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Essay 3: Albert Schweitzer's Affirmations of Reverence for Life |
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16 -
But there is an
additional way,
arguably the most
important way, in
which Schweitzer
affirmed Reverence
for Life. ...
He lived Reverence
for Life.
sermon on love for neighbor on February 16, 1919. These
ethical rules of reciprocity are to be found all around the world
among devotees of the religions of the world. Hinduism
praises one who looks on neighbor as self. Buddhism
announces a universal love for all beings, a love that
overcomes the hatred of others. Confucianism proclaims, "Do
not do to others what you would not want them to do to you."
The Tao-te-Ching observes, "One who loves the world as
one's own body can be entrusted with the world." With these
affirmations we are close indeed to Schweitzer's affirmation
of Reverence for Life.
In September, 1915, Schweitzer says, he came up with the
phrase Reverence for Life while passing through a herd of
hippopotami on the Ogowe River, and thereafter he found a
variety of ways to affirm Reverence for Life -
autobiographically, exegetically, religiously,
philosophically. But there is an additional way, arguably
the most important way, in which Schweitzer affirmed
Reverence for Life. He did so daily, actively, in his life. He
lived Reverence for Life. As a medical doctor for Africans
and Europeans who were in
need of medical attention, as
the head of a village hospital
that welcomed and nurtured
people and animals,
Schweitzer practiced
Reverence for Life for half a
century at Lambarene and in
the equatorial jungle around.
Like Goethe, in
Wilhelm
Meister
, Schweitzer chose
Reverence as the category to
explain life in the world, and
like Goethe, in
Faust
,
Schweitzer considered the
opening of the Gospel of
John,
en arche en ho logos
, "In the beginning was the
word," and understood it, "In the beginning was action."
Before going to Africa, Schweitzer promised to be quiet as
a fish, and he maintained that his life was his argument.