This is not the usual post. It serves as a marker to the 2020 Schweitzer tribute The River Must Flow. The turbulence of our times have dictated that his monumental example be revisited—and followed.
Philosopher Hannah Arendt has written, “The death of human empathy is one of the earliest and most telling signs of a culture about to fall into barbarism.” Compare and contrast with Elon Musk, who has called empathy a weakness. To witness how this has played out, note the thousands of government workers providing essential services who were fired in an illogical and arbitrary way with no advance notice and a total lack due process. Most alarming, however, was a betrayal of America’s historic role as a beacon of hope and charity to the world. An estimated 700,000 people have died as a result of the abrupt dismantling and funding cuts to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Two-thirds of these were children. Food which could have nourished them was allowed to sit in warehouses and was later destroyed. Fellow citizens, we have fallen, but we have fallen before and, true to our human nature, will fall again. As shocking as this turn of world events may be, it is sadly nothing new. Within us, however, are the seeds of renewal, and the towering figures of history have helped us to rise. Albert Schweitzer is one of them.
On January 14, 2026 I honor the 151st anniversary of the birth of philosopher/ theologian/ medical doctor/writer/organist/organ builder Albert Schweitzer. I would have considered my 2020 post, The River Must Flow a sufficient tribute to his life’s work and its importance, but our current culture of brutality, falsehood, and moral depravity is such a departure from his “Reverence for Life” that it screams for a response. It is not that we lack a roadmap to a compassionate and moral civilization—his example has given us that. His epic The Philosophy of Civilization is not easy reading, but it places his ethical philosophy at the pinnacle of all which has preceded it and, in my opinion, any which have followed.
The fascinating story of the discovery of Reverence for Life is detailed in his book Out of My Life and Thought (and in my previous post). Here is Schweitzer’s expression in an extended form:
“I am life which wills to live, in the midst of life which wills to live. As in my own will-to-live there is a longing for wider life and pleasure, with dread of annihilation and pain; so is it also in the will-to-live all around me, whether it can express itself before me or remains dumb. The will-to-live is everywhere present, even as in me. If I am a thinking being, I must regard life other 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 true 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. In me the will-to-live has come to know about other wills-to-live. There is in it a yearning to arrive at unity with itself, to become universal. I can do nothing but hold to the fact that the will-to-live in me manifests itself as will-to-live which desires to become one with other will-to-live. Ethics consist in my experiencing the compulsion to show to all will-to-live the same reverence as I do my own. A man is truly ethical only when he obeys the compulsion to help all life which he is able to assist, and shrinks from injuring anything that lives. If I save an insect from a puddle, life has devoted itself to life, and the division of life against itself has ended. Whenever my life devotes itself in any way to life, my finite will-to-live experiences union with the infinite will in which all life is one. An absolute ethic calls for the creating of perfection in this life. It cannot be completely achieved; but that fact does not really matter. In this sense reverence for life is an absolute ethic. It makes only the maintenance and promotion of life rank as good. All destruction of and injury to life, under whatever circumstances, it condemns as evil. 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 nonetheless universal and absolute. Such an ethic does not abolish for man all ethical conflicts but compels him to decide for himself in each case how far he can remain ethical and how far he must submit himself to the necessity for destruction of and injury to life. No one can decide for him at what point, on each occasion, lies the extreme limit of possibility for his persistence in the preservation and furtherance of life. He alone has to judge this issue, by letting himself be guided by a feeling of the highest possible responsibility towards other life. We must never let ourselves become blunted. We are living in truth, when we experience these conflicts more profoundly. Whenever I injure life of any sort, I must be quite clear whether it is necessary. Beyond the unavoidable, I must never go, not even with what seems insignificant. The farmer, who has mown down a thousand flowers in his meadow as fodder for his cows, must be careful on his way home not to strike off in wanton pastime the head of a single flower by the roadside, for he thereby commits a wrong against life without being under the pressure of necessity.”
