Nature surrounds us. Knowledge and the vision of the world and its order and perfection are translated into a Messianic philosophy of the Divine, a culture which becomes history, order and law. Rationality, historicity of scientific knowledge, nature and

Nature surrounds us. Knowledge and the vision of the world and its order and perfection are translated into a Messianic philosophy of the Divine, a culture which becomes history, order and law. Rationality, historicity of scientific knowledge, nature and experience, nature and human ratio, science and ethics, science and its language, dialogue and mutual understanding, coexistence and love.

As a global insight and from this perspective, Nature and Landscapes are perceived by modern / contemporary Humanity with formal, stylistic and technical characteristics which strongly reflect the teachings of the Divine prophets and their efforts to direct Man to the right way and settle his life and affairs according to Divine laws and within Divine dominion.

Nature and Landscapes, the Environment in its entirety, pertain to the Divine dominion and its Divine Laws.

To study this issue, one must deal with the impact with a world which lives its life in close, intimate contact with nature, a world and a culture which observe nature and the cosmos and perceive them in every detail over the slow march of days and nights, the rhythmical march of the seasons and the lunar cycles.

And when human beings perceive Nature, Landscapes and the Environment as a science, they use knowledge - or the human ratio - through which Man comes nearer to God and to that infinite, spherical and perfect universe which He created, and of which Man feels himself to be an intimate harmonious part.

However, nowadays, we are confronted with a world and a humanity often at odds with nature for their very survival, or for their personal delight and satisfaction. We are confronted with a humanity whose ultimate goal is to reach the maximum control over nature and environment. We are confronted with a world which conditions, manipulates nature and its laws. And nature takes its own revenges conditioning Man and mankind in its turn. We are confronted with an environment often perceived in its tension with uncertainty and the blind recklessness of modern-contemporary times. It is a culture which - in the struggle to know, to understand the celestial cosmos and its rules, to grasp the secrets of the whole universe - grapples with this universe for its own life and survival in peace and at war.

Thus, this culture disregards Divine laws and order, and provokes environmental catastrophes which arise from ignorance and lead to dramatic ecological crises and environmental disasters.

Hence, the preservation of environment becomes one of the main human objectives in order to preserve homeland and environment beyond geographical boundaries and physiographic frontiers.

Superficiality has often brought to misunderstandings, which prevent us from the attainment of some ideals such as justice, freedom, human rights. This objective must go beyond and behind the present shortcomings of a modernity linked to one country and one society. This objective must be attained in a cosmic order after the age of appearance, with the growth of Man’s knowledge, and within a new World and Order. Then a bright future can spring out, without allowing us to desist from the religious teachings and principles, surmounting all contradictions between tradition and modernity. Likewise, environmental and ecological catastrophes can give way to a scientific, religious perception of Nature, which uses knowledge emerging from religious tenets, through which Man comes nearer to God and to that infinite, spherical and perfect universe which He created, and of which Man feels himself to be intrinsic and harmonious part.

Prof. Dr. Valeria Piacentini Fiorani