323 lines
13 KiB
Plaintext
323 lines
13 KiB
Plaintext
The Sanctity of Nature
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World Scripture
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THE SANCTITY OF NATURE
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Reverence for life begins with the recognition that human beings are but one
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species of living beings. All living beings are God's sacred creations,
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endowed with spirit, consciousness, and intelligence. Our reverence is
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heightened by the recognition that the interdependent web of life is
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wonderfully self-sustaining and productive. We see the results of human
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depredation of the environment, which have damaged the original balance of
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nature. This section concludes with texts praising Mother Earth as the Source
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of life and its great Sustainer and Supporter.
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The earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof,
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the world and those who dwell therein.
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1. Judaism and Christianity. Bible, Psalm 24.1
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This earth is a garden,
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The Lord its gardener,
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Cherishing all, none neglected.
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2. Sikhism. Adi Granth, Mahj Ashtpadi 1, M.3, p. 118
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Even in a single leaf of a tree, or a tender blade of grass, the awe-inspiring
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Deity manifests Itself.
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3. Shinto. Urabe-no-Kanekuni
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Urabe-no-Kanekuni: Shinto is pantheistic and teaches the omnipresence of the
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kami. It speaks of the yaoyorozu-no-kami, Eight Million Kami, to stress this
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point. Cf. Nihon Shoki 22, p. 372.
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The stream crosses the path, the path crosses the stream:
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Which of them is the elder?
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Did we not cut the path to go and meet this stream?
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The stream had its origin long, long ago.
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It had its origin in the Creator.
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He created things pure, pure, tano.
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4. African Traditional Religions. Ashanti Verse (Ghana and Ivory Coast)
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Have you considered the soil you till?
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Do you yourselves sow it, or are We the Sowers?
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Did We will, We would make it broken orts, and you will remain bitterly
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jesting--
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"We are debt-loaded;
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nay, we have been robbed."
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Have you considered the water you drink?
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Did you send it down from the clouds, or did We send it?
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Did We will, We would make it bitter; so why are you not thankful?
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Have you considered the fire you kindle?
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Did you make its timber to grow, or did We make it?
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We Ourselves made it for a reminder,
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and a boon to the desert-dwellers.
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5. Islam. Qur'an 56.63-73
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All you under the heaven! Regard heaven as your father, earth as your mother,
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and all things as your brothers and sisters.
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6. Shinto. Oracle of the Kami of Atsuta
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No creature is there crawling on the earth,
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no bird flying with its wings,
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but they are nations like yourselves.
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We have neglected nothing in the Book;
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then to their Lord they shall be mustered.
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7. Islam. Qur'an 6.38
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God's hand has touched even every small blade of grass which grows in the
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field.... All creatures we see contain God's deep heart and tell the story of
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God's deep love.
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8. Unification Church. Sun Myung Moon, 6-28-59
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I say, "Just as the consciousness of a man born without any sense organs [i.e.,
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one who is blind, deaf, dumb, crippled, etc. from birth] is not manifest,
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likewise the consciousness of beings of earth-body [e.g., atoms, minerals] is
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also not manifest. Nevertheless such a man experiences pain when struck or cut
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by a weapon, and so also do the beings of earth-body. Likewise for
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water-beings... fire-beings... plants... animals... air beings: their
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consciousness and experiences of pain are [actual though] not manifest."
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9. Jainism. Acarangasutra 1.28-161
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Oracle of the Kami of Atsuta: See p. 274n.
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Tao gave them birth;
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The power of Tao reared them,
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Shaped them according to their kinds,
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Perfected them, giving to each its strength.
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Therefore of the ten thousand things there is not one that does not
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worship Tao and do homage to its power. Yet no mandate ever went forth
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that accorded to Tao the right to be worshipped, nor to its power the
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right to receive homage. It was always and of itself so.
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Therefore as Tao bore them and the power of Tao reared them, made them
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grow, fostered them, harbored them, brewed for them, so you must
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Rear them, but do not lay claim to them;
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Control them, but never lean upon them,
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Be their steward, but do not manage them.
