For those who hold fast to a Romantic view of nature, watch this… http://youtu.be/n_A1WoUMcqg
Tag: nature
American Identity and Environmentalism
Catherine Albanese published an interesting book many years ago, “Nature Religion in America”, where she shows the relationship of the religious status of nature in the American context. She has some provocative and insightful quotes like the ones below, that make the case of how distinctively Americans view nature: “Americans learned to understand the sublimity […]
Nature, Nostalgia and Art
Pope Benedict XVI has two recent statements with some interesting connections to the environment. On last week’s catechesis the Pope developed further the “via pulchritudinis” or the “way of beauty” as one of the “channels that can lead us to God and also be helpful in our encounter with Him: It is the way of […]
Pope: “Children, go outdoors”
Recently Pope Benedict XVI has made a special mention for French speakers concerning the environment. The full address, for the angleus prayer on Sunday earlier this month, can be read here. The summary can be seen in Zenit below: CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy, JULY 10, 2011 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI is encouraging parents to teach their children […]
Animal Species: The New, Extinct and Bizarre
While there is a study indicating that animal species extinction rates are overestimated, some by 160%, there are also some new species that are discovered. Here is a little article with the decades top 10 new discoveries. Number one is pictured. The bizarre concerns animal serial killers, and their investigators. Some are calling this animal […]
Peace, Love and Nature… a different take
Here is a different angle to the relationship to the iconic “Peace and Love” of the 60’s, and the philo-environmentalism associated to it. Fr. Cantalamessa, the Pope’s preacher. His talk is called “God is Love” delivered in his Lenten Homily series. We heard Cantalamessa before on creation and the spiritual life during Advent. The key […]
The New American Dream and Secular Spiritualists
In an interesting artcice in the BBC expert pollster John Zogby describes the new trends in American culture. Read the full article here. He highlights how the new generation is redefining the American Dream which includes the following key elements: the most important feature is the growth of Secular Spiritualists and the rejection of materialism. […]
Natural and Unnatural disasters
Recently there have been two different ‘disasters’ which have had environmental impacts on remote islands. This provides an interesting case for us to identify our own understanding of what is natural. The first is in the Galapagos Islands, which have suffered the effects of the tsunami that has caused so much harm in Japan. […]
Tsunami Wave Images
Here are some incredible images of the wave displacement from the tsunami. This image is a simulation of the globe-spanning waves generated by the earthquake off east coast of Japan’s Honshu Island. Below is a video animation of the wave pattern made by NOAA. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBZGH3yieLc] The power of nature is impressive. Here is an analysis taken from […]
Regaining the Sacred, Overcoming Rationalism: in Nature
Fr. Cantalamessa has just released a new speech on rationalism as a challenge for out times. On speaking about the misuse of reason and its consequences, one of the most striking is the loss of the sense of the sacred. One important way of regaining this sense in the modern world is through the contemplation […]