Tag: nature

Even Solomon in all His Glory Was Not Arrayed Like One of These

James 1

1 From James, a servant of God and of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Greetings to the twelve tribes scattered all over the world.[a]

2 My friends, be glad, even if you have a lot of trouble. 3 You know that you learn to endure by having your faith tested. 4 But you must learn to endure everything, so that you will be completely mature and not lacking in anything.

5 If any of you need wisdom, you should ask God, and it will be given to you. God is generous and won’t correct you for asking. 6 But when you ask for something, you must have faith and not doubt. Anyone who doubts is like an ocean wave tossed around in a storm. 7-8 If you are that kind of person, you can’t make up your mind, and you surely can’t be trusted. So don’t expect the Lord to give you anything at all.

Lamentations 4

4 The purest gold is ruined
    and has lost its shine;
jewels from the temple
    lie scattered in the streets.
2 These are Zion’s people,
    worth more than purest gold;
yet they are counted worthless
    like dishes of clay.

World Scripture and the Teachings of
Sun Myung Moon

Chapter 4

God’s Creation and Human Creativity

Beauty

Beauty abounds in nature: the majestic mountains, the delicate hues of a flower, the brilliant colors of a sunset, the sparkle of dew on the morning grass. there is harmony of shape and color, light and shadow, sound and silence.
Harmony is an aspect of beauty. harmony is inherent in the very structure of the universe. the ancients found mathematics to be the basis of music, and today scientists are learning more about the “music of the spheres” in the motions of the stars and the properties of the atom. singing birds and chirping insects sound nature’s music as they seek for love. they are expressing its inherent harmony; human music cannot compare with it. the dissonance of our fallen condition condemns us to strike discordant notes. Were that human beings as harmonious as nature!
Human beings, God’s supreme creations, should manifest supreme beauty. people sing, dance, and create beautiful art, but more than that, we find beauty in one another, in expressions of love. there is inner beauty in a loving couple, a filial child caring for aged parents, and a loyal citizen making sacrificial efforts for the welfare of his or her nation. the beauty that people manifest in these ways also glorifies God, who delights to see beauty abounding in his works. this inner beauty becomes apparent in the spirit world—where beauty abounds for those who are worthy.

  1. The Beauty of Nature

Nature is the art of God.
Dante Alighieri

Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they
neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon
in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
Matthew 6.28-29

God is beautiful and loves beauty
Hadith of Muslim (Islam)

It is God who has made for you the earth as a
resting place, and the sky as a canopy, and has
given you shape—and made your shapes beau-
tiful—and has provided for you sustenance of
things pure and good; such is God, your Lord.
So glory to God, the Lord of the Worlds!
Qur’an 40.64

Known by the name of Protectress
is the Goddess girt by Eternal Law;
by her beauty are these trees green
and have put on their green garlands.
Atharva Veda 10.8.31 (Hinduism)

The One who, Himself without color,
by the manifold application of His power
Distributes many colors in His hidden purpose,
And into whom, its end and its beginning, the
whole world dissolves—
He is God!
Svestasvatara Upanishad 4.1 (Hinduism)

Beauty is before me.
Beauty is behind me.
Beauty is below me.
Beauty is above me.
I walk in beauty.
Navajo Song (Native American Religions)

God created the seven heavens in harmony.
Qur’an 71.15

In the cosmic Void is He absorbed,
Where plays the unstruck mystic music—
Beyond expression is this miraculous wonder.
Adi Granth, Gauri Sukhmani 23.1,
M.5, p. 293 (Sikhism)

The origin of music lies far back in time. It arises
out of two poles: the two poles give rise to the
powers of darkness and light. The powers of dark-
ness and light undergo change; the one ascends
into the heights, the other sinks into the depths;
heaving and surging they combine to form bod-
ies. If they are divided they unite themselves
again; if they are united they divide themselves
again. That is the eternal way of heaven. Heaven
and earth are engaged in a circle. Every ending
is followed by a new beginning; every extreme is
followed by a return. Everything is coordinated
with everything else. Sun, moon, stars move in
part quickly, in part slowly. Sun and moon do
not agree in the time which they need to com-
plete their path. The four seasons succeed each
other, bringing heat and cold, shortness and
length, softness and hardness. That from which
all beings arise and in which they have their ori-
gin is the Great One; that whereby they form
and perfect themselves is the duality of dark-
ness and light… Sound arises out of harmony.
Harmony arises out of relatedness. Harmony
and relatedness are the roots from which music,
established by the ancient kings, arose.
Book of Ritual 19 (Confucianism)