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This is called the Mysterious Power.
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10. Taoism. Tao Te Ching 51
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Come back, O Tigers!, to the woods again,
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and let it not be leveled with the plain.
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For without you, the axe will lay it low.
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You, without it, forever homeless go.
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11. Buddhism. Khuddaka Patha
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A horse or a cow has four feet. That is Nature. Put a halter around
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the horse's head and put a string through the cow's nose, that is man.
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Therefore it is said, "Do not let man destroy Nature. Do not let
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cleverness destroy destiny [the natural order]."
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12. Taoism. Chuang Tzu 17
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They gave the sacrifice to the East,
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the East said, "Give it to the West,"
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the West said, "Give it to God,"
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God said, "Give it to Earth, for Earth is senior."
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13. African Traditional Religions. Idoma Prayer
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The solid sky, the cloudy sky, the good sky, the straight sky.
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The earth produces herbs. The herbs cause us to live. They cause long
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life. They cause us to be happy.
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The good life, may it prevail with the air. May it increase. May it be
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straight to the end.
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Sweet Medicine's earth is good. Sweet Medicine's earth is completed.
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Sweet Medicine's earth follows the eternal ways. Sweet
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Medicine's earth is washed and flows.
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14. Native American Religions. Cheyenne Song
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Tao Te Ching 51: The Chinese word te, here translated 'power,' may also be
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translated 'virtue' in the sense of efficacy. This passage can also be taken
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in a political sense as prescribing the stewardship of good government. Chuang
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Tzu 17: Cf. Chuang Tzu 10, p. 799. Cheyenne Song: cf. Cree Round Dance, p. 55.
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In the land of Yamato there are many mountains;
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Ascending to the heaven of Mount Kagu,
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I gaze down on the country, and see
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Smoke rising here and there over the land,
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Sea gulls floating here and there over the sea.
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A fine country is this,
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The island of dragonflies, this
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Province of Yamato.
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15. Shinto. Man'yoshu I
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On the eastern side of this Himalaya, the king of mountains, are green-flowing
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streams, having their source in slight and gentle mountain slopes; blue, white,
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and the hundred-leafed, the white lily and the tree of paradise, in a region
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overrun and beautified with all manner of trees and flowing shrubs and
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creepers, resounding with the cries of swans, ducks, and geese, inhabited by
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troops of monks and ascetics....
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16. Buddhism. Jataka
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Perhaps if we are lucky,
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Our earth mother
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Will wrap herself in a fourfold robe of white meal,
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Full of frost flowers;
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A floor of ice will spread over the world,
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The forests because of the cold will lean to one side,
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Their arms will break beneath the weight of snow.
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When the days are thus,
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The flesh of our earth mother will crack with cold.
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Then in the spring when she is replete with living waters,
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Our mothers,
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All different kinds of corn,
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In their earth mother we shall lay to rest.
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With their earth mother's living waters
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They will be made into new beings;
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Into their sun father's daylight
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They will come out standing;
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Yonder to all directions
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They will stretch out their hands calling for rain.
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Then with their fresh waters
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The rain makers will pass us on our roads.
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Clasping their young ones [the ears of corn] in their arms,
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They will rear their children.
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Gathering them into our houses,
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Following these toward whom our thoughts bend,
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With our thoughts following them,
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Thus we shall always live.
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17. Native American Religions. Zuni Song
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Man'yoshu I: 'Smoke' and 'sea gulls' suggest the plentitude and harmony among
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man and nature. Cf. Kagura-uta, p. 140; Kojiki 110, p. 1066. Jataka: The
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mountains, pristine and full of natural beauty, have always been the preferred
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environment for ascetics, where they may most readily strive to penetrate the
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Absolute. In Asia, Buddhist monasteries and temples are often associated with
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nature preserves. Zuni Song: Cf. Cree Round Dance, p. 55; Sioux Tradition, p.
