Saturday, September 18, 2010

A Reverence for Life Philosophy

Dr. Schweitzer decided that he would pursue these interests until he was thirty years of age and then he would give himself to serving humanity and follow the command of Jesus Christ by becoming a "Fisher of Men." He followed his heart and did exactly that going to Lambarene in West Africa where the need for medical attention was overwhelming. There, he eventually founded a hospital.

One day while he was out on a boat on the River Oguwe, he came upon a philosophy for which he had long been searching. He made the phase the basic tenet of an ethical philosophy which he developed and put into practice. He called it REVERENCE FOR LIFE. The basic thought, so far as he was concerned, was that good consists in maintaining and enhancing life, and to destroy or hinder that life is evil.

Some critics thought it was too simple "Don't ever step on a bug".
Some critics thought it was too difficult, "No one can stop a nuclear war if one is headed your way!" Neither were correct in their assessment of the philosophy Schweitzer intended. But, in spite of the critics, or maybe because of them, the philosophy and the philosopher became more newsworthy!

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