A Reverence for Life

Before becoming our tour guide on the voyage to ethical enlightenment, Dr. Schweitzer had a much more challenging trek facing him; namely, finding an ethical theory that was spiritual in origin yet broadly terrestrial in application.

Such a theory could not be man-made, as all such theories, in the view

of the great doctor, disintegrated upon close examination. Every

attempt failed both to maintain coherence, much less achieve

complete applicability to each interaction of mankind with our fellow

inhabitants.

He cited Schopenhauer’s lament as indicative of the problem:

“To preach morality is easy, to give it a foundation is hard.”

To locate and name that rock solid foundation of ethics was the quest

that Dr. Schweitzer set before himself.

One of Schweitzer’s most renowned and quoted sayings is:

“I am life which wills to live, in the midst of life which wills to live.”

Whatever the great man’s theory turned out to be, that theory had to

recognize the primacy of life, to understand that life itself, all

existence, is the crucial driver of our moral obligations.

The elements comprising his philosophy of ethics had to set forth not

just an acknowledgement of the critical position held by existence,

they had to mandate and elicit from humanity an uncompromising

standard of morality, of dedication, what the great doctor termed

“devotion” towards all beings that subsist on our shared home.

This was the challenge.

Could Albert Schweitzer realize his dream of a spiritually founded

ethos that was not only applicative to humans and every fellow

creature, but propelled and inspired those humans to go extraordinary

lengths to protect and enhance life in whatever form and whatever

locale it was found.

In our next two posts we’ll see how he did.

Bob Echols

Robert Echols has a professional background that includes corporate ethics and compliance, corporate and

organizational law, and nonprofit leadership. A cancer survivor and U.S. Army veteran, he currently seeks

to do the will of God as a spiritual writer, ethicist, and lifelong advocate for animal stewardship and the ethos of a

reverence for life.

Unity’s reverence for life stems from its core teaching that God/Spirit is present in every person and all creation as an innate "Divine Spark".