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Leibniz - And Communing with Nature as a way of knowing God
Identifier
020580
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
A description of the experience
From N Rescher - Leibniz and the Quakers; 1955, original text in Grua I:91
It seems to me that the majority of those who lay claim to great spirituality … try to convey a distaste for the study of the truths of Nature. In my opinion they should do the very contrary if they do not wish to encourage our human laziness and ignorance.
True love is based upon a knowledge of the beauty of the loved object. Thus the beauty of God is apparent in the wonder of the effects of this supreme cause. Therefore the better one understands Nature and knows the solid truths of the natural sciences – which are like so many rays of divine perfection – the greater is one’s capacity truly to love God.