“Everything is inhabited by some kind of spirit and there is a proper way to conduct relationships with them. All things are in balance and any disturbances in the spiritual world may affect other members of the earthly family or community.” – Patrick Segundad, Kadazan Community, Malaysia (1999, p.147)

“The connection I have to my mother’s tribe is the bird we call the cullier, which is the sea hawk. It has a very strong significance to our birth, and especially to our family. Our connection with it is very strong spiritually.” – Henrietta Fourmile, Polidingi Tribe, Australia (1999, p. 125)

When a tree that bears fruit is cut down, its moan goes from one end of the world to the other, yet no sound is heard. – Midrash (1996, p. 47)

“God said, ‘Let the earth bring forth every kind of living creature: cattle, creeping things, and wild beasts of every kind.’ And it was so. God made wild beasts of every kind and cattle of every kind, and all kinds of creeping things of the earth. And God saw that this was good.” – Genesis, The Hebrew Bible (1996, p. 70-71)

“The subtle essence of the universe is eternal. It is like an unfailing fountain of life which flows forever in a vast and profound valley. It is called the Primal Female, the Mysterious Origin. The operation of the openign and closing of the subtle Gate of the Origin performs the Mystical Intercourse of the universe. The Mystical Intercourse of yin and yang is the root of universal life. Its creativity and effectiveness are boundless.” - Lao Tzu (1996, p. 68)

“The beauty referred to [in many Navajo chants] is both spiritual beauty and the pervading beauty of the natural world. And appreciation for it is expressed not only in words, but in ‘walking’, that is, a way of life” (1996, p. 137).

In West Africa, an infant’s umbilical cord is cut and placed in a calabash and then sprinkled with herbs… “and after some pronouncements, buried under a tree at the back of the house. The child is rooted to the land with which it shares an everlasting bond” (2001, p.233).

“Lawa nan mangpukan is ado-ado ay ka-iw isnan pagpag.” Translation: It is forbidden to cut trees indiscriminately in the forest.” (Victoria Tauli-Copuz, speaking of a taboo of the indigenous people of Northern Philippines, 2001, p. 281).

“Hawaiians traditionally have viewed the entire world as being alive in the same way that humans are alive. They have thought all of nature as conscious - able to know and to act - and able to interrelate with humans” (1996, p. 126).

References
Gottlieb, R. (Ed.) ( 1996). This sacred earth: Religion, nature, environment. New York: Routledge.
Grimm, J. (Ed.) (2001). Indigenous traditions and ecology. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Posey, D.A. (Ed.) (1999). Cultural and spiritual values of biodiversity. London: Intermediate Technology Publications.