Its Process and Practice in the Modern World.

In my investigation of how his philosophy of the reverence for life could be applied to the modern world I entertained many grand themes and topics such as global warming, war and peace, even the current economic crisis. However, I soon realised that when Schweitzer’s theory becomes separated from the individual is starts to lose is meaning and its effectiveness. I understood that the role of the reverence for life still begins with the individual and decided to set out distinct stages for personal transformation within his philosophy. I hope by detailing my personal views on how his philosophy can be systematised to encourage practice that this format may lend to modern demands for firm direction and instruction.

Before, I begin to explain the stages I perceive in his philosophy, I wish to emphasise that this piece should not be considered to be part of the analytical and objective world of the academic essay and yet, on the other hand, is not some form of confessional or tale of personal realisation. I hope that this piece can be read as a representation of my contact with the works of Albert Schweitzer.

I wish to personalise this essay and emphasise my subjective influence as I feel an authorial engagement to the ideas of Schweitzer, to let them live through personal action, analysis and critique, is what they demand. Principally, when coming into contact with the ideas of Schweitzer I was struck by the simplicity and profundity of the concept of reverence for life. Yet, in attempting to apply these ideas to modern society and modern problems I needed to understand how these ideas could be actualised and therefore needed to engage with the concept of process. In the essay I will elaborate on how I see the process and practice of the reverence for life and how I feel it provides a logical and satisfying basis for true empathy.  The Gradual Approach as Opposed to the Sudden.

“Everyone in his own environment must strive to practice true humanity toward others. The future of the world depends on it. Great values are lost at every moment because we miss opportunities, but the values that are turned into will and action constitute a richness that must not be undervalued. Our humanity is by no means as materialistic as people claim so complacently.”

This initial quote discusses the “strive to practice true humanity”. It is this notion of striving and the path of change that I believe is of fundamental importance for the success of the reverence for life. The depiction of Albert Schweitzer’s realisation of the reverence for life is retold as a sudden change, a realisation that came to him while he was in Africa.   However, such an emphasis on the realisation of an idea as opposed to the process of the realisation can perhaps overshadow the clear calls for personal transformation with the writings of Schweitzer. Schweitzer’s thought is not a representation of a realised consciousness that is meant to be marvelled at or for humanity to inspect and mull over as if a museum exhibit. Schweitzer was clear that his philosophy was something that was best represented in the realm of actions than that of writing and this ethos can be seen throughout his life in his service to humanity and striving for selfless action. Basham perceptively states that in his famous statement “my life is my argument”, Schweitzer is challenging us to “unify thought and conduct”.  In light of this discussion, the initial sentence in the quote at the beginning of the essay is a rallying call to actualise the principles that were set out by Schweitzer. I feel the principles that Schweitzer explained were not a state that was to be embodied using any arbitrary procedure. I understand the process of this “strive to practice true humanity” to be contained in his explanations of the “reverence of life”.

Simple Awareness- The Fundamental Principle for Social Change

In analysing the potential transformation process of a reverence for life I came to the conclusion that awareness itself was the basis to Schweitzer’s thought and fundamental to his views on humanity. I understood that to know life, one must know what it is to be alive. Therefore, an awareness of our own lives and phenomenological process is essential. Schweitzer disagreed with Kant’s notion of morality in that Kant neglected that awareness could be a uniting factor among human beings.  Schweitzer thought that Kant had not grounded his moral theory within “‘elemental’ experience”, “experience that is available to all human beings”.   Likewise, in opposition to Descartes’ theory of cogito ergo sum, Schweitzer understood the human condition as not being reduced to thought but to something more fundamental, awareness, the process of living itself. On Schweitzer’s redefining of this cornerstone of Western philosophy, Tymieniecka states:

“All that follows from cogito ergo sum does not lead man outside the boundaries of thinking and thought. Thinking is directed toward objects and implies such a factor as willing to live, will for life. When a man thinks about himself and his place in the outward world he reaffirms himself as a desire, will to live among other wills to live.”

I shall come on to the concepts of desire and the “will to live” in Schweitzer’s thought but for now I want to emphasise that without awareness a human cannot know that he or she is alive and therefore cannot transfer this observation to other beings. I would even go so far as to say in Schweitzer’s thought, without true awareness of our own existence the reverence for life cannot be practised.

An Awareness that We are Alive - Care for the Self and Others

From a cultivation of the awareness of the life and mental phenomenon, Schweitzer understood that each one of us comes to the conclusion that we are alive:

“…we experience ourselves as alive – as a cluster of strivings to continue living, experience pleasure and joy, avoid pain and diminishment, develop our interests and abilities, and affirm ourselves.”

