WARBLERS AS PROOF OF GOD'S EXISTENCE

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I heard of a boy who was brought up as an atheist.

He changed his mind when he saw that there were a

hundred-odd species of warblers, each bedecked like to

the rainbow, and each performing yearly sundry thousands

of miles of migration about which scientists wrote wisely but

did not understand. 

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No "fortuitous concourse of elements" working blindly

through any number of millions of years could quite account

for why warblers are so beautiful.  No mechanistic theory, even

bolstered by mutations, has ever quite answered for the colors of the cerulean warbler, or the vespers of the wood thrush,

or the swansong, or - goose music.

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I dare say this boy's convictions would be harder to shake

than those of many inductive theologians.  There are yet many

boys to be born who, like Isaiah, "may see, and know, and

consider, and understand together, that the hand of the Lord

hath done this."  But where shall they see, and know,

and consider?  In museums?

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Aldo Leopold (1887-1948)

American Author, Scientist, Environmentalist

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St. Francis Preaches to the Birds

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Father Francis and his companions were making a trip through the Spoleto Valley near the town of Bevagna. Suddenly, Francis spotted a great number of birds of all varieties. There were doves, crows and all sorts of birds. Swept up in the moment, Francis left his friends in the road and ran after the birds, who patiently waited for him. He greeted them in his usual way, expecting them to scurry off into the air as he spoke. But they moved not.


Filled with awe, he asked them if they would stay awhile and listen to the Word of God. He said to them: “My brother and sister birds, you should praise your Creator and always love him: He gave you feathers for clothes, wings to fly and all other things that you need. It is God who made you noble among all creatures, making your home in thin, pure air. Without sowing or reaping, you receive God’s guidance and protection.”


At this the birds began to spread their wings, stretch their necks and gaze at Francis, rejoicing and praising God in a wonderful way according to their nature. Francis then walked right through the middle of them, turned around and came back, touching their heads and bodies with his tunic.
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Then he gave them his blessing, making the sign of the cross over them. At that they flew off and Francis, rejoicing and giving thanks to God, went on his way.


Later, Francis wondered aloud to his companions why he had never preached to birds before. And from that day on, Francis made it his habit to solicitously invoke all birds, all animals and reptiles to praise and love their Creator. And many times during Francis’ life there were remarkable events of Francis speaking to the animals. There was even a time when St. Francis quieted a flock of noisy birds that were interrupting a religious ceremony! Much to the wonder of all present, the birds remained quiet until Francis’ sermon was complete.
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From http://www.americancatholic.org/
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GOD AND SPIRIT IN THE WILDERNESS

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In the wilderness there is never this sense

of having to move, never the feeling of boredom

if nothing dramatic happens.

Time moves slowly, as it should,

for it is a part of beauty that cannot be

hurried if it is to be understood.

Without this easy flowing, life can become

empty and hectic....

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We cannot all live in the wilderness,

or even close to it, but we can, no matter

where we spend our lives, remember the

background which shaped this sense

of the eternal rhythm, remember that days,

no matter how frenzied their pace,

can be calm and unhurried, we can refuse

to be caught in the so-called rat race and

the tension, which kills God-like leisure.

Though conscious of the roar around us,

we can find peace if we remember

we all come from a common mold

 and primeval background.

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Life in the wilderness can be

a continual contemplation and communion

with God and Spirit of those values

echoing within us all,

values born of timelessness, mystery,

the great silences, and an

ancient way of life.

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Sigurd Olson (1899-1982)

American author, teacher, environmentalist

Former President of the National Parks Assoc.

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SO WHAT'S SACRED THESE DAYS?

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In the sacred scriptures, there were

explanations given for an ethics

encompassing the world of nature as well

as that of human beings. Animals and

plants were seen as God's creation, with

spiritual value, as were rivers and mountains.

Those notions are now scientifically

meaningless, and any environmental ethics

based on that view of the world is based on

mere sentimentality. It is not based on

reality, if you accept the scientific view of

the world as reality.

It's like talking about the sacredness

of human life. In one breath we mention

the sacredness of human life and with

the next breath note that its basis is

nothing but DNA. What is sacred about

DNA if it is just some molecules banging

against each other in certain configurations?

If we reject the sacred, reject that it is the

wisdom of God that is imprinted upon

the DNA, that all creation bears the

imprint of God - a meaningless statement

in modern biology - where then does the

sacredness of human life come from?

Even the withering away of Christian

ethics, which we now see before us after

several hundred years of its survival even

since the Scientific Revolution, has to do

a lot with the more recent consequences

of the extension of the desacralized view

of nature into the domain of human life

itself. This is especially notable when it

comes to environmental ethics, which we

need to create in a serious way if we are

to be able to live in the future.

For now, animal activists and others

like them are outside of the mainstream.

They are considered "crazy people"

who tie themselves to trees and refuse

to come down. These acts are not part

of the mainstream of society, which is

not able to develop an environmental

ethic that is also in accord with the

worldview that dominates our lives.

A similar disjunction occurs in our

hospitals because of the purely mechanical

treatment of the human body, and tensions

are created by the fact that some people

still believe they have a soul and that the

human body is not just a mechanical gadget.

All of these tensions present great challenges

that the still dominant worldview poses for us,

and are signs that this paradigm is

now falling apart.

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Seyyed Hossein Nasr

From "In The Beginning Was Consciousness"

The Harvard Divinity Bulletin

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SPIRIT LIFE

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I was raised to believe in a spirit world,

that life exists before earth and will continue

to exist afterward, that each human being,

bird and bulrush, along with all other

life forms had a spirit life before it came

to dwell physically on the earth.

Each occupied an assigned sphere of influence,

each had a place and a purpose.

It made sense to a child.

And if the natural world was assigned

spiritual values, then those days spent in

the wilderness were sacred.

We learned at an early age that

God can be found wherever you are,

especially outside.

Family worship was not just relegated

to Sunday in a chapel.

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Terry Tempest Williams

American Author and Naturalist

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