It is important to note that Schweitzer was a product of nineteenth century thought, having his mindset largely formed by the turn of the century. Though the paths he trod—in music, medicine, and philosophy—were not in the political realm, he was not untouched by the events of World War I. In 1917, while working as medical missionaries in Lambaréné (Gabon), Schweitzer and his wife were interned by the French as enemy aliens, leading to their imprisonment in France until their release in 1918, which marked the end of World War I’s restrictions as German nationals in French territory. This delayed his return to Africa by several years, but allowed him to raise funds by his creative efforts to the restoration and expansion of his hospital.
The political turmoil of Schweitzer’s times was not unlike our own. He was a witness to rising nationalism, authoritarianism, and racism. These did not detract from his focus on a series of what he called sojourns in Africa. These were funded by speaking engagements, writing, music performance, and recording, putting his ethical philosophy into living practice. His theology evolved to a stripped-down form, casting concerns such as salvation and other theologisms aside in favor of a real-life expression of his ethical realization. His goal was to level the playing field in favor of those on the African continent who had been underserved, abandoned, and exploited by the colonial powers. Here he viewed himself as their “elder brother”. This view has been widely criticized as a paternalistic belief in European superiority. Considering his nineteenth-century mindset, it can be at least understood (I hesitate to say “excused”). His actions spoke much louder than his words. To his credit, he emphasized treating his patients with brotherly respect and dignity. While some Africans appreciated his dedication and medical work, it was also seen as an implication of permanent domination. Perhaps he could not have foreseen this view clashing with rising Black nationalist ideals which would occur in the years to come. The accusations of racism and colonialism are understandable, but do not paint the complete picture.
Moving to our own era, it should be noted that the current anti-immigrant movement is nothing new. It is unfortunately woven into the fabric of American history (and increasingly, the politics of other nations). In a sobering parallel to our current experience, Daniel Okrent writes in The Guarded Wall that the 1920s legislation proposed by the Immigration Restriction League won passage to restrict immigration of Italians, Jews, and other “tainted aliens”. This was tied to the eugenics movement and master race theories and was given credence by news outlets to provide scientific plausibility. This convinced the public that “unfit” races were poisoning America’s white genetic pool. That such attitudes survive in the current political environment is not surprising. Even presidential candidate Calvin Coolidge provided a rallying cry that is all too familiar: “America must be kept American”.
The well-being of the millions of suffering inhabitants of the world was also addressed by another ethical philosopher, Buckminster Fuller, who coined the term Livingry. It refers, in his words, to “tools, technologies, and systems that support life rather than destroy it. It represents a shift from weaponry to solutions that regenerate and sustain Earth’s ecosystems, aiming for a world where technology is used to enhance human living standards and foster a more harmonious relationship with the planet.” Like Schweitzer, his advice has sadly been ignored.
All, however, is not lost. We can take heart from a large and growing number of volunteer organizations both local and international which have sprung up. These focus on a number of areas: food distribution, medical care, clean water resources, housing, loans and training for businesses and self-sufficiency, civil rights, worker protection, and many more. The humane treatment of both domestic and farm animals, including those used for research, has risen in our collective consciousness, aided by the social media. It is closely aligned with Schweitzer’s ethical concerns contained in his A Prayer for Animals:
“Hear our humble prayer, O God,
for our friends the animals,
especially for animals who are suffering;
for any that are hunted or lost
or deserted or frightened or hungry;
for all that will be put to death.
We entreat for them all Thy mercy and pity,
and for those who deal with them
we ask a heart of compassion
and gentle hands and kindly words.
Make us, ourselves, to be true friends to animals
and so to share the blessings of the merciful.”
Albert Schweitzer’s example shines brightly as one who not only proposed but lived a solution to the pain and suffering of our world. May we, like him, be driven by determination that the light can overcome the darkness. May we join with those who in their various ways seek to make its expression a reality. On the one hundred fifty-first anniversary of his birth, there can be no more fitting tribute.
Divinepersonhood 