As we kill nature, we are killing ourselves, and God incarnate as the world as well.
Interpretation
This quote highlights the interconnectedness of humanity and nature, emphasizing that harming the environment ultimately harms ourselves.
Masanobu Fukuoka's quote reflects the profound connection between humanity and the natural world. It suggests that as we harm nature, we not only endanger the ecosystems that sustain us but also diminish our own existence and spiritual essence, which many perceive as divine or sacred. The quote serves as a powerful reminder of our responsibility to protect the environment for the sake of our survival and that of future generations.
In practice
This quote can be used in a speech about environmental conservation to highlight the importance of protecting nature.
When it is understood that one loses joy and happiness in the attempt to possess them, the essence of natural farming will be realized. The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings.
The ultimate goal of farming is not the growing of crops, but the cultivation and perfection of human beings.
Modern research divides nature into tiny pieces and conducts tests that conform neither with natural law nor with practical experience. The results are arranged for the convenience of research, not according to the needs of the farmer.
Gradually I came to realize that the process of saving the desert of the human heart and revegetating the actual desert is actually the same thing.
Life on a small farm might seem primitive, but by living such a life we become able to discover the Great Path. I believe that one who deeply respects his neighborhood and everyday world in which he lives will be shown the greatest of all worlds.
The increasing desolation of nature, the exhaustion of resources, the uneasiness and disintegration of the human spirit, all have been brought about by humanity's trying to accomplish something.
The way of a canoe is the way of the wilderness, and of a freedom almost forgotten.
Thunder is no longer the voice of an angry god... No river contains a spirit... no snake the embodiment of wisdom, no mountain cave the home of a great demon. No voices now speak to man from stones, plants and animals, nor does he speak to them thinking they can hear. His contact with nature has gone, and with it has gone the profound emotional energy that this symbolic connection supplied.
As a people, we have the problem of making our forests outlast this generation, or iron outlast this century, and our coal the next; not merely as a matter of convenience or comfort, but as a matter of stern necessity.
If you know wilderness in the way that you know love, you would be unwilling to let it go.... This is the story of our past and it will be the story of our future.
Why is it that so many of us persist in thinking that autumn is a sad season? Nature has merely fallen asleep, and her dreams must be beautiful if we are to judge by her countenance.
We are all filled with a longing for the wild. There are few culturally sanctioned antidotes for this yearning. We were taught to feel shame for such a desire. We grew our hair long and used it to hide our feelings. But the shadow of Wild Woman still lurks behind us during our days and in our nights. No matter where we are, the shadow that trots behind us is definitely four-footed.
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