Monday, September 28, 2009

Happiness of each


Female Mallard

“The world, we are told, was made especially for man — a presumption not supported by all the facts,” Muir wrote. “A numerous class of men are painfully astonished whenever they find anything, living or dead, in all God’s universe, which they cannot eat or render in some way what they call useful to themselves . . . it never seems to occur to these far-seeing teachers that Nature’s object in making animals and plants might possibly be first of all the happiness of each one of them, not the creation of all for the happiness of one. Why should man value himself as more than a small part of the one great unit of creation? And what creature of all the Lord has taken the pains to make is not essential to the completeness of the unity – the cosmos? The universe would be incomplete without man; but it would also be incomplete without the smallest microscopic creature that dwells beyond our conceitful eyes and knowledge.” – John Muir, A Thousand –Mile Walk.


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4 comments:

Anonymous said...

In the grand scheme of things, Humankind is irrelevant.
Ducks rule!

Sunny said...

Well said. The Mallard is beautiful.
Sunny :)

squirrel said...

Aileni and Sunny, Thank you. John Muir continues to inspire me. We need more of his kind.

Rinkly Rimes said...

Some people only like things you can shoot, eat or hang on the wall!