Love of Creation: Exploring Diversity and Commonality among Religious and Philosophical Traditions

Abstract

Love is widely recognized as one of the most important, desired, and consequential aspects of the human condition, and thus has rightly been the focus of much academic attention. However, this interest has tended to concentrate on specific forms of love—especially romantic and familial forms—to the exclusion of others. One such overlooked form is love of “creation”—of the world and the wider cosmos in which human beings find themselves. Throughout history and across cultures, this kind of love has been developed and articulated by religious and philosophical traditions in diverse ways. This article showcases a selection of ten such traditions, generally through the prism of one particularly important figure within each tradition, including Hinduism, Judaism, Zen Buddhism, Manichaeism, Christianity, Islam, Maasai thought, Cherokee thought, Romanticism, and secular reverence. Through these lenses, the diverse ways love of creation has been expressed can be appreciated. In the conclusion, we also try to find some common ground among these traditions by constructing a provisional set of items for a love of creation measure that would be applicable across traditions.