta-
tion, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing
fruit in which is their seed, each according to its
kind, upon the earth.” And it was so. The earth
brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed,
and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their
seed, each according to its kind. And God saw
that it was good.
Genesis 1.11-12

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.
      Zuni Song (Native American Religions)

Set me, O Earth, amidst thy center and thy navel,
and vitalizing forces that emanate from thy body.
Purify us from all sides.
Earth is my Mother; her son am I;
and Heaven my Father: may he fill us with
plenty…
Whatever I dig from thee, Earth,
may that have quick growth again.
O purifier, may we not injure thy vitals or thy
heart…
As a horse scatters dust, so did Earth, since she
was born,
scatter the people who dwelt on the land,
and she joyously sped on, the world’s
protectress,
supporter of forest trees and plants.
What I [Earth] speak, I speak with sweetness;
what I look at endears itself to me;
and I am fiery and impetuous: others who fly at
me with wrath
I smite down.
Peaceful, sweet-smelling, gracious, filled with
milk,
and bearing nectar in her breast,
may Earth give with the milk her blessings to
me. Who brings the day, and you give light to us
through him.
How handsome he is, how radiant, with great
splendor!
Of you, Most High, he bears the likeness.
Thou art the vessel, the Mother of the people,
the fulfiller of wishes, far-extending.
Whatever is wanting in thee is filled
by Prajapati, first-born of Eternal Order [the
first god]. Be praised, my Lord, for Sister Moon and the
Stars.
In heaven you have formed them, bright, and
precious, and beautiful.
May those born of thee, O Earth,
be, for our welfare, free from sickness and
waste.
Wakeful through a long life, we shall become
bearers of tribute for thee.
Earth, my Mother! set me securely with bliss
in full accord with Heaven. Wise One,
uphold me in grace and splendor.
Atharva Veda 12.1 (Hinduism)

Most High, omnipotent, good Lord,
All praise, glory, honor, and blessing are yours.
To you alone, Most High, do they belong,
And no one is worthy to pronounce your name.

Be praised, my Lord, with all your creatures,
Especially Sir Brother Sun,
Who brings the day, and you give light to us
through him.
How handsome he is, how radiant, with great
splendor!
Of you, Most High, he bears the likeness.

Be praised, my Lord, for Sister Moon and the
Stars.
In heaven you have formed them, bright, and
precious, and beautiful.

Be praised, my Lord, for Brother Wind,
And for Air, for Cloud, and Clear, and all
weather.
By which you give your creatures nourishment.

Be praised, my Lord, for Sister Water,
She is very useful, and humble, and precious,
and pure.

Be praised, my Lord, for Brother Fire,
By whom you light up the night.
How handsome he is, how happy, how powerful
and strong!

Be praised, my Lord, for our Sister, Mother
Earth.
Who nourishes and governs us,
And produces various fruits with many-colored
flowers and herbs.
St. Francis of Assisi, Canticle of the Sun (Christianity)