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.
天人合一的宇宙观
天人合一，是中国传统文化处理天和人关系的基本立场，是中国人民在历史长河中形成的独特宇宙观。自古以来，人与自然的关系是人类要处理的三大重要关系之一。中国古代社会是农耕文明，天时和地利对于农业生产乃至古人的生活都有着根本影响，因此，主张人与自然和谐共存，敬畏自然、顺应自然的观念，成为中国传统社会的主导观念，并且深刻地影响了中国人的文化心理。在此基础上所产生的中国传统思想，是以天人合一为基本价值立场和精神追求的，而在儒家传统中，表现尤为明显。传统儒家思想将人看作是“天地之心”，强调“仁民爱物”，主张由己及人、由人及物，把仁爱扩展至宇宙万物，从而实现“参天地、赞化育”，这就是对人与自然和谐相处的一种积极表达。而宋代以来，“民胞物与”“万物一体”的观念更是成为儒学的普遍价值立场。
天人合一的宇宙观涵盖两个层面：首先，“合一”意味着自然并不是作为人的对立面而存在，它是与人的命运休戚相关的一个整体，对于自然的过度掠夺和破坏是不被允许的。这是对自然的一种价值尊重和情感接纳。其次，“合一”也意味着人类必须按照自然规律来生产生活，从而实现与自然协调发展，这是一种极为高明的可持续发展理念。正是在天人合一的宇宙观影响下，中国传统社会具有了更鲜明的特点，中国传统文化也具有了更强大的生命力。
天人合一的宇宙观是中华优秀传统文化的精华，对于当代中国发展尤其是生态文明建设具有积极意义。从道法自然、天人合一的中国传统智慧，到创新、协调、绿色、开放、共享的新发展理念，中国把生态文明建设放在突出地位，融入中国经济社会发展各方面和全过程，努力建设人与自然和谐共生的现代化。
