WE ARE NOT SUPERIOR TO NATURE
We Are Not Superior to Nature
We live on a single planet, and the nature of this planet, by right of justice, belongs to all lives that inhabit the Earth.
Unfortunately, for many centuries, people who claim to love God have been destroying nature in pursuit of selfish profits rather than mere sustenance. They view people of different cultures and philosophies as demons and deny them human dignity. They view animals and plants as objects, not as lives.
They preach that God created nature, yet they destroy God's creative work without any shame or remorse. They say they love their neighbor, but they are incapable of feeling compassion for people and animals facing misery and hunger.
Regardless of how the existence of beings on this planet came to be—whether by evolution or direct creation—two things are certain: God is the source of life for all beings in the universe; and God is the Only Person who is not evolving, for He is Sufficient and Complete in Himself. All lives are and will be evolving; therefore, evolution is not a myth or a story told by atheist scientists.
Nature is sufficient to sustain life on Earth, and every being in nature has a function. We received a home full of abundance and prosperity; we were given roles so that everything would go well. If everything has gone wrong, God is not responsible for it, let alone obligated to fix what humanity purposefully destroys.
Consider an example: A father gave a new house to his son; the son set it on fire and destroyed it. The father has no obligation to build or buy another house for him.
If we are rational and human, we are responsible for what we do. We are also responsible for the religious leaders, politicians, ideologies, dogmas, and philosophies that WE CHOOSE, and we must bear the consequences without divine intervention.
There is no such thing as blaming God, a relative, or a neighbor. The time has long passed for us to own our mistakes and do things differently—to do the best we can.
We depend on nature to exist, but nature does not depend on us for anything. Superiority belongs to nature, not to the human being. We are not doing nature a favor by preserving it; it would get along perfectly well without our presence. To preserve our own existence, we must preserve what sustains us: the environment.
Theists and atheists alike must understand that the source of all life is one and the same, regardless of the name given to that source: Something or Someone. Everyone must understand that the source of life for bacteria, insects, animals, and plants is the same source of life for the wealthy European or American.
Everyone must understand that the source of life for Black people, Indigenous peoples, and foreigners—people of any social class, religion, ideology, philosophy, education, culture, gender, or physical and psychological condition—is the same source of life for the wealthy European or American. The source of life for the destitute person starving, the skeletal animal abandoned on the streets, and any being in nature currently being annihilated by pollution and environmental devastation, is the same source of life for the wealthy European or American.
Theists have an obligation to respect God's creative work, extracting from nature only what is rightfully theirs for sustenance. Furthermore, they should have the obligation to stop judging and start working for the dignity of all lives. Atheists are not exempt from possessing good character and a good conscience, exercising what is just and right, simply because they do not believe in God.
Believing or not believing in God gives no one the right to destroy nature and take lives. Seeing nature and all beings that inhabit it as lives deserving of respect and dignity is the first step toward being able to claim that we are human.
It is not God who needs to do something about the evil we practice; it is we who must avoid practicing evil and prevent others from doing so. It is not God who needs to break the bread. Theist or atheist, we must learn to share the BREAD: the bread of knowledge, the bread of nutritional food for the hungry and malnourished, the bread of justice, the bread of equity, the bread of respect for the differences of others, the bread of helping others without expecting anything in return, the bread of stopping the cruel judgment of oneself and others, the bread of giving to those in need without expecting perfection or repayment, the bread for animals facing vulnerability, and the bread of reforestation wherever it is needed.
Theists, especially, must stop seeing animals, plants, and the lives of all beings in nature as soulless things, because every single life is the life of the Father—they are our brothers and sisters. Saint Francis of Assisi seems to have been the only one to see this; the rest seem to insist on ignoring it.
We at the Siva Yoga Centre study Saiva Siddhanta Philosophy, in which lives were not created by divine magic; lives originate from God's energy and are, and always will be, evolving. And this God is not an exclusive God of one people, country, or religion. He is The Father: Father of the stones, Father of the plants, Father of microscopic beings, Father of the animals, Father of human beings, Father of spiritual beings—and He is interested in every existing being, whether it is a cockroach or a human. Pashupati, the Father of all lives. As you wish: Appa Pati or Abba Father, which respectively mean "Dear Father." Therefore, it is our obligation to practice and proclaim the preservation and respect for the environment and for the magnificent miracle of life.
Learn more about Saiva Siddhanta Philosophy by clicking here:
https://www.sivayoga.com.br/2026/01/saiva-siddhanta-philosophy-free-english.html
