A Reverence for Life

Eureka!

The long sought-after ethos, a philosophy that would link spiritual

formation with temporal application, finally dawned on the great

doctor.

Actually, according to his recollection it appeared at dusk, but let’s

briefly revisit the remarkable milieu where this epiphany took place.

Dr. Schweitzer had already spent two days on the Ogooue River in

west Africa; the long, laborious, meandering journey from the Atlantic

Ocean to his inland river mission. He had spent those 48 hours

covering sheets of paper with test phrases of his ethos. The result:

total failure.

Finally, while noting the behavior of a herd of hippopotami in the river,

particularly the affection that the elder animals bestowed on their

young, “reverence for life” burst in on him.

And the significance of this revelation?

For Schweitzer, the import was attaining the previously thought

unattainable: a theory of ethics that was derived from and

communicated through spirit, but which, once inculcated in mankind,

impelled mankind to the bestowal of sympathy and love on all life.

He wrote:

“What shall be my attitude toward other life?

Ethics, too, are nothing but reverence for life. That is what gives me

the fundamental principle of morality, namely, that good consists in

maintaining, promoting, and enhancing life, and that destroying,

injuring, and limiting life are evil.”

Next time we’ll proceed forward in our quest to see how a reverence

for life so perfectly fulfills the edict of Charles Fillmore; namely, that

we not only understand spiritual teachings, we apply those teachings

in our lives.

Bob Echols