Three philosophies governing nature: control, dominion, and consent

“ In like manner, constructive work provides a series of problems in which the child experiences how the race has turned the materials of nature to human service. History provides problems whose solution gives the experience which enables the pupil to meet the political and social conditions of his own time. Physics shows how the forces of nature have become instruments for the service of man. Geography shows how the world is used as a background for social life; and grammar, what principles control the use of the race language as a medium for the communication of thought. ”

“ That citizen is best prepared for life who lives in most sympathetic and intelligent relation to his environment, and it is the primary aim of Nature Study to maintain the bond of interest which unites the child's life to the objects and phenomena which surround him. To this end it is necessary to adapt the teaching, in matter and method, to the conditions of the child's life, that he may learn to understand the secrets of nature and be the better able to control and utilize the forces of his natural environment. ”

“ The invention of high explosives has made possible many of the great engineering works of to-day. The inventions that have made transportation and communication so easy and rapid have already done a great deal to bring nations to a better understanding of each other and thus to promote the peace of the world. Discoveries in medicine alone have had an incalculable influence on the health and prosperity of society. In fact, the study of history and an understanding of modern social and industrial conditions are impossible without a knowledge of scientific inventions and discoveries. ”

“ Undirected, however, Nature's forces act blindly; hence, produce mainly such qualities in organic life as endurance, or adaptation to local soil and climatic conditions. In the animal and vegetable kingdoms the universal demand of Nature is to perpetuate their species—"to produce after their own kind." In accordance with this law the humblest plant or animal is compelled to maintain a perpetual warfare against its fellows for means of subsistence. ”

“ Complying with known conditions of natural reciprocity, however, the animal and vegetable kingdoms submit to whatever modifications become necessary in order to supply the needs of the human family.
Nature's Forces Operate Blindly. Moved, therefore, partly by necessity and partly by curiosity, the material world has been and is being continually modified by the ingenuity of man. ”

“ Indigenous peoples have the right to determine and develop priorities and strategies for the development or use of their lands or territories and other resources. States shall consult and cooperate in good faith with the indigenous peoples concerned through their own representative institutions in order to obtain their free and informed consent prior to the approval of any project affecting their lands or territories and other resources, particularly in connection with the development, utilization or exploitation of mineral, water or other resources. ”

“ Indigenous people and their communities and other local communities have a vital role in environmental management and development because of their knowledge and traditional practices. States should recognize and duly support their identity, culture and interests and enable their effective participation in the achievement of sustainable development. Principle 23
The environment and natural resources of people under oppression, domination and occupation shall be protected. Principle 24
Warfare is inherently destructive of sustainable development. ”

“ PART III Article 12 Indigenous peoples have the right to practise and revitalize their cultural traditions and customs. This includes the right to maintain, protect and develop the past, present and future manifestations of their cultures, such as archaeological and historical sites, artifacts, designs, ceremonies, technologies and visual and performing arts and literature, as well as the right to the restitution of cultural, intellectual, religious and spiritual property taken without their free and informed consent or in violation of their laws, traditions and customs. ”

“ Article 30 Indigenous peoples have the right to determine and develop priorities and strategies for the development or use of their lands, territories and other resources, including the right to require that States obtain their free and informed consent prior to the approval of any project affecting their lands, territories and other resources, particularly in connection with the development, utilization or exploitation of mineral, water or other resources. ”

“ PART V Article 19 Indigenous peoples have the right to participate fully, if they so choose, at all levels of decision-making in matters which may affect their rights, lives and destinies through representatives chosen by themselves in accordance with their own procedures, as well as to maintain and develop their own indigenous decision-making institutions. ”

“ The Jewish nation, for example, was the steward of Scripture: “Unto them were committed the oracles of God;” and whatever be the particular power or privilege of a nation, that power or privilege is a talent, or stewardship, to be employed in the service of Him who gave it.
Now, if ever there was a case in which this stewardship was conspicuous, it is in England’s relationship to India. It was placed in our hands by God himself. When our merchants first settled on the banks of the Hooghly, there was no thought of territorial possession. ”

“ Christ must be honoured at all costs; and God forbid that England ever hold a sovereignty either purchased or maintained at the awful price of the suppression of our principles or the keeping back of God’s truth!
Here lies, I believe, the root of this sad calamity. The contrary has been in many cases our decision. England’s power has been preferred to the Lord’s kingdom. We have forgotten our Stewardship. We have not held India by Him or for Him. We have relied on our own arm, and have governed for our own p. ”

