Spiritual Forum

Reverence is the way of radical respect. It recognizes and honors the presence of the sacred in everything — our bodies, other people, animals, plants, rocks, the earth, and the waters. It is even an appropriate attitude to bring to our things, since they are the co-creations of humans and the Creator.

from "The Ethics of Reverence for Life," Albert Schweitzer

“Here, then, is the first spiritual act in man’s experience: reverence for life. The consequence of it is that he comes to realize his dependence upon events quite beyond his control. Therefore he becomes resigned. And this is the second spiritual act: resignation. …

“I have said that resignation is the very basis of ethics. Starting from this position, the will-to-live comes first to veracity as the primary ground of virtue. If I am faithful to my will-to-live, I cannot disguise this fact, even though such disguise or evasion might seem to my advantage. Reverence for my will-to-live leads me to the necessity of being sincere with myself. And out of this fidelity to my own nature grows all my faithfulness. Thus, sincerity is the first ethical quality which appears. However lacking one may be in other respects, sincerity is the one thing which he must possess. Nor is this point of view to be found only among people of complex social life. Primitive cultures show the fact to be equally true there. Resignation to the will-to-live leads directly to this first virtue: SINCERITY.

“Having reached this point, then, I am in a position to look at the world. I ask knowledge what it can tell me of life. Knowledge replies that what it can tell me is little, yet immense. Whence this universe came, or whither it is bound, or how it happens to be at all, knowledge cannot tell me. Only this: that the will-to-live is everywhere present, even as in me. I do not need science to tell me this; but it cannot tell me anything more essential. Profound and marvelous as chemistry is, for example, it is like all science in the fact that it can lead me only to the mystery of life, which is essentially in me, however near or far away it may be observed.

“What shall be my attitude toward this other life? It can only be of a piece with my attitude towards my own life. If I am a thinking being, I must regard other life than my own with equal reverence. For I shall know that it longs for fullness and development as deeply as I do myself. Therefore, I see that evil is what annihilates, hampers, or hinders life. And this holds good whether I regard it physically or spiritually. Goodness, by the same token, is the saving or helping of life, the enabling of whatever life I can to attain its highest development. …

“Reverence for life is a universal ethic.

“We do not say this because of its absolute nature, but because of the boundlessness of its domain. Ordinary ethics seeks to find limits within the sphere of human life and relationships. But the absolute ethics of the will-to-live must reverence every form of life, seeking so far as possible to refrain from destroying any life, regardless of its particular type. It says of no instance of life, "This has no value." It cannot make any such exceptions, for it is built upon reverence for life as such. It knows that the mystery of life is always too profound for us, and that its value is beyond our capacity to estimate. We happen to believe that man’s life is more important than any other form of which we know. But we cannot prove any such comparison of value from what we know of the world’s development. True, in practice we are forced to choose. At times we have to decide arbitrarily which forms of life, and even which particular individuals, we shall save, and which we shall destroy. But the principle of reverence for life is none the less universal.”

1) Scientific knowledge and philosophical systems, although helpful in their own ways, do not offer us an ethics to live by, because they focus on knowledge of reality in the universe, while we do not possess such complete knowledge. Science answers some questions and increases our knowledge--though at the same time it raises yet more questions and mysteries. Past philosophies have not been proven practical, because they are based on a rational understanding of the world and our place in it, and reality conceived through skepticism would serve only as an intellectual belief, not a spiritual quality and understanding rooted in our own thought, life, and inner being.

2) If we do not want to be part of evil and suffering in the world, we are faced with two options: Either we renounce the world and life, as some ascetics do, for example, in India; or we play an active role in life and in the world, doing our best to make a better society and a happier life, and to rejoice in the beauty and mystery of nature. Schweitzer refers to the first option as world- or life-negation, and to the second option as world- or life-affirmation.

3) Schweitzer then proceeds to say that the affirmation of the world and life necessitates that we appreciate and respect our lives others lives. If we contemplate life, including ours, in the world, we realize that it is the "will-to-live in the midst of will-to-live." Through understanding the quality of our own life, we come to understand all life and that life itself is sacred. Reverence for life is an ethical mysticism because we are led to this ethics through our inner understanding. Although Schweitzer's thinking is essentially humanistic, he himself linked it to his theistic worldview. Schweitzer saw God's creative act in the universal will-to-live. He wrote: "Reverence for life means to be in the grasp of the infinite, inexplicable, forward-urging Will in which all Being is grounded." -

“As we know life in ourselves, we want to understand life in the universe, in order to enter into harmony with it.”

Nothing is too trivial or second class for reverence. But it has to be demonstrated with concrete actions. Reverence is also a kind of radical amazement, a deep feeling tinged with both mystery and wonder. Approaching the world with reverence, we are likely to experience its sister — awe. Allow yourself to be moved beyond words. There is one unmistakable message in the spiritual practice of reverence: because everything is touched by the sacred, everything has worth. This practice, then, builds self-esteem.

Some revere the beauty of the flowers in their garden, but shun the weeds. The virulence of life and the determination to survive found in the weeds is a true testimony to the universal law that we strengthen that which we oppose.

It is often easier to feel reverence for nature or the genius reflected in the works of man’s hands, than for our fellow man. The reverence may not appear at all unless we learn at last to embrace the value of folly. The grandest of souls assigned the task of solving the most ambitious part of the mystery of beigness, might appear at times more foolish than the complacent person who stays in the safety of the known.

Reverence – Every Blade Of Grass Shares The Wonderment For Life

Reverence leaves the mark of refinement upon the one who makes it a way of life. It is the hallmark of one who recognizes the infinite value of life as the embodiment of the Divine.

http://www1.chapman.edu/schweitzer/sch.reading4.html
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