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In traditional societies, nature was seen as one’s wife, but the modern West turned it into a prostitute.
Seyyed Hossein Nasr
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Interpretation

What this quote means

This quote contrasts traditional and modern views of nature, suggesting a shift from reverence to exploitation.

Seyyed Hossein Nasr's quote highlights the difference between how traditional societies viewed nature as a nurturing and integral part of life, akin to a wife, and how modern Western societies tend to objectify and exploit nature, comparing it to a prostitute. This shift reflects a broader philosophical change in our relationship with the natural world, where the sanctity of nature is often disregarded in favor of utilitarianism and exploitation.

Themes

NatureSocietyExploitationTraditionalModern

In practice

Example use cases

During a lecture on environmental philosophy, this quote illustrates the shift in human perspectives on nature.

More from Seyyed Hossein Nasr

The traditional doctrine of man and not the measurement of skulls and footprints is the key for the understanding of that anthropos who, despite the rebellion of Promethean man against Heaven from the period of Renaissance and its aftermath, is still the inner man of every man, the reality which no human being can deny wherever and whenever he lives, the imprint of a theomorphic nature which no historical change and transformation can erase completely from the face of that creature called man.
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In the traditional Islamic world, the hierarchy of the arts was not based on whether they were "fine" or "industrial" or "minor". It was based upon the effect of art on the soul of the human being.
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The human soul, provided it is pure and strong enough, can contact the unseen in waking life as well as in dreams: all that is required is withdrawal of the soul from the tumult of sensory life.
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