This was the basis for a brief presentation from Heart to Heart Design Studio LLC at the 7th Annual Peace Studies Conference at Lander University, Greenwood, SC in February 2015. Contact Niki Daniels via Heart2HeartDesign.org for speaker requests.

1. Exploring Nature Symbols
in religious texts
“The heavens declare the glory of God; and
The firmament showeth his handywork.”
(Psalms 19:1)
© Niki Daniels, Feb 2015

2. Values?
Nature / Planet Earth
What do We have in Common?
Grounds for Understanding between
people of different Faiths and Cultures

3. Values
Nature / Planet Earth
Human Body / Genetics
Action / Things we Do
What do We have in Common?
Human/Abstract (e.g. Time, Music)
Grounds for Understanding between
people of different Faiths and Cultures

4. Prof. Cathy Gutierrez, 'Water in Western Religions'
http://witcombe.sbc.edu/water/
Symbol ≠ Sign
“Symbols are any figuration... in image, material, or in
language, which is invested with cultural meaning.
The meaning is not limited to one thing --
symbols, by definition, mean many things at once.”

5. Prof. Cathy Gutierrez, 'Water in Western Religions'
http://witcombe.sbc.edu/water/
Symbol ≠ Sign
“For example, stop lights are signs.
The fact that red means "stop"
and green means "go"
is absolutely arbitrary...
If everyone agreed to it,
we could replace all of the
red lights with fuchsia lights, and
everyone would stop where and
when they were supposed to...”

6. “Symbols on the other hand always
mean several things at once,
and they are tied to a history
and a group in such a way that
they are not easily replaceable.”
Symbol ≠ Sign
Prof. Cathy Gutierrez, 'Water in Western Religions'
http://witcombe.sbc.edu/water/

7. Source: H20 - The Mystery, Art, and Science of Water
http://witcombe.sbc.edu/water/
Chris Witcombe and Sang Hwang, Sweet Briar College
“Long before scientists began to examine its properties,
water was firmly established as the mysterious sacred
source of life and its substance and symbology was
deeply woven into the fabric of the world's religions.”
Water/the ocean

8. Source: H20 - The Mystery, Art, and Science of Water
http://witcombe.sbc.edu/water/
Chris Witcombe and Sang Hwang, Sweet Briar College
“Water is... mutable and sublime,
sustaining and destructive, and
throughout literature water serves
as a representation not only of
birth but of death, not merely
of placidity but of violence.”
Water/the ocean

9. “Canst thou find out the deep things of God? Canst thou
attain unto the purpose of the Almighty? The measure
thereof is longer than the earth and broader than the sea.”
“In each and every heart, the
Unseen is seen. You yourself are
the ocean and the boat.”
Water
spiritual life and knowledge
Job 11:7,9 (Jewish/Christian)
Shri Guru Granth Sahib, Siree Rag (Sikh)

10. “Thou knowest not where is the ocean of thought;
yet when thou seest Fair waves of speech, thou
knowest there is a glorious ocean beneath them.”
The Mathnavi of Rumi, Volume 1 (Muslim)
Water
spiritual life and knowledge
“Immerse yourselves in the ocean of My words,
that ye may unravel its secrets, and discover
all the pearls of wisdom that lie hid in its depths.”
Baha'u'llah, the Kitab-i-Aqdas (Baha'i)

11. “But bear the glad tidings to those who believe and work
righteousness, that for them are gardens beneath which rivers flow.”
Water
righteousness & salvation
The Qur'an, Sura 2 The Heifer (Muslim)
“He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said,
out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.”
John 7:38 (Christian)
With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.
Isaiah 12:3 (Jewish/Christian)

12. Source: The Use of Trees as Symbols in the World Religions
Sally Liya (Donegal, Ireland: Association for Baha'i Studies)
Trees
“The tree is a universal symbol found
in the myths and sacred writings
of all peoples.
The psychologist Jung showed
That the tree is part of the
collective unconscious of
all peoples, and frequently
figures in dreams.”

13. Source: The Use of Trees as Symbols in the World Religions
Sally Liya (Donegal, Ireland: Association for Baha'i Studies)
Trees
“The symbolic meanings of trees
in dreams include growth, unfolding,
shelter, nurture. In primal and
shamanistic religions, the tree is
regarded as the gatekeeper
to the next world.”

14. Source: The Use of Trees as Symbols in the World Religions
Sally Liya (Donegal, Ireland: Association for Bahá'í Studies)
Trees
“Trees figure in all of the
Dispensations of the Adamic
cycle and in the Revelation
of Bahá’u’lláh, where they
are used to explain
many Bahá’í teachings.”

15. Source: The Use of Trees as Symbols in the World Religions
Sally Liya (Donegal, Ireland: Association for Baha'i Studies)
Trees
“In some cultures, the
tree represents the
life of a human being...”

16. “A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a
corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.” Luke 6:43 (Christian)
Good & Evil
Trees (& fruit)

17. Trees (& fruit)
“A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree
bring forth good fruit.” Luke 6:43 (Christian)
“As a tree whose root is exposed dries up and perishes, thus a man
who says what is untrue exposes his root, dries up and perishes.”
Upanishads (Hindu)
Good & Evil
Getting at the Root

18. Trees (&fruit)
“A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree
bring forth good fruit.” Luke 6:43 (Christian)
“As a tree whose root is exposed dries up and perishes, thus a man who
says what is untrue exposes his root, dries up and perishes.”
Upanishads (Hindu)
“Were he not impelled by desire of fruit, the gardener would
never have planted the tree. Therefore in reality the tree is born
from the fruit, though seemingly the fruit is born from the tree.”
Mathnavi of Rumi (Muslim)
Good & Evil
Getting at the Root
The Gardener/Man's Purpose

19. Trees
“For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again,
and that the tender branch thereof will not cease.”
Job 14:7 (Jewish)
Life After Life

20. Trees
“For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again,
and that the tender branch thereof will not cease.”
“He [the Guru] is the fruit-bearing tree,
luxuriantly green with abundant shade.”
Shri Guru Granth Sahib, Siree Rag (Sikh)
“...he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers... that
bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall
not wither... whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
Psalms 1:3 (Judeo-Christian)
Job 14:7 (Jewish)
Life After Life
Human Exemplars

21. Trees
“Look ye not upon the present, fix your gaze upon the times to come. In
the beginning, how small is the seed, yet in the end it is a mighty tree.”
Selections from the Writings of 'Abdu'l-Baha (Baha'i)
Spiritual Development is Organic
The tree which fills the arms grew from the tiniest sprout; the
Tower of nine storeys rose from a (small) heap of earth; the
Journey of a thousand li commenced with a single step.
Tao Te Ching (Tao)

22. Mahatma Gandhi
“You must not lose faith in humanity.
Humanity is an ocean; if a
few drops of the ocean are dirty,
the ocean does not become dirty.”
Closing Thought