Bokelskere.no

A re-discovery of metaphysical knowledge, and a revitalization of a theology and philosophy of nature could set a limit upon the application of science and technology. In the old days man had to be saved from nature. Today nature has to be saved from man in both peace and war. Many labour under the illusion that only war is evil and that if only it could be averted man could go on peacefully to create paradise on earth. What is forgotten is that in both the state of war and peace man is waging an incessant war upon nature. The official state of war is no more than an occasional outburst of an activity that goes on all the time within the souls of men, in human society and towards nature. It is no more than a chimerical dream to expect to have peace based upon a state of intense war toward nature and disequilibrium with the cosmic environment. It is only the complete ignorance of what man's relation to nature means that could allow such views to be entertained. Whether one pollutes water resources in a single bombing or does so over a twenty-year period is essentially the same; the only difference is the matter of time. The net result does not differ in the two cases because in both instances man is waging war against nature.

The re-discovery of virgin nature does not mean a flight of individualistic and Promethean man toward nature. While in the state of rebellion against Heaven man carries with him his own limitations even when he turns to nature. These limitiations veil the spiritual message of nature for him so that he derives no benefit from it. It is in this way that the modern urbanized citizen in search of virgin nature takes with him those very elements that destroy nature and thereby he destroys the very thing he is searching for. Nor is the re-descovery of virgin nature a return to paganism from a theological point of view. There is a profound difference between the paganism of the Mediterranean world, this idolatry of created things against which Christianity has fought, and the 'naturism' of the northern European people for whom nature possessed a symbolic and spiritual significance. The re-discovery of virgin nature with the aid of traditional principles would mean a reunification of the symbolic meaning of natural forms and the development of a spiritual sympathy (sym-pathia) for nature which has nothing to do with eiter ancient paganism and idolatry or the modern individualistic revolt. It would mean the restoration of man to his home in the cosmos.

Rather than man deciding the value of science and technology, these creations of man have become the criteria of man's worth and value. Practically the only protest that is heard is that of the conservationists and other lovers of nature. Their voice, although of much value, is not fully heard because their arguments are often taken as being sentimental rather than intellectual. Wellknown theologians and philosophers have for the most part remained silent or have bent backwards in order to avoid offending the prevailing scientific mood of the day. Only rarely has any voice been raised to show that the current belief in the domination of nature is the usurpation, from the religious point of view, of man's role as the custodian and guardian of nature.