It is interesting here that Schweitzer equates being alive with a cluster of mental phenomena such as strivings, experiences and emotions. I conclude that in Schweitzer’s philosophy, while material life is most definitely included in his notion of reverence for life, he begins this reverence, and perhaps shows a potential bias, in the subjective and the psychological. Being alive is also not just an independent fact or existence, an indivisible notion of being as some philosophers have understood, but a compounded entity made up of processes of functions that are able to be understood by those who are subject to their operation. Therefore, in Schweitzer’s view, while life remains a mysterious entity and something that conceals its truths, it is through its mundane aspects that one can obtain its ultimate aspects. Life is something that can be known, moulded, changed and perfected. In some respects it is in this appeal to life’s very direct nature that allows one to actualise its higher functions by using mundane experience to form a foundation for higher levels of living such as empathy and self-sacrifice. Through a detailed awareness of mundane experience we can relate to other living beings in new and manifold ways.

An Awareness of The Contents of Living

As I have already touched upon in the previous section, not only ‘living’ as an abstract concept is to be grasped and understood, but living as a collection of various processes is the foundation for our relationship with the rest of humanity. Each opportunity in our own life and experiences in our own lives gives us the opportunity to relate to any being in this world. Schweitzer understands that it is through this awareness of the contents of living that a “will-to-live” becomes self-evident to the individual who is investigating into life.

“Schweitzer posits a ‘will-to-live’ that is an instinctive and primordial level of motivation that all living things evince.”

Of all the contents of the phenomenal world that is observed in the awareness of life, it is this basis of “will-to-live” that provides a foundation for a universal morality in Schweitzer’s philosophy. Previously, I have discussed how through awareness we can relate to each other, yet I feel it is this “will-to-live” that provides the necessary foundation for good. As well as understanding another life, we go one step further and understand that the life wants to live. An identification with this desire means we establish a morality towards that being in that anything that hinders its desire to live is wrong and anything that encourages its desire to live is good:

“Living truth, the truth that motivates us by creating a sense of meaning, comes from within, as a personal expression of caring. All honest reflection on life’s meaning has value as manifesting moral autonomy, and it increases insofar as it implements defensible values.”

I feel that this is the type of moral autonomy, based on personal realisation, that I mentioned above is the morality that Schweitzer is referring to. In a world where relativism is becoming an increasingly important philosophical paradigm, the applicability of a universal morality seems to be less feasible. However, I would say that that the realisation that all beings do not want to suffer, developing from a self-awareness, may be a solution for a new understanding of morality in the modern world.

Letting-go and Reverence as an Experiential Relation

Much is said in modern society about “finding one’s self”. Likewise, in Schweitzer’s philosophy there is definitely a concern with the self as the starting point for social transformation. However, a key difference is that within Schweitzer’s view the greater the knowledge of one’s own life, the greater the letting-go and giving of this life to humanity. I understand that when one gains a certain amount of moral autonomy, through understanding that every creature on earth has a “will-to-live”, this morality takes the form of a reverence for life with letting-go and giving as its foundation.

“To be humble – not only to have right and the strength to be truthful – that is what I want – to proclaim the whole truth and to confirm it with my life, to gain strength from it – for this alone I sacrifice the happiness of life.”

Here it is clear that humility and sacrificing the pleasures of life for the benefit of others is the basis for the real practice of the reverence for life today. To truly understand that another does not want to suffer leads to the partial relinquishing of our own constant will for happiness for the sake of others. Only through truly comprehending one’s own humaneness can this be accomplished.

“To give to every ‘will-to-live’ the same reverence for life that he gives his own. He experiences that other life in his own. He accepts as being good: to preserve life, to promote life, to raise to its highest value life which is capable of development, and as being evil: to destroy life, to injure life, to repress life which is capable of development.”

“It recognises as good only the preserving and benefiting of life: any injury to, and destruction of, life, unless it is imposed on us by fate, is regarded as evil.”  

These passages sum up the basis of Schweitzer’s morality; to “experience that other life in his own”. Through this sentence I understand that Schweitzer urges the removal of the barriers between individuals, things and our selves. While he acknowledges the importance of self discovery and self-knowledge as foundational to a morality towards others, he also shows that through this self discovery the boundaries that divide humanity can be removed through experiencing another life as one’s own, a mode of giving without losing anything, the beginning of a reverence for life.

Openness

Some people have compared Schweitzer’s “will-to-live” with Nietzsche’s “will-to-power” and even though this comparison is perhaps a bit of a stretch, Schweitzer definitely had a great fascination and fondness for Nietzsche's philosophy. While there are large differences between the philosophies of these two individuals, Schweitzer expressed in his personal letters a great admiration of Nietzsche and his philosophy, in particular his philosophy on going beyond the concepts of good and evil.   Also in his personal correspondences he has stated that if God does not exist he shouldn’t be concerned. Such positions may seem contradictory for a man who has dedicated much of his life to describing a universal morality and who has dedicated himself to Christianity. However, on a closer analysis of his actions, and also his philosophy, this form of openness to possibility and ideas, while maintaining a strong faith, determination, and confidence in his actions and beliefs, seems to be a key factor in the practice of a reverence for life. Through looking at Albert Schweitzer’s life and his practice of a reverence for life, it becomes clear how an individual may maintain faith and confidence in their own beliefs while not clinging to dogma and attachments. This is also evident in his works on the life of the historical Jesus:

“The historical investigation of the life of Jesus did not take its rise from a purely historical interest; it turned to the Jesus of history as an ally in the struggle against the tyranny of dogma.”

