Nothing is constant but change! All existence is a perpetual flux of "being and becoming!" That is the broad lesson of the evolution of the world.
We are compelled by reflection to recognize that God is not to be placed against the material world [as in Christianity], but must be placed as a 'divine power' or 'moving spirit' within the cosmos itself ... All the wonderful phenomena of nature around us, organic as well as inorganic, are only various products of one and the same original force.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that God should be viewed as an inherent force within the universe rather than separate from it.
Ernst Haeckel's quote emphasizes the idea that the divine should not be considered as an entity separate from the material world. Instead, he portrays God as a pervasive force or spirit that actively contributes to the cosmos, implying that everything in nature—whether living or non-living—is a manifestation of this singular original force. This perspective challenges traditional views of religion and encourages a more integrated understanding of spirituality and nature.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about environmental conservation, one might quote this to emphasize the sacredness of nature.
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All history is contemporary history.
The basic thing nobody asks is why do people take drugs of any sort? Why do we have these accessories to normal living to live? I mean, is there something wrong with society that's making us so pressurized, that we cannot live without guarding ourselves against it?
If Israel does not find the way to disengage from the Palestinians, its future might resemble the experience of Belfast or Bosnia - two communities bleeding each other to death for generations.
If we were to drive out the English with the weapons with which they enslaved us, our slavery would still be with us even when they have gone.
Eating and sleeping are not like loving and breathing. Washing is not like eating and sleeping. Believing is like breathing and loving. Religion can be believing, it can be like breathing, it can be like loving, it can be like eating or sleeping, it can be like washing, it can be something to fill up a place when someone has lost out of them a piece that it was not natural for them to have in them.
Is there not some chosen curse, some hidden thunder in the stores of heaven, red with uncommon wrath, to blast the man who owes his greatness to his country's ruin!