“ For just in proportion as agriculture advances or declines will the prosperity of the people rise or fall, and the integrity of our government be stable or questionable. This fact has been clearly demonstrated in the history of nations; hence, stewardship of the soil embraces not only conservation of its fertility, but the fostering of such social institutions and educational forces as may be necessary to support a rural civilization that will minister to all the physical, mental and spiritual wants of a highly intellectual and permanent population. ”

“ Denmark, Belgium, Germany, and other European nations have fully demonstrated, that by the application of science to the art of agriculture, the productiveness of the soil can be multiplied almost to the limit of necessity.
A Progressive Agriculture. Fortunately Nature has supplied every means for the development of a progressive and permanent agriculture. It is also obvious that it is man's privilege, if not his mission, to improve upon Nature—to substitute quality for mere physical endurance, in agricultural products. ”

“ For without this incarnation of quality into plant and animal life the world's population could not supply its fundamental wants nor could civilization rise above the animal instincts in man.
The farmer, therefore, is a most important personage, and his vocation the most absolutely needful in all the world. The farmer is in very truth a creator, certainly a co-creator, improving Nature by the aid of science, just as the human mind and character are improved by means of education. ”

“ Beginnings of Agriculture. Here agriculture begins. By relieving plants of this intense competition by means of tillage, and by selecting the most promising for domestication, they are enabled to use all their energy for the development of those qualities which add to their intrinsic value, instead of expending it in the struggle for existence. Given, thus, free access to the soil and sunshine, with needful nourishment supplied and their fungous or parasitical enemies destroyed, the domesticated plants yield trustful obedience to the protecting hand of the husbandman. ”

“ By conscious design and a sort of mental architecture the animal to be is planned, and the picture thus conceived in the brain of the breeder becomes incarnated in the form, size and character of the animal. Not only is the animal created with the desired quality as to its parts and products, but its nature is transformed from fear and ferocity to that of trust and docility. ”

“ Assuming that the educator is thus able to distinguish what constitutes a life of worth, and to recognize and in some measure control the stimulations and reactions of the child, it is evident that he should be able to devise ways and means by which the child may grow into a more worthy, that is, into a more socially efficient, life. Such an attempt to control the reactions of the child as he adjusts himself to the physical and social world about him, in order to render him a more socially efficient member of the society to which he belongs, is described as formal education. ”

“ In other words, man is primarily a doer, and knowledge is intended to guide the conduct of the individual along certain recognized lines. This being the case, while instruction aims to control the process by which the child is to acquire valuable social experience, or knowledge, it is equally important that it should promote skill by correlating that knowledge with expression, or should strive to influence action while forming character. ”

“ The real secret of emotional control lies, therefore, in the power of voluntary attention. The effect of attention is to cause the nervous energy to be directed without undue resistance into its wonted channels, this, in turn, preventing its overflow into new channels. By thus directing the energy into wonted and open channels, attention prevents both the movements and the feeling that are concomitants of a disturbance of nervous equilibrium. ”

“ In other words, the perfect man is a social man and the perfect life is a life made up of social rights and [6] duties, wherein one is able to realize his own good in conformity with the good of others, and seek his own happiness by including within it the happiness of others. But to live a life of social worth, man must gain such control over his lower physical wants and desires that he can conform them to the needs and rights of others. ”

“ I can imagine it possible that after this experience of heathenism there will be any more deference paid to its horrid idolatry by Government; and I pray to God that his Church may rise an one man to the deep sense of its sacred trust; that we may all be brought to a deeper personal knowledge of the love of Christ, and each one act more conscientiously than he has ever yet done, under the steady recollection of India’s claims and England’s stewardship. ”

“ Was it not rather given in order that England’s p. 8light might shine in India’s darkness; that heathen Asia might have Christianity presented to its view, and that the millions of that vast empire might be brought under the blessing of a Christian government, and favoured with that which is the highest gift within the reach of man, the clear exhibition of Christian truth? I believe it may be safely said, that throughout the history of the world no nation was ever yet favoured with so noble an opportunity, or intrusted with so high a stewardship. ”

