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The phrase Reverence for Life is a translation of the German phrase: "ドイツ語:Ehrfurcht vor dem Leben". These words came to Albert Schweitzer on a boat trip on the Ogooué River in French Equatorial Africa (now Gabon), while searching for a universal concept of ethics for our time. Schweitzer made the phrase the basic tenet of an ethical philosophy, which he developed and put into practice. He gave expression to its development in numerous books and publications during his life and also in manuscripts which have recently been published; the main work being his unfinished four-part "Philosophy of culture" ((ドイツ語:Kulturphilosophie)) subtitled: "The World-view of Reverence for Life". He also used his hospital in Lambaréné in Gabon (Central Africa) to demonstrate this philosophy in practice. He believed that Reverence for Life is a concept that develops from observation of the world around us. In 'Civilization and Ethics' he expressed this in these words: James Brabazon (Author of the Biography of Albert Schweitzer) defined Reverence for Life with the following statement: Albert Schweitzer hoped that the ethic of Reverence for Life would make its way in the world on the basis of his explanation of it in his books and talks, the example of his life and the force of its own argument based on the depth of fundamental thought. To some extent this is taking place as is evidenced by the growth of the environmental movement. (The book ''Silent Spring'', by Rachael Carson, which is widely credited with helping launch the environmental movement,〔Josie Glausiusz. (2007), Better Planet: Can A Maligned Pesticide Save Lives? ''Discover Magazine''. Page 34.〕 was dedicated to Albert Schweitzer). Reverence for Life can also be seen in the explosion of ethical, charitable organizations of all kinds in many parts of the world. ==Origins of Albert Schweitzer’s "Reverence for Life"== Albert Schweitzer believed that ethical values which could underpin the ideal of true civilization had to have their foundation in deep thought and be world- and life-affirming. He therefore embarked on a search for ethical values in the various major religions and world-views accessible to him, but could not find any that were able, unequivocally, to combine ethics with life-affirmation. It was not until two years after moving out to Gabon to establish the Albert Schweitzer Hospital that he finally found the simple statement which answered his quest. In his autobiography "Out of My Life and Thought," Dr. Schweitzer explains this process. "Having described how at the beginning of the summer of 1915 he awoke from some kind of mental daze, asking himself why he was only criticizing civilization and not working on something constructive.".〔''Out of My Life and Thought : An Autobiography.'' (meinem Leben und Denken''. ) Albert Schweitzer, author. Antje Bultmann Lemke , translator. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press; 60th Anniversary Edition (June 11, 2009). p147. ISBN 0801894123〕 He relates how he asked himself the question: But what is civilization? The essential element in civilization is the ethical perfecting of the individual as well as society. At the same time, every spiritual and every material step forward has significance for civilization. The will to civilization is, then, the universal will to progress that is conscious of the ethical as the highest value. In spite of the great importance we attach to the achievements of science and human prowess, it is obvious that only a humanity that is striving for ethical ends can benefit in full measure from material progress and can overcome the dangers that accompany it..... The only possible way out of chaos is for us to adopt a concept of the world based on the ideal of true civilization. But what is the nature of that concept of the world in which the will to the general progress and the will to the ethical progress join and are linked? It consists in an ethical affirmation of the world and of life. What is affirmation of the world and of life?....〔''Out of My Life and Thought : An Autobiography.'' (meinem Leben und Denken''. ) Albert Schweitzer, author. Antje Bultmann Lemke , translator. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press; 60th Anniversary Edition (June 11, 2009). p148.〕 For months on end, I lived in a continual state of mental agitation. Without the least success I concentrated - even during my daily work at the hospital - on the real nature of the affirmation of life and of ethics, and on the question of what they have in common. I was wandering about in a thicket where no path was to be found. I was pushing against an iron door that would not yield....〔''Out of My Life and Thought : An Autobiography.'' (meinem Leben und Denken''. ) Albert Schweitzer, author. Antje Bultmann Lemke , translator. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press; 60th Anniversary Edition (June 11, 2009). p154.〕 In that mental state, I had to take a long journey up the river . . . Lost in thought, I sat on deck of the barge, struggling to find the elementary and universal concept of the ethical that I had not discovered in any philosophy. I covered sheet after sheet with disconnected sentences merely to concentrate on the problem. Two days passed. Late on the third day, at the very moment when, at sunset, we were making our way through a herd of hippopotamuses, there flashed upon my mind, unforeseen and unsought, the phrase : “Reverence for Life”. (Ehrfurcht vor dem Leben ) The iron door had yielded. The path in the thicket had become visible. Now I had found my way to the principle in which affirmation of the world and ethics are joined together!” 〔''Out of My Life and Thought : An Autobiography.'' (meinem Leben und Denken''. ) Albert Schweitzer, author. Antje Bultmann Lemke , translator. