Learning to be silent is far more difficult and far more important than learning to recite prayers.
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I Of ConstantinopleRead
... the ecological problem of our times demands a radical reevaluation of how we see the entire world; it demands a different interpretation of matter and the world, a new attitude of humankind toward nature, and a new understanding of how we acquire and make use of our material goods.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the need for a fundamental change in our perception and interaction with the environment.
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I highlights the urgent necessity to rethink our relationship with nature and material possessions. He calls for a transformative shift in how humanity views the world, advocating for a deeper understanding and respect for ecological systems, which is crucial in addressing the pressing environmental issues we face today.
In practice
During a climate change conference, this quote can be used to emphasize the need for a new mindset towards environmental conservation.
Learning to be silent is far more difficult and far more important than learning to recite prayers.
Arrogance and fanaticism cause the hardening of positions taken and entrenchment can only lead to a dead end.
Removing the weeds, putting fresh soil about the bean stems, and encouraging this weed which I had sown, making the yellow soil express its summer thought in bean leaves and blossoms rather than in wormwood and piper and millet grass, making the earth say beans instead of grass, - this was my daily work.
There's so much humanity in a love of trees, so much nostalgia for our first sense of wonder, so much power in just feeling our own insignificance when we are surrounded by nature...yes, that's it: just thinking about trees and their indifferent majesty and our love for them teaches us how ridiculous we are - vile parasites squirming on the surface of the earth - and at the same time how deserving of life we can be, when we can honor this beauty that owes us nothing.
It is the abiding concern of thinking people to preserve what keeps men human-to save our contact with nature of which we are a part.
Auld Nature swears the lovely dears Her noblest work she classes, O; Her 'prentice han' she tried on man, And then she made the lasses, O!
Birds are indicators of the environment. If they are in trouble, we know we'll soon be in trouble.
We Americans, in most states at least, have not yet experienced a bear-less, eagle-less, cat- less, wolf-less woods. Germany strove for maximum yields of both timber and game and got neither.
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