The Cosmic View of Maintaining Harmony Between Humanity and Nature
Maintaining harmony between humanity and nature is a basic position of traditional Chinese culture in dealing with the relationship between the two, a unique cosmic view formed by the Chinese people over the course of history. Throughout the ages, the relationship between humanity and nature is one of the three major relations that humanity has to cope with. In the agrarian society of ancient China, climate and topography had decisive influence on agricultural production and people's life. Therefore, ideas such as respecting and accommodating nature, and advocating harmonious coexistence of humanity with nature remained dominant in traditional Chinese society and exerted a profound impact on the cultural psychology of the Chinese people. Traditional Chinese thinking fostered on this basis, especially Confucianism, took harmony between humanity and nature as the basic stand and spiritual pursuit. The traditional Confucian thoughts regarded humanity as "the heart of heaven and earth," emphasized the need to "love all the people and things, and advocated passing on love from oneself to other people, to everything in the universe, so as to "participate in and assist the cultivation of life." This is a positive expression of harmony between humanity and nature. Since the Song Dynasty, the thoughts that "all people are my brothers and all things are my friends" and "all people and things are integrated as one" had become universal values upheld by Confucianism.
The cosmic view of maintaining harmony between humanity and nature can be understood from two facets. One is that nature does not exist in opposition to humanity, but is closely integrated with humanity; any excessive plunder and destruction of nature is forbidden. This is a testament to humanity's emotional acceptance of nature and respect for its value. The other is that harmony means that humanity's life and production must be based on the laws of nature in an effort to achieve coordinated development with nature. This is clearly a good approach to sustainable development. It was under the influence of the cosmic view of maintaining harmony between humanity and nature that traditional Chinese society obtained more distinctive characteristics and traditional Chinese culture stronger vitality.
The cosmic view of maintaining harmony between humanity and nature is part of the essence of traditional Chinese culture, and it is of positive significance to contemporary China's development, especially in terms of ecological progress. From the traditional Chinese wisdom that "man should observe the laws of nature and seek for harmony between humanity and nature" to a new concept of pursuing innovative, coordinated, green, open and shared development, China has given high priority to ecological progress and incorporated it into all aspects and the whole process of China's social and economic development, thereby marching toward modernization characterized by harmony between humanity and nature.
天人合一的宇宙觀
天人合一，是中國傳統文化處理天和人關系的基本立場，是中國人民在歷史長河中形成的獨特宇宙觀。自古以來，人與自然的關系是人類要處理的三大重要關系之一。中國古代社會是農耕文明，天時和地利對于農業生產乃至古人的生活都有著根本影響，因此，主張人與自然和諧共存，敬畏自然、順應自然的觀念，成為中國傳統社會的主導觀念，并且深刻地影響了中國人的文化心理。在此基礎上所產生的中國傳統思想，是以天人合一為基本價值立場和精神追求的，而在儒家傳統中，表現尤為明顯。傳統儒家思想將人看作是“天地之心”，強調“仁民愛物”，主張由己及人、由人及物，把仁愛擴展至宇宙萬物，從而實現“參天地、贊化育”，這就是對人與自然和諧相處的一種積極表達。而宋代以來，“民胞物與”“萬物一體”的觀念更是成為儒學的普遍價值立場。
天人合一的宇宙觀涵蓋兩個層面：首先，“合一”意味著自然并不是作為人的對立面而存在，它是與人的命運休戚相關的一個整體，對于自然的過度掠奪和破壞是不被允許的。這是對自然的一種價值尊重和情感接納。其次，“合一”也意味著人類必須按照自然規律來生產生活，從而實現與自然協調發展，這是一種極為高明的可持續發展理念。正是在天人合一的宇宙觀影響下，中國傳統社會具有了更鮮明的特點，中國傳統文化也具有了更強大的生命力。
天人合一的宇宙觀是中華優秀傳統文化的精華，對于當代中國發展尤其是生態文明建設具有積極意義。從道法自然、天人合一的中國傳統智慧，到創新、協調、綠色、開放、共享的新發展理念，中國把生態文明建設放在突出地位，融入中國經濟社會發展各方面和全過程，努力建設人與自然和諧共生的現代化。
