2 years ago

195

Over the years, I've met a number of people who, for the most part, believe in God, but when the subject of loving nature was brought up, many of them felt uneasy.
Why? Because they couldn't understand why someone would put nature ahead of God. I attempted to demonstrate that loving nature is not an act of lowering the notion of God to the level of nature, but rather the opposite. Nature, as a vast and complex concept, is actually an extension of God himself, which is what makes nature so rich, enigmatic, enchanting, and endlessly wonderful and beautiful. Nature, or the world of phenomena, is where we first become aware of God's wonder.

So, as we see and feel nature, imagine we are clothing ourselves with God's living, and visible garment.

“Nature is the living, visible garment of God.”
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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About Manly Plamer Hall

Born: March 18, 1901, Peterborough, Canada
Died: August 29, 1990, Los Angeles, CA

Manly P. Hall was the founder of the Philosophical Research Society. In over seventy-five years of dynamic public activity, he delivered more than 8,000 lectures in the United States and abroad, and authored countless books, essays, and articles. In his lectures and writings, Manly Hall always emphasized the practical aspects of philosophy and religion as they applied to daily living. He restated for modern man those spiritual and ethical doctrines which have given humanity its noblest ideals and most adequate codes of conduct. Believing that philosophy is a working tool to help the individual in building a solid foundation for his dreams and purposes, Manly Hall steadfastly sought recognition of the belief that world civilization can be perfected only when human beings meet on a common ground of intelligence, cooperation, and worthy purpose.

God is the invisible teacher, the white magician who works his magic on all levels of the natural world.
God does not need to talk in order to communicate with us; all he needs to do is be.
I believe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe portrayed nature in the same manner as I would today: “Nature is the living, visible garment of God.”

So, when we see and feel nature, think we are engaging with the living, visible garment of God. In that way, we are always clothed with His majesty and glory!

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