Thoughts on Religion, Part 1: Nature
Apr. 26th, 2004 12:24 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lantairvleaI'll be doing this in parts as it would take an excessive amount of time in order to get this all written out in one sitting. I don't know how many parts I'm going to end up writing, but there will be more than one, rest assured. I also note that though much of this reflects directly the beliefs of the LDS church, some of it is "Doctrine according to Cori," or, rather, how I've interprited certain scripture or thoughts I have that have neither been confirmed nor denied by the doctrine of the Church.
Nature is something that we can't ignore. It's all around us, in the air, ground, and water. We are essentially a part of it and, I believe, it is a part of us.
Everything you see was created spiritually before it took on its physical form(*), well, everything living that is. Animals, plants, and people. I also consider Earth to be a living thing. Like our physical mothers she provides us with food, shelter, and warmth. I respect the Earth and all things that grow and live thereon.
The things of the Earth are here to be used by man, though not abused. I personally think that mass-production is an absolute waste as many times, using meat as an example, it has to be thrown out before anyone even buys it, or after it is bought the consumer wastes the good part of it and just throws it away. Used, not abused (**). There are ways of living, even with the use of technology, that are much less wasteful than what the average person (read middle class and above) takes part in.
As mentioned, I feel that animals have a soul just as we do. Though they may not be as complex in the way of communication and language, they feel and hurt much like ourselves. They are kin of sorts as they were made by the same God as humans. I believe that they can teach us a great deal about life. They can show us things about ourselves that we would never suppose by ourselves. Taking a moment to look through their eyes can shed light on things thought impossible to know. Our animal kin are just as capable teachers as another human is.
I believe it is possible to have an especially strong connection to a certain animal(s). Through these connections and the interactions with animals themselves I feel it is possible to learn much of the world. To learn many things that have been lost to the world as we've blindly rushed forward into this new age.
(*)D&C 77:2 ". . . describing heaven, the paradise of God, the happiness of man, and of beasts, and of creeping things, and of the fowls of the air; that which is spiritual being in the likeness of that which is temporal; and that which is temporal in the likeness of that which is spiritual; the spirit of man in the likeness of his person, as also the spirit of the beast, and every other creature which God has created."
(**)D&C 59:20 "And it pleaseth God that he hat given all these things unto man; for unto this end were they made to be used, with judgment, not to excess, neither by extortion."
I thought it would have been longer than that, but I suppose I didn't have as much to say as I thought. I'll end with my favorite scripture:
Ecclesiastes 3:18-19 "I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts. 19 For that which befallet the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth so dieth the other; yeah, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity."
Nature is something that we can't ignore. It's all around us, in the air, ground, and water. We are essentially a part of it and, I believe, it is a part of us.
Everything you see was created spiritually before it took on its physical form(*), well, everything living that is. Animals, plants, and people. I also consider Earth to be a living thing. Like our physical mothers she provides us with food, shelter, and warmth. I respect the Earth and all things that grow and live thereon.
The things of the Earth are here to be used by man, though not abused. I personally think that mass-production is an absolute waste as many times, using meat as an example, it has to be thrown out before anyone even buys it, or after it is bought the consumer wastes the good part of it and just throws it away. Used, not abused (**). There are ways of living, even with the use of technology, that are much less wasteful than what the average person (read middle class and above) takes part in.
As mentioned, I feel that animals have a soul just as we do. Though they may not be as complex in the way of communication and language, they feel and hurt much like ourselves. They are kin of sorts as they were made by the same God as humans. I believe that they can teach us a great deal about life. They can show us things about ourselves that we would never suppose by ourselves. Taking a moment to look through their eyes can shed light on things thought impossible to know. Our animal kin are just as capable teachers as another human is.
I believe it is possible to have an especially strong connection to a certain animal(s). Through these connections and the interactions with animals themselves I feel it is possible to learn much of the world. To learn many things that have been lost to the world as we've blindly rushed forward into this new age.
(*)D&C 77:2 ". . . describing heaven, the paradise of God, the happiness of man, and of beasts, and of creeping things, and of the fowls of the air; that which is spiritual being in the likeness of that which is temporal; and that which is temporal in the likeness of that which is spiritual; the spirit of man in the likeness of his person, as also the spirit of the beast, and every other creature which God has created."
(**)D&C 59:20 "And it pleaseth God that he hat given all these things unto man; for unto this end were they made to be used, with judgment, not to excess, neither by extortion."
I thought it would have been longer than that, but I suppose I didn't have as much to say as I thought. I'll end with my favorite scripture:
Ecclesiastes 3:18-19 "I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts. 19 For that which befallet the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth so dieth the other; yeah, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity."