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370; Winnebago Invocation, p. 373.
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Truth, Eternal Order that is great and stern,
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Consecration, Austerity, Prayer, and Ritual--these uphold the Earth.
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May she, Queen of what has been and will be,
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make a wide world for us.
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Earth, which has many heights and slopes and
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the unconfined plain that bind men together,
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Earth that bears plants of various healing powers,
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may she spread wide for us and thrive.
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Earth, in which lie the sea, the river, and other waters,
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in which food and cornfields have come to be,
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in which live all that breathes and that moves,
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may she confer on us the finest of her yield....
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Set me, O Earth, amidst what is thy center and thy navel,
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and vitalizing forces that emanate from thy body.
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Purify us from all sides. Earth is my Mother; her son am I;
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and Heaven my Father: may he fill us with plenty....
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There lies the fire within the Earth,
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and in plants,
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and waters carry it;
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the fire is in stone.
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There is a fire deep within men,
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a fire in the kine,
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and a fire in horses:
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The same fire that burns in the heavens;
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the mid-air belongs to this divine Fire.
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Men kindle this fire that bears the oblation
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and loves the melted butter.
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May Earth, clad in her fiery mantle,
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dark-kneed,
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make me aflame;
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may she sharpen me bright....
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Whatever I dig from thee, Earth,
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may that have quick growth again.
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O purifier, may we not injure thy vitals or thy heart....
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As a horse scatters dust, so did Earth, since she was born,
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scatter the people who dwelt on the land,
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and she joyously sped on, the world's protectress,
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supporter of forest trees and plants.
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What I [Earth] speak, I speak with sweetness;
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what I look at endears itself to me;
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and I am fiery and impetuous: others who fly at me with wrath
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I smite down.
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Peaceful, sweet-smelling, gracious, filled with milk,
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and bearing nectar in her breast,
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may Earth give with the milk her blessings to me.
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Thou art the vessel, the Mother of the people,
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the fulfiller of wishes, far-extending.
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Whatever is wanting in thee is filled
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by Prajapati, first-born of Eternal Order [the first god].
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May those born of thee, O Earth,
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be, for our welfare, free from sickness and waste.
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Wakeful through a long life, we shall become
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bearers of tribute for thee.
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Earth, my Mother! set me securely with bliss
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in full accord with Heaven. Wise One,
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uphold me in grace and splendor.
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18. Hinduism. Atharva Veda 12.1
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Atharva Veda 12.1: Vv. 1-3, 12, 19-21, 35, 57-63. Cf. Rig Veda 1.164.49, p.
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146; Candi-Mahatmya 10, p. 565.
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The earth was once a human being: Old One made her out of a woman. "You will
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be the Mother of all people," he said.
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Earth is alive yet, but she has changed. The soil is her flesh, the rocks are
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her bones, the wind is her breath, trees and grass her hair. She lives spread
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out, and we live on her. When she moves we have an earthquake.
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After taking the woman and changing her to earth, Old One gathered some of her
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flesh and rolled it into balls, as people do with mud or clay. He made the
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first group of these balls into the ancients, the beings of the early world.
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The ancients were people, yet also animals. In form some looked human while
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others walked on all fours like animals. Some could fly like birds; others
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could swim like fishes. All had the gift of speech, as well as greater powers
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and cunning than either animals or people.
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Besides the ancients, real people and real animals lived on the earth at that
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time. Old One made the people out of the last balls of mud he took from the
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earth. He rolled them over and over, shaped them like Indians, and blew on
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them to bring them alive. They were so ignorant that they were the most
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helpless of all the creatures Old One had made. Old One made people and
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animals into males and females so that they might breed and multiply.
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Thus all living beings came from the earth. When we look around, we see part
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of our Mother everywhere.
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19. Native American Religions. Okanogan Creation
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Okanogan Creation: Cf. Aitareya Upanishad 1-3, pp. 306f. Rig Veda 10.90.6-16,
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pp. 868f; Bhagavad Gita 14.4, p. 148.
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