Jumbled thoughts on the Reverence for Life

Albert Schweitzer’s piece is dedicated to the idea of ‘reverence for life’, which is awe for the mysteries of life. The ethics for reverence for life makes no distinction between higher and lower beings. We are all connected in this universe whether you are a flower in an open field or a human being. Schweitzer believes that we should only stamp out life if necessary, never from thoughtlessness. That we should seize every moment we have to feel happiness for helping other living things and guarding them against suffering and pain. Schweitzer also rejects the idea of anthropocentrism, which is the belief that humans are the center of life on Earth. Schweitzer emphasizes that there should be no hierarchical distinctions between different forms of life. Yet, who gets to draw that line, meaning, who are we to decide who is a higher or lower creature anyhow?

Besides that, I got a taste of Schweitzer’s philosophy of the reverence for life in his illustration of the farmer who mows down a thousand flowers in his meadow, in order to feed his cows. After doing so, the farmer should be on guard, as he turns homeward, not to decapitate some flower by the roadside, just by way of thoughtlessly passing the time. For then he sins against life without being under the compulsion of necessity. So it is necessity that drives us? We can sin as long as we are under the impression that it is a necessity? That is where it gets a little foggy for me. Therefore, deliberate, necessary, and rational actions as opposed to thoughtless ones are central to his philosophy of reverence for life.