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press; 60th Anniversary Edition (June 11, 2009). pp154-55. Emphasis added. (edition leaves out the original German phrase, so another edition needs to be cited as well which contains the German phrase as shown above. )〕 -- Albert Schweitzer According to some authors, Schweitzer's thought, and specifically his development for reverence for life, was influenced by Indian religious thought and in particular Jain principle of ahimsa (non-violence).〔Ara Paul Barsam (2002) "Albert Schweitzer, jainism and reverence for life" in:''Reverence for life: the ethics of Albert Schweitzer for the twenty-first century'' Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, ISBN 978-0-8156-2977-1 p. 207-08〕 Albert Schweitzer has noted the contribution of Indian influence in his book ''Indian Thought and Its Development'':〔Albert Schweitzer and Charles Rhind Joy (1947) ''Albert Schweitzer: an anthology'' Beacon Press〕 The laying down of the commandment to not kill and to not damage is one of the greatest events in the spiritual history of mankind. Starting from its principle, founded on world and life denial, of abstention from action, ancient Indian thought - and this is a period when in other respects ethics have not progressed very far - reaches the tremendous discovery that ethics know no bounds. So far as we know, this is for the first time clearly expressed by Jainism. It should not be overlooked, however, that as a child he felt deeply for the suffering of all the creatures around him. It beat upon him. He wrote, "As far back as I can remember I was saddened by the amount of misery I saw in the world around me. Youth's unqualified joie de vivre I never really knew...One thing especially saddened me was that the unfortunate animals had to suffer so much pain and misery....It was quite incomprehensible to me -- this was before I began going to school -- why in my evening prayers I should pray for human beings only. So when my mother had prayed with me and had kissed me good-night, I used to add silently a prayer that I composed myself for all living creatures. It ran thus: "O heavenly Father, protect and bless all things that have breath guard them from all evil, and let them sleep in in peace...." 〔''Albert Schweitzer: Essential Writings'', compiled by James Brabazon. p. 117-120〕 Schweitzer twice went fishing with some boys "because they asked () to" and "this sports was soon made impossible for me by the treatment of the worms that were put on the hook...and the wrenching of the mouths of the fishes that were caught. I gave it up...From experiences like these, which moved my heart....there slowly grew up in me an unshakeable conviction that we have no right to inflict suffering and death on another living creature, and that we ought all of us to feel what a horrible thing it is to cause suffering and death..." 〔''Albert Schweitzer: Essential Writings'', compiled by James Brabazon. p. 117–120〕 The concept of Reverence for Life was incipient in Schweizer almost from birth. This awareness affected him throughout his life, as when he would carefully, gently scoop a spider out of a hole it had fallen into before planting a crop there, to feed his patients and their families who also worked on the hospital farm. He wrote that, just as our own existence is significance to each of us, "(creature's ) existence is significant to it."〔''Reverence for Life: The Words of Albert Schweitzer''. compiled by Harold E. Robles. Pub. Harpercollins; 1st edition (October 1993). ISBN 0060670983〕 He wrote that "...my relation to my own being and to the objective world is determined by reverence for life. This reverence for life is given as an element of my will-to-live..." and this will-to-live existed in all creatures and was to be respected.〔''The Philosophy of Civilization.'' Albert Schweitzer. Prometheus Books (March 1, 1987). ISBN 0879754036. p xv. See also this same topic of will-to-live in ''Out of My Life and Thought.''〕 As a child he was taught, and later as and adult taught his congregations, the "fundamental truths of the religion of Jesus as something not hostile to reason, but, on the contrary, as strengthening them." 〔''Out of My Life and Thought : An Autobiography.'' (meinem Leben und Denken''. ) Albert Schweitzer, author. Antje Bultmann Lemke, translator. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press; 60th Anniversary Edition (June 11, 2009). p 28.〕 Many later thanked him, saying that this teaching had "helped them to keep their religion in later life." A great mind, he went through "heaps of books" which were piled so high he had to make aisles to get through them.〔''Out of My Life and Thought : An Autobiography.'' (meinem Leben und Denken''. ) Albert Schweitzer, author. Antje Bultmann Lemke, translator. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press; 60th Anniversary Edition (June 11, 2009). pp 46 and 46.〕 He studies the life of Jesus in a depth few have ever achieved. His own philosophy, which came to be encapsulated in the phrase Reverence for Life, had this bedrock in the Four Gospels of the New Testament. In his book ''The Philosophy of Civilization'', Schweitzer wrote, "Ethics are responsibility without limit toward all that lives....Love means more, since it includes fellowship in suffering, in joy, and in effort...〔''The Philosophy of Civilization.'' Albert Schweitzer. Prometheus Books (March 1, 1987). ISBN 0879754036. p 317.〕 The contents of this book show just how well-read Schweitzer was, having studied both ancient and more modern philosophers. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Reverence for Life」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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