Discusses the difference between the Chinese culture's cosmology of celestial beings and the Western scientific cosmology.

The question of the unity of heaven and man, in terms of its theoretical essence, is about the unity of man and nature, or the unity of nature and spirit. It should be admitted that the thought of the unity of heaven and man in traditional Chinese culture is very complicated, in which there are both right and wrong views, and we must analyze it realistically. However, from the perspective of the national nature of culture and the advancing role and far-reaching influence on national culture, we should boldly affirm it. The most basic meaning of the ancient Chinese thinkers' thoughts on the unity of heaven and man is to fully affirm the unity of nature and spirit, and to pay attention to the problem of harmonizing human behavior with nature. In this sense, the thought of the unity of heaven and man, is very valuable.

Engels had a series of incisive discussions on the unity of nature and spirit. He said, "Day by day we learn to understand more correctly the laws of nature and to recognize the more recent or more remote effects of our interference with the usual itinerary of nature." He also said, "Nature and spirit are united. Nature cannot be irrational ...... and reason cannot contradict nature." "The laws of thought and the laws of nature, insofar as they are properly recognized, are necessarily consistent with each other." These expositions of Engels have profoundly revealed the rich connotation of the problem of the unity of nature and spirit. Examining the ancient Chinese idea of the unity of heaven and man in the light of these expositions of Engels, it is not difficult to see that this idea has a profound rationality.

The ancient Chinese idea of the unity of heaven and man, which emphasizes the unity of man and nature, the coordination of man's behavior with nature, and the consistency of moral reason and natural reason, fully demonstrates the dialectical thinking of ancient Chinese thinkers about the relationship between subject and object, between subjective initiative and objective laws. According to this kind of thinking, human beings cannot go against the laws of nature, cannot go beyond the capacity of nature to transform nature, conquer nature, or destroy nature, but can only utilize nature and adjust nature under the condition of obeying the laws of nature, so as to make it more in line with the needs of human beings, and also so that all things in nature can grow and develop. On the other hand, nature is not a mysterious force that dominates people and their societies, but an objective object that can be recognized and used for our purposes. The result of the long-term practice of this thought is to achieve the unity of nature and man, the unity of man's spirit and behavior with external nature, the unity of the balance of self and body with the balance of the natural environment, as well as the unity of the way of heaven and the way of man achieved as a result of these unities, thus realizing the spiritual pursuit of perfection and harmony. The thought of unity of heaven and man in Chinese culture is of great inspiration for solving the problems of pollution of the natural environment and destruction of the ecological balance brought about by industrialization and unlimited conquest of nature in today's world; and of great practical significance for the socialist modernization that we are carrying out today, which is more important for preventing problems from arising in the first place.