"True philosophy must start from the most immediate and
comprehensive fact of consciousness, and this may be formulated as
follows: 'I am life which wills to live, and I exist in the midst of
life which wills to live.In nature one form of life must always prey upon another. However,
human consciousness holds an awareness of, and sympathy for, the will of
other beings to live. An ethical human strives to escape from this
contradiction so far as possible.
Though we cannot perfect the endeavor we should strive for it:
the will-to-live constantly renews itself, for it is both an
evolutionary necessity and a spiritual phenomenon. Life and love are
rooted in this same principle, in a personal spiritual relationship to
the universe. Ethics themselves proceed from the need to respect the
wish of other beings to exist as one does towards oneself."
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| Albert Schweitzer by W. Eugene Smith |