All Creatures Love One Another

Cheon Seong Gyeong 2049

Watch or listen to the latest Richard Urban Show:
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We have arrived at the age of settle-
ment centering on the tong ban break-
through activities and must return to
our hometowns. My elder brother knew
that Korea was being liberated on the
fifteenth of August. That elder brother
of mine was absolutely obedient to my
words. I was unable to say even one word
of the Principle to my elder brother,
mother, or father. I have given love to all
of you more than to my own mother and
father. My whole life has been filled with
a story of living for the sake of the entire
Unification Church and shedding tears
of blood. I am going forward complet-
ing the individual, family, tribe, people,
nation, and world levels. If I do not fulfill
each of these levels, then Satan will not
weaken. Therefore, I went to America
and underwent the way of suffering all
kinds of hardships. Now I am preparing

to save the Soviet Union. I have achieved
everything at this time, and am return-
ing to my homeland and starting tong
ban breakthrough activities. (203-252,
1990.6.26)

Richard: Tong Ban breakthrough means neighborhood ministry to a contiguous area of 360 or more homes. All citizens of the Kingdom of God are given the privilege of doing this ministry, also known as Home Church. See here for more information

Cheong Seong Gyeong 799

People cannot be produced in the
spirit world. Because God cannot repro-
duce from a vertical position, the earth
is the production center for the people of
heaven. This is why God needs to have
dimensional space. God created Adam
and Eve as physical entities in order to
multiply people of His nation. They are
the sons and daughters of the Kingdom
of Heaven. When the third and fourth
sons belonging to the peripheral ances-
try of the second son follow him, they
become the people of the Kingdom of
Heaven. The descendants of the first son
in each generation, the direct lineage,
will inherit the kingship of the earthly
and heavenly worlds. (229-349, 1992.4.13)

World Scripture and the Teachings of
Sun Myung Moon

Chapter 4

God’s Creation and Human Creativity

Nature as Teacher

Teachings of Rev. Sun Myung Moon

Human beings experience interest and curiosity when observing nature. From its creatures we learn about the nature of love. Observing the insects and animals, we see that they all live in pairs. In this respect, nature is a museum where God prepared exhibits to teach human beings, God’s object partners of love, about the ideal of relationships. (137:212, January 3, 1986)

All creatures love one another. Animals, insects, plants and minerals all love one another. They sing, dance, fly and crawl for their mates. Watch them and learn what they do. Adam and Eve were educated in the museum of nature, a living textbook… Adam and Eve watched male and female animals kissing each other; they saw and learned. Nature is a natural source of our education. (134:194, July 20, 1985)World Scripture II V8 013107.ind141 1412/1/2007 3:14:01 PM

We can learn by watching the birds loving each other, building their nests to lay their eggs, and feed-ing their young. We have to do more than birds for the sake of our own children, even hundreds of times more. Male and female insects mate with each other and bear their young. Some even risk their lives to raise them. This is how they teach us. (229:287, April 13, 1992)

The salmon has a truly amazing lesson for human beings. It loves once and dies. It becomes food to nourish its offspring. What a wonderful example of a creature that gives up its life for the sake of love! (132:81, May 20, 1984)

I discovered 80 percent of the Divine Principle from nature. (374:235, April 10, 2002)

Trees and grass are the best of all nature’s teaching materials. The seeds that are sown in spring grow, blossom and bear fruit, thus paying back the farmer for his labor. Then, they die away, yet the next year, they propagate more branches and bear more fruits for the harvest. Thus, they teach us the way to grow and prosper. (386:298, July 18, 2002)

In my village, I used to watch flocks of migratory birds come and go with the seasons. People who live in a big city like Seoul may not be familiar with them. Not experiencing the ebb and flow of nature, they lack in the area of emotion. Without the opportunity to experience the mystery and beauty of nature, their heart does not fully develop. When the season turned and beautiful birds flew around, I would spy on them, observing how they laid their eggs and hatched their chicks. It was not unusual for me to spend a week observing a nest. (137:223-24, January 3, 1986)

Do birds recognize national borders? Do they need a visa when they migrate? Would a hurricane stop in the Gulf of Mexico because it didn’t have a visa to enter the United States? Is the weather constrained by American law? It is amazing when you think of it—ants and lizards can cross the Mexican border as often as they please, but human beings cannot cross the border without a visa! Must American ants and Mexican ants get government authorization to mate? Animals do not care about national sovereignties, but people’s lives are complicated with such things. (106:138, December 23, 1979)

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)