There are plenty of mottos and slogans in the English language itself. Among them the most favorite one form me is "Forest And Mountain Home For All".
Dear Readers… have you ever heard this beautifully expressed motto? I think it is not only beautifully expressed but also philosophically well-meant. In this expression, we notice three concepts being highlighted. The first one is that of "forest and mountain" which refers to our natural environment. The second is "home" which symbolized shelters, one of the basic needs of Man. The third one is "all" which indicated every living being on Earth … both human and non-human. So it is concerned with the whole of mankind as well as other living creatures existing all over the world.
We human beings live in two worlds, namely natural and cultural world. Natural world means natural surrounding or natural environment, which is our planet Earth along with its forests, mountains, rivers and seas, streams and lakes etc.., Cultural environment is man-made, and it comprise two components .. tangible and intangible. Both natural and cultural surroundings are essential and indispensable to Man. As a matter of facts, Man, Nature and Cultural are inseparable spheres in which philosophers wander and explore what 'reality' or 'truth' is.
From the perspective of anthropological philosophy, Man has three fundamental or basic needs such as food, shelter and clothing. Besides these basic needs, Man has more of other needs which may be called spiritual needs or mental needs … for eg.., aesthetic needs. To fulfill both physical and spiritual needs. Man depends on natural surroundings. We can get raw materials such as bamboos wood from forests and mountains to build shelters as required.
So forests and mountains are benefactors of mankind. Although men are welcome to use the products derived from Nature to fulfill cultural needs, some of them act without any self control or discipline. People who lack knowledge or environment do everything to Nature without ever thinking of the negative consequences. Because of the bad actions that they have committed on the natural environment, disadvantages appear. To overcome all this, it is for the educated people to make the uneducated ones become aware of the current environmental issues.
Nowadays, Earth along with all its inhabitants are being threatened by changing weather conditions and natural calamities. The main cause of all these weather changes and natural calamities is Man and the various types of pollution emanating fro the numerous industries that we see established today. As a consequence, other living creatures, especially rare animal species, are in danger of extinction.
As mentioned earlier, to conserve or sustain our natural environment, the greedy and uneducated persons must be induced to become aware of the present conditions of our planet Earth, and this should be done by the educators who are well versed in matter related to environmental knowledge. Accordingly, "environmental philosophers have adduced a wide variety of human attitudes and practices to account for the perceived deterioration, including religious and scientific attitudes, social institutions and industrial technology".
Aristotle, an ancient Greek philosopher, used to say that "life is a gift of Nature but beautiful living is a gift of wisdom". Man wishes to have beautiful living. But in order to possess beautiful living, we should make our environment become a beautiful surrounding with the help of our wisdom. To use our own wisdom, we must be philosophical. This is because philosophy means love of wisdom, and wisdom may be regarded as the kernel of philosophy. Wisdom is more than accumulated knowledge. From the eastern point of view, wisdom in Pali is referred to as panna. Here, I would like to give a special reference to the Buddha's teachings on certain concepts given in Pali and shown within brackets to match with for their English equivalents or near-equivalents "According to Buddhism, for a man to be perfect, there are two qualities that he should develop equally: compassing (Karuna) on the one side and wisdom (Panna) on the other". Based on these two qualities, Man must avoid the three unwholesome deeds such as those of greed (Lobha), anger (Dosa), and illusion (Moha). For instance, Man should avoid overdoing of any kind such as that of being over-greedy, over-ambitious, and over-industrious.
We also come across certain views on environment held in ancient Chinese philosophy, as revealed below:
"Our planet is a good planet:
.. there is the alternation of night and day, morning and suset.
.. there is the alternation of summer and winter.
.. there are the silent and dignified trees.
.. there are flowers blooming and fruits ripening by rotation in the different months.
.. there are cloudy and misty days alternating with clear and sunny days.
.. there are peacocks and parrots and skylarks and canaries singing inimitable songs.
.. there are monkeys, tigers, bears. elephants .. squirrels and more.
.. there are whales, lobsters .. turtles and more .. There are magnificent redwood trees, volcanoes, winding rivers, and shady banks.
.. and there is nothing better than that."
This quotation goes to show that our planet is indeed a convenient and pleasure able peace to live in. The same quotation is revealing the facts that it belongs not only to Man but also to all other living creatures. It is a gift of Nature. With our foresight and wisdom, we should therefore make our Earth become a beautiful place to live in by maintaining and safeguarding all of its beautiful surroundings. We should live together in harmony and make use of our nature resources wisely and equally with other human beings as well as with all other non-human forms of life.
In short, Man must control his actions and live by his wisdom to safeguard bid-diversity. This means recognizing that Earth is not just our own but a place to be shared with all other living creatures that make the world more colourful, we should see to it so that human selfishness does not get out of hand. This means cherishing the thought in our heart and soul that "Forests And Mountains And Home Of All".
Zaw Lynn (MUFL)
References;
- Audi, Robert: Cambridge Dictionary Of Philosophy.
- Walpola Rahula: What the Buddha Taught.
- Lin Yu Tang: The Importance Of Living.
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