Abstract: By studying traditional thought and culture, we attempt to know the original ideas of ancient sages and the intellectual connotations in early philosophical discourses. However, more importantly, we try to grasp the significance of traditional thought, find out the "principles valid in ancient and modern times", and discover something that can be creatively transformed into modern "values". Examining the traditional idea of the "unity of Heaven and Human", we really find some "principles valid in ancient and modern times", which can be used as cultural and intellectual resources for us to create modern values to solve current "spiritual crisis" and "ecological challenges". Nevertheless, in order to creatively transform and develop excellent traditional cultural resources into real ingredients of modern culture, we should adopt the historical dialectic method to deal with "origins" and "resources" in cultural evolution.

Key words: the unity of Heaven and Human, principles valid in ancient and modern times, ecological wisdom, attaching importance to oneself while taking advantage of things