From August 2 to 16, 2025, we (XLC: two students and one teacher) participated in the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities – Asia Pacific Service Learning Program 2025, with the theme “One with Nature”, at Ateneo de Naga University, Philippines. We had the opportunity to experience a new way of life. Today, we would like to share our thoughts and good experiences on the topic “One with Nature.”
The resources on this Earth were created to mutually fulfill one another. Water was created to nourish all things that need it for existence. It is a source of drinking water, a habitat for fish and aquatic life, and a source of irrigation for crops. The land was created to be a source of growth for various plants, as well as a dwelling place for living beings. Trees were created to cover the Earth's surface, provide food and shelter for living beings, and produce oxygen released into the atmosphere, creating balance for the ecosystem. The air was created for the existence of life on this Earth. Living beings, from the smallest to the largest, all have a role and a duty in the complex cycle on Earth—a cycle so intricate it is difficult to understand in its entirety. All are interconnected and inseparable, like cogs in a machine working together, where no single part can be missing.
Even humans themselves are a part of this cycle, with the duty to coexist with other creations. Humans were created to have a role and be beneficial to others, just like other creations. But humans may have forgotten these roles and duties, always misunderstanding that they are born only to seek success, stability, and benefits for themselves and their kin; to compete to be number one; to aim solely for achievementuntil they neglect the environment and nature.
Therefore, this new awareness does not mean reverting to the old ways of life. It means using the knowledge, wisdom, and technology we possess to lead us on a path of compassion, kindness, and sharing, instead of seeking profit, power, and destruction. From competition to collaboration (with both humans and nature). From exploiting to creating balance. From personal success to collective flourishing.
Learn the language of nature. Listen to the sky, the rain, and the land; they tell the eternal, true truth. We are merely a part of the vast universe—not its masters or owners, but just one life form on this Earth.
"We are not the creators of the ecological system. We are just one character in the great poetry of nature." — David George Haskell
