on the dominion of man over nature and loving my cat

And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. (Genesis 1:26)

 

    Recognizing the disgusting hubris of humanity in pillaging the globe—abusing and killing animals, levelling forests, polluting waterbodies—we conclude that this has been allowed by a misconception that humans have dominion over nature, when in reality we are part of nature: just animals, like horses or mice or birds, and not superior to them but maybe even inferior; for our stupidity and failure to live in harmony. People do a lot of meditation trying to unlearn our perceived separation from nature. 

    Nonetheless we are separated from nature--inexorably so--because we have the potential to love it. Nature cannot love us, but we can love nature. My cat cannot love me. This is a one-way street. God gave us dominion over the world not to abuse it but to love it. As if “dominion” meant you can do whatever you want, free of responsibility! Precisely the opposite: dominion entails responsibility, as the dominion of a father or mother over their child. 

    What else could God have said? There is no other way. There is only one thing to do with the world (love it) and everything else leads to destruction. It was precisely in giving us dominion over nature that God told us to love and protect it.