1 result for (book:nome AND session:821 AND stemmed:natur)
23/44 (52%)
dna
epidemics
myths
disasters
Christ
Displaying only most relevant fragments—original results reproduced too much of the copyrighted work.
(Long pause.) Those who “lose” their lives in natural disasters become victims of nature. You see in such stories examples of meaningless deaths, and further proof of nature’s indifference to man. You may, on the other hand, see the vengeful hand of an angry God in such instances, where the deity once again uses nature to bring man to his knees. Man’s nature is to live and to die. Death is not an affront to life, but means its continuation — not only inside the framework of nature as you understand it, but in terms of nature’s source. It is, of course, natural then to die.
The officials of the Roman Catholic Church altered many records — cleansing them, in their terms, of anything that might suggest pagan practices, or nature worship as they thought of it. In terms of your civilization, nature and spirit became divided so that you encounter the events of your lives largely in that context. To some degree or another, then, you must feel divorced from your bodies and from the events of nature. The great sweeps of emotional identification with nature itself do not sustain you, therefore. [...]
[...] When people are hurt in a natural disaster, for example, they will often profess to have no idea at all for such involvement. [...] The reasons for such involvement would be endless, or course — all valid, yet in each and every case, man and nature in those terms would meet in an encounter that had meaning, from the largest global effects to the smallest, most private aspects of the individuals involved. [...] You think of rain or earthquakes as natural events, for example, while you do not consider thoughts or emotions as natural events in the same terms. [...]
[...] Certain scientific treatises often make you believe that the attainment of your adulthood has little purpose, except to insure the further existence of the species through parenthood — when nature is then quite willing to dispense with your services. [...] In both cases man’s nature, and nature in general, take short shrift.
The natural contours of your psyche are quite aware of the inner sweep and flow of your life, and its relationship with every other creature alive. [...] The exquisite play of your own inner nature in general — and that identification leads you into the deeper knowledge of your own part in nature’s source.
Now: Dictation: You are, of course, a part of nature, and a part of nature’s source.
[...] It happens because each of you is, again, indeed a part of nature and of nature’s source.
In various ways your religions have always implied your relationship with nature’s source, even though they often divorced nature herself from any place of prime importance. [...]
(Long pause, then with much subdued irony:) In exasperation some of you see nature as good and enduring, filled with an innocence and joy, while on the other hand you envision man as a bastard species, a blight upon the face of the earth, a creature bound to do everything wrong regardless of any strong good intent. Therefore you do not trust man’s nature either.
This myth finds great value in the larger processes of nature in general, and yet sees man alone as the villain of an otherwise edifying tale. A true identification with nature, however, would show glimpses of man’s place in the context of his physical planet, and would bring to the forefront accomplishments that he has achieved almost without his knowing.
