A Reverence For All Life – A Divine Mandate
I hope no one thinks I am being disrespectful to Buddhists by posting this video. Frankly, as my wife could tell you, this ad could have been me. One of my idiosyncrasies is the way I attempt to respect life all around me. I don’t take it to an extreme, blowing my nose with no hesitation. Generally, if I feel that something might threaten the life, health or safety of a person, there might be justification to destroy life (i.e. mosquitoes, wasps, deadly snakes, Godzilla, etc.) However, I truly believe that, especially in the Western world, we live with incredible disregard for life. As a people that claims to place such value of life, this usually does not extend beyond humanity (and even then, we have far to go).
Here are some great quotes by Albert Schweitzer:
“A man is ethical only when life, as such, is sacred to him, that of plants and animals as that of his fellow men, and when he devotes himself helpfully to all life that is in need of help.”
“By having a reverence for life, we enter into a spiritual relation with the world. By practicing reverence for life we become good, deep, and alive.”
I am by no means a St. Francis in this regard. However, I truly agree with Dr. Schweitzer in that “if a man loses his reverence for any part of life, he will lose his reverence for all of life.” Take some time to consider the life that exists around in all sizes and forms. It is a discipline that will cost you time, energy and convenience. It is one of the first steps towards embracing a sacramental ecology, which can be a demanding faith practice. However, I promise you that as you do so, life will begin to gain a level of enrichment that you may not have seen before.
To see a world in a grain of sand,
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
And eternity in an hour.-William Blake
