Ecological awareness is important, but the first thing we must do to develop it is to understand what nature really is.
There are many people in the world who want to do something for the Earth, nature, animals, and so on, but environmental campaigns cannot win this fight on their own: they need the cooperation of all of us.
Therefore, it is crucial to emphasize that, in order to achieve this, it is necessary to be aware of our actions and have a genuine will to change the injustices we commit.
At that moment, all we have to do is think about nature, its true relevance, and what it has represented since the beginning of time.
The most important thing is that we don't see it as we have been taught in school or as it has been presented to us, as a simple object of satisfaction, but rather we must find its true meaning within ourselves.
They demand our respect.
In order for us to change our bad habits and give the environment the importance it deserves, we need to realize that nature is not just another source of satisfaction.
We must feel in our hearts that nature is not merely an object, that every element of nature—animals, plants, seas, mountains, and so on—is truly valuable and deserves to be loved, but above all, must be respected. Nature, too, needs respect to develop in harmony and evolve happily, just as we do.
Therefore, it is necessary that we stop our cruelty and become more sensitive so that our minds cease to be indifferent to the true reality, to that reality that at this moment shouts at us: "Stop, please!"
We must understand that they are beings who need to receive and give love, who ask for respect, and who wish to develop freely.
They feel like we do
All beings in Mother Nature have a need to communicate heart to heart with us so that we can understand who they truly are.
They seek to demonstrate that they are capable of giving us love despite the harm we inflict upon them daily. Despite everything, what they most desire is that we give them the opportunity to show us that they feel just as we do.
They are an important part of the development of the universe, but mainly, of the development of our hearts.
A crucial step will be to abandon the divisions between animal, plant, and human. It's time we leave behind everything that has been imposed on us in this regard, which now leads us to act wrongly, far removed from love.
We are one creation in which these divisions we have created do not exist, and by realizing this, we will be able to discover the true essence of our brothers, who, every second, give us the teaching of living with and for love.
Flora Rocha
Wisdom of the Heart Foundation
florarocha@sabiduriadelcorazon.org