The original writer is not he who refrains from imitating others, but he who can be imitated by none.
Franois-Ren De ChateaubriandRead
Forests were the first temples of the Divinity, and it is in the forests that men have grasped the first idea of architecture.
Interpretation
Forests inspired early human architecture and spirituality.
This quote emphasizes the profound connection between humans and nature, suggesting that forests played a crucial role in shaping early human thoughts on divinity and architectural design. By referring to forests as the 'first temples', it highlights the sacredness people attributed to these natural environments and how they influenced human creativity and spirituality.
In practice
During a nature retreat, I shared a quote about forests as temples to inspire reflection on our connection with nature.
The original writer is not he who refrains from imitating others, but he who can be imitated by none.
A moral character is attached to autumnal scenes; the leaves falling like our years, the flowers fading like our hours, the clouds fleeting like our illusions, the light diminishing like our intelligence, the sun growing colder like our affections, the rivers becoming frozen like our lives--all bear secret relations to our destinies.
Every man carries within himself a world made up of all that he has seen and loved; and it is to this world that he returns, incessantly, though he may pass through and seem to inhabit a world quite foreign to it.
A master in the art of living draws no sharp distinction between his work and his play; his labor and his leisure; his mind and his body; his education and his recreation. He hardly knows which is which.
I know that the precise magnitude and patterns of climate change cannot be fully predicted. But global warming clearly is a growing, long-term threat with profound consequences. And make no mistake about it, it will take decades to reverse.
Winter Song The browns, the olives, and the yellows died, And were swept up to heaven; where they glowed Each dawn and set of sun till Christmastide, And when the land lay pale for them, pale-snowed, Fell back, and down the snow-drifts flamed and flowed. From off your face, into the winds of winter, The sun-brown and the summer-gold are blowing; But they shall gleam with spiritual glinter, When paler beauty on your brows falls snowing, And through those snows my looks shall be soft-going.
The book of nature which we have to read is written by the finger of God.
Break open_x000D_ _x000D_ A cherry tree_x000D_ _x000D_ And there are no flowers;_x000D_ _x000D_ But the spring breeze_x000D_ _x000D_ Brings forth myriad blossoms.
Once you have been in an earthquake you know, even if you survive without a scratch, that like a stroke in the heart, it remains in the earth's breast, horribly potential, always promising to return, to hit you again, with an even more devastating force.
The future will belong to the nature-smart...Th e more high-tech we become, the more nature we need.
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