Everything that lives is holy.

Life delights in life.

William Blake.

Dear Father, hear and bless

Thy beasts and singing birds;

And guard with tenderness

Small things that have no words.

Author unknown.

This we know.

The earth does not belong to people:

People belong to the earth.

This we know. All things are connected

Like the blood which unites one family.

All things are connected.

Whatever befalls the earth

Befalls the children of the earth.

People did not weave the web of life,

They are merely a strand in it.

Whatever they do to the web,

They do to themselves.

Chief Seattle (adapted)

And it would go a great way to caution

And direct people in their use of the

World if they studied and learned more

Of its creation.

For how could men find the conscience to

Abuse it, while they see the great

Creator in all and every part of it?

William Penn.

Whatever be the highest perfection of the human mind, may I realise it for the benefit of all living beings. Even though I may have to take upon myself all the sufferings of the world, I will not forsake my aim and my fellow creatures, in order to win salvation for myself only.

The Christian mystic, a pastor and organiser in the Dominican Order, espoused a form of Pantheistic Mysticism, of which his clearest statement was:

All creatures are the utterance of God.

To Quakers, his philosophy seems very accessible. He spoke of passing beyond God, to a simple ground a still desert. He stressed the unity of God and the capacity of the individual soul to become one with God during life.

In silence, man can most readily preserve his integrity.

Apprehend God in all things,

For God is in all things.

Every single creature is full of God

And is a book about God.

Every creature is a word of God.

If I spent enough time with the tiniest creature

Even a caterpillar

I would never have to prepare a sermon.

So full of God

Is every creature.

Grandfather Great Spirit,

All over the world,

The faces of living things are alike.

With tenderness, they have come up out of the ground.

Look upon your children that they may face the winds

And walk the good road to the day of quiet.

Grandfather Great Spirit,

Fill us with the Light.

Give us the strength to understand and the eyes to see.

Teach us to walk the soft earth as relatives

To all that live.

~Sioux Prayer

When I walk through thy woods,

may my right foot and my left foot

be harmless to the little creatures

that move in its grasses; as it is said

by the mouth of thy prophet,

they shall not hurt nor destroy

in all my holy mountain.

~ Rabbi Moshe Hakotun

“All creatures are created from the same paternal heartbeat of God. Not to hurt our
humble brethren is our first duty to them, but to stop here is not enough. We have a
higher mission – to be of service to them wherever they require it.”

St. Francis of Assisi

All species and the Earth itself have interdependent roles within Creation. Humankind is
not the species to whom all others are subservient, but one among many. All parts, all
issues, are inextricably intertwined. Indeed, the web of creation could be described as of
three-ply thread: wherever we touch it we affect justice and peace and the health of all
everywhere. So all our testimonies, all our Quaker work, all our Quaker lives are part of
one process, of striving towards a flourishing, just and peaceful Creation – the Kingdom
of God.

Quaker Faith & Practice 25.04

Audrey Urry, 1994.