Here it is evident that for one who has been able to “experience that other life in his own”, difference becomes extremely easy to accept. When an individual has understood another’s beliefs, an attachment to dogmatism ends. This is not to say that one looses his or her own beliefs but that through understanding others our relationship with our own beliefs becomes more open. In some respects such openness can lead to a strengthening of faith as faith becomes a lighter and more profound task once the weighing attachment of dogmatism has been removed.
 
The Ground for True Empathy

Having emphasised letting-go as the basis for reverence, I wish to now show how these factors can allow for true empathy to occur. I understand that Schweitzer showed how empathy was possible through putting ourselves in another’s place, to allow for “the other” to occupy and displace our ego from its throne. I have shown that awareness of our own experiences provides us with the basis to be able to relate to the experiences of others. This relation in turn leads us to understand that all beings have a “will-to-live” and such a realisation provides a basic morality that can eventually lead to the displacement of our own “will-to-live” with the concern for another’s. Such a concern and empathy has been dubbed by some as simply non-violence. However, I wish to stress the positive affirmation of all life that comes along with such a form of empathy; a striving for the encouragement of life, not just the protection of its destruction:

“Whoever among us has learned through personal experience what pain and anxiety really are must help to ensure that those out there who are in physical need obtain the same help that once came to him”  

Through this quote from Schweitzer I understand that, for Schweitzer, the most important result of such empathy is action. Here, I hope to differentiate a passive empathy that may be exclusively chained to the psychological world from an active empathy which leads one to action. Therefore, I hope to show that by analysing the most subtle process of our own lives, even down to simple awareness, such an analysis can bring about profound results in the external world.

“One thing I know: The only ones among you who will be truly happy are those who have sought and found out how to serve.”

One of the major discoveries of Schweitzer through his personal experience was that the more one gives through empathetic action, the more happiness one receives in life. Herein lies the seeming paradox in Schweitzer’s theory; the more an individual gives up his or her own comforts and satisfaction of their own “will-to-live”, the greater their happiness and satisfaction of their “will-to-live”. Therefore, through this understanding of empathetic action the notions of the one who gives and the one who receives fade away because with true empathy an individual can give greatly out of compassion to another but will feel as if they have not lost anything.  Such a notion of the unity of beings, not just in their interdependent biological nature, but on a greater psychological level is present in Schweitzer’s thought.

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

Therefore, within this basic principle of “will-to-live”, “life” becomes an overarching principle under which all living things are embodied. The reverence for this life is simultaneously the reverence for one’s self and others.

“The ethics of sincerity towards oneself passes imperceptibly into that of the devotion to others’, such that reverence for self and for others ‘interpenetrate’.”

The realisation of the interconnectedness of life is the result of the process of reverence for life. It is in this network of inter-being where even words such as “empathy” lose their meaning, for who is the one who feels or acts on empathy and who is the one who receives this action? On an ultimate level, life becomes united within intention, a “will”, a state beyond materiality, perhaps even a state beyond comprehension.

Conclusion

At the outset of this paper I explained that I understood the relevance of a reverence for life to be within the micro-sphere of the individual as opposed to the macro-sphere of a grand narrative for humanity. I initially attempted to apply Schweitzer’s theories to problems such as global warming, however, I realised that the spirit of Schweitzer’s teaching lies in individual action. I was fascinated by the descriptions of Schweitzer’s realisation of a reverence for life but wondered how helpful the emphasis on his spontaneous realisation was for the practice of a reverence for life by an individual. Therefore, I have written, in my view, a synopsis of the process of attaining a reverence for life. I understood the basis of Schweitzer’s thought to lie in awareness and that to know life, one must know what it is to be alive. Therefore, an awareness of our own lives and phenomenological process is essential. I sought to show that this awareness of our own existence and the contents of existence can allow us to understand that we “will-to-live” and do not want suffering and wish to be happy. I showed how this understanding can be the basis for a morality that arises through self-determination and discovery rather than dogma. This understanding of a “will-to-live” also leads to the discovery that others also do not want to suffer and that this recognition of the “will-to-live”  of all beings can lead one to true empathy. In analysing the concept of empathy, in light of Schweitzer’s philosophy, I showed how such a recognition of the “will-to-live” of all beings can remove notions of self and egotistical identity. The barriers between the giver and the one who receives are removed as ultimately the relinquishing of ones own “will-to-live” for another provides a greater fulfilment of the “will-to-live”. Thus within this seemingly beautiful paradox even notions such “empathy” fall a way as life becomes simply an intention. I hope that in detailing my own views on the process of Schweitzer’s transformation I have emphasised the need for personal transformation in the modern world. The relevance of a reverence for life in current times is the message of personal discovery and transformation. I believe that there can be no global change without personal change and have outlined my interpretation of Schweitzer’s philosophy to show how this personal change can take place for the benefit of humanity.

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