“ On the contrary, it would appear that an independent audit is required in justice to the Indian administration itself, as well as in the interest of the peoples of India and the people of England. The agents of our great Indian estate are probably the best agents, the most honest, enlightened, and laborious, that the world has ever seen. But that is no reason why the English nation should keep its eyes closed and neglect a manifest duty as master and trustee. ”

“ Individuals will always be found who follow the golden rule of unselfishness. But ordinary men naturally prefer their own interests to those of others. And he points out that a government of officials, not responsible to the people of India, and practically unsupervised even by their own countrymen at home, would naturally and almost unconsciously establish a system favourable to their own patronage and power, 'a system providing too much for the interests of the governors themselves, and too little for the welfare of the governed.' A presumption of this sort seems not unreasonable. ”

“ Does a company appoint its manager, however great and well deserved the confidence reposed in him, to audit his own accounts? Yet the largest company's affairs are a mere toy compared with these over which the Government of India presides. These are the affairs of 200 millions of people—a fifth of the human race. And there is no representation, and scarcely can there be at present; nor yet hardly any public opinion or publicity. Far less, to use a yet more homely simile, would an English proprietor ask his coachman or his gardener what stable or garden retrenchments should be made. ”

“ Under these circumstances it becomes imperatively necessary to look around for some means of relief; and the Governor-General in Council has no hesitation in stating his conviction that the only reasonable plan open to the Government is to induce the people themselves to undertake, as far as may be, the management of their own affairs.' This dilemma has long been admitted. ”

“ The soil upon which the harvest depends, moreover, is God's benediction to humanity. Measured by consequences, Heaven has vouchsafed no form of stewardship that is fraught with such tremendous responsibilities as this stewardship of the soil. In the final analysis this stewardship represents the farmer's obligation to society. ”

“ Heaven's choicest physical gift, the soil, provides the means for acquiring these indispensable necessities, and the vocation that accepts the responsibility of its stewardship ministers to the physical, as educators minister to the mental, or the clergy to the spiritual needs of man. Moreover, in the order of Nature the physical takes precedence, being primary and basic, and until legitimate physical wants are supplied, neither mental nor spiritual food can be satisfactorily assimilated. ”

“ To rescue the soil from the indifference and greed and selfishness wherein this generation unwittingly robs succeeding generations of their rightful inheritance, and to rescue the very vocation of agriculture from mercenary interests is a mission worthy of the best leadership and patriotism of our day. But it must not stop even at this. The public welfare demands that nearly half the population of the entire country, and certainly four-fifths of the population of this state, shall permanently pursue agriculture for a livelihood. ”

“ A commonwealth, therefore, that educates her children in due proportion to and in harmony with the demands of her principal industry, acts the part of wisdom. In this the state becomes the servant of both present and future generations by training her children for the conservation of Nature's gifts, while yet multiplying their use for the comfort and happiness of all the people. ”

“ We commit ourselves to ensuring equal access to high-quality education that recognizes the diversity of the cultures of indigenous peoples and to health, housing, water, sanitation and other economic and social programmes to improve well-being, including through initiatives, policies and the provision of resources. We intend to empower indigenous peoples to deliver such programmes as far as possible. ”

“ Article 22 Indigenous peoples have the right to special measures for the immediate, effective and continuing improvement of their economic and social conditions, including in the areas of employment, vocational training and retraining, housing, sanitation, health and social security. ”

“ We commit ourselves to taking, in consultation and cooperation with indigenous peoples, appropriate measures at the national level, including legislative, policy and administrative measures, to achieve the ends of the Declaration and to promote awareness of it among all sectors of society, including members of legislatures, the judiciary and the civil service. ”

“ Indigenous peoples have the right to the conservation and protection of the environment and the productive capacity of their lands or territories and resources. States shall establish and implement assistance programmes for indigenous peoples for such conservation and protection, without discrimination. States shall take effective measures to ensure that no storage or disposal of hazardous materials shall take place in the lands or territories of indigenous peoples without their free, prior and informed consent. ”

“ We affirm and recognize the importance of indigenous peoples’ religious and cultural sites and of providing access to and repatriation of their ceremonial objects and human remains in accordance with the ends of the Declaration. We commit ourselves to developing, in conjunction with the indigenous peoples concerned, fair, transparent and effective mechanisms for access to and repatriation of ceremonial objects and human remains at the national and international levels. ”