Albert Schweitzer

Albert Schweitzer (January 14, 1875 - September 4, 1965 [1]), also translated as Schweitzer, was a German philosopher, theologian, physician, organist, social activist, humanitarian, and 1952 Nobel Peace Prize winner. Born in 1875 in Keselberg, a small town in the Alsace province on the German-French border (then part of the German Empire). The special geographical environment made him proficient in both German and French languages, and at the age of 9, he became an expert organ player. In 1898, he studied at the Universities of Paris and Berlin, and received doctorates in philosophy and theology. In 1899, he served as a missionary at the Church of St. Nicholas. In 1901, he served as dean of the Divinity School of the University of Strasbourg.

In 1904, already renowned in philosophy, theology, and music, he heard the call for a lack of doctors in the Congo and decided to practice medicine in Africa. After nine years of study, he received a medical license and a doctorate in medicine at the age of 38. The Schweitzers came to French Africa in 1913, relying mainly on the income from Bach's concerts, and founded the Lambarene Leprosy Hospital in Gabon. After nearly 30 years of hard work, he treated the local people. He was a French philosopher, musician, and missionary physician. He made contributions to the cause of human peace and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1952. He is known as the "Son of Africa".

In 1957, his legendary experience was made into a film. He is an authoritative interpreter of Bach's works. He wrote "Johann Sebastian Bach, the Musician and Poet", which expounded the principles of the treatment of decorative sounds in Bach's works, and contributed greatly to the later performance of Bach's works. He is the author of "The Art and Performer of Organ Making in Germany and France". He co-edited 5 books with Vidor "The Complete Works of J. S. Bach's Organ Works" and later 3 books with E. Ne-Berge. His other major works are: "Kant's Philosophy of Religion", "The Messiah of Jesus and the Secret of the Passion", "Green on the Edge of the Primeval Forest", "Decline and Renaissance of Civilization", "Civilization and Ethics", "Philosophy of Culture" and so on. He passed away in 1965 at the age of 90.

Perhaps influenced by his ancestors (Alsatian ancestors included priests, teachers, and organists), Schweitzer has a great talent for music. At the age of five, he learned the piano with his grandfather, and at the age of seven he wrote a hymn and composed harmonies to accompany the melody of the chorus; at the age of eight he started playing the organ of the Gensbach Church before he could step on the pedal. He inherited his grandfather's passion for the organ, often caring about the organs and the methods of making them everywhere; he was also a master of organ improvisation. No matter what town he traveled through, he would definitely visit the organ, and other chores could be left behind, otherwise he would feel uneasy. For example, when an excellent organ was to be placed in the chapel of Lüzren, Schweitzer made a special trip to see how to install it; at the age of nine, he played in place of the official organist in a service, and began to work as a pianist in church services on his own. At the age of fifteen, he learned the organ from the famous organist of St. Stephen's Church, which was the first encounter with Bach in Schweitzer's life. At the age of sixteen, he was allowed to succeed Eugene Munch as a pianist in worship, and served as an organ chorus backing track for Bach's oratorios and crucifixions in St. William's Church. The young Schweitzer was also quite fond of Wagner's works, whether it was the opera "Don Juan", or traveling all the way to Bayreuth to listen to the huge continuous opera "The Ring of Nibelungen", and even later developed a friendship with the Wagners.

At the age of eighteen, he went to Paris, France to learn piano from the famous organ master Wei Duo, and also learned piano from J. Philip. At that time, Schweitzer was studying theology and philosophy in Strasbourg; Professor Weido had always only accepted students majoring in music schools, but Schweitzer played a song in front of him. Professor Weido appreciated him very much, praised him, and immediately accepted him as a student. At the same time, he expected that he would become a great artist in the future. This professor Weido's education guided Schweizer with profound skills and played with a beautiful three-dimensional feeling. Because of his teachings, Schweitzer understood the significance of architectural beauty in music.

At the age of twenty-three, Dulautmann, a great apprentice to Liszt, studied piano. At the age of twenty-five, Schweitzer was already a pastor of the Nicholas Church in Strasbourg, but he was also studying music theory and began a career in organ music. At the age of twenty-six, he had a Doctor of Philosophy. At the age of thirty-eight, he received a Doctor of Medicine. Later in the year, he wrote detailed books on Bach's organ music, and at the same time held organ music concerts.

When he set out for Africa for the first time at the age of 38, the Bach Society in Paris couldn't bear to let the musical genius be buried in the African jungle, so he presented Schweiser with an unexpected gift. It was a specially built piano weighing three tons. It has a keyboard like an organ with an organ pedal. In order to combat Africa's humid climate and termites, the entire surface of the piano is carefully plated with zinc. This large musical instrument with an unusually special structure later accompanied Schweizer for half a century in Africa.

The reverence for all life is the cornerstone of Schweitzer's bioethics. Schweitzer extended the scope of ethics to all animals and plants, and believed that reverence must be maintained not only for human life, but also for the life of all living things and animals. "Good is to preserve life, to promote life, and to enable developable life to realize its highest value, while evil is to destroy life, harm it, and suppress its development. This is a necessary, universal, and absolute ethical principle." (The Fear of Life) Ethics that deals only with the relationship between man and man is incomplete and therefore cannot have sufficient ethical momentum. Man is ethical only when he considers all life, including human life and the life of all living things, to be sacred.

Why the reverence of all life? Schweitzer believes that this is the universal connection that exists between life. Man's existence is not isolated, it depends on the harmony of other life and the whole world. Man should realize that any life has value and that we are inseparable from it. "Primitive ethics arise from man's natural relationship with his predecessors and descendants. However, as soon as man becomes a thinking being, the scope of his'kin 'expands." The thinking man experiences having to reverence all life wills as he reveres his own, which he experiences in his own life.

Schweitzer pointed out that the fundamental reason for being responsible for all life is to be responsible for oneself. Without respect for all life, people's respect for oneself will not be guaranteed. Any life has its own value and the right to exist. Anyone who is accustomed to treating any kind of life as worthless will fall into the danger of believing that human life is also worthless. Scorn for inhuman life ultimately leads to contempt for people themselves, as evidenced by the successive emergence of world wars.

Respecting all life is a beautiful concept, but human existence is realistic. People cannot treat all life equally. For human survival, people often have to destroy some lives. Should we distinguish the value sequence of life? Schweitzer's answer was negative, saying: "The ethics of reverence for life denies the distinction between high and low, valuable and worthless life. "In life, people will involuntarily determine the value of different lives based on their relationship with people. This scale of distinction is completely subjective. Based on this line of thought, we must conclude that there are worthless lives, and it is permissible to oppress and even completely destroy certain lives. Schweitzer proposed that under this theory, under certain conditions, both an insect and a primitive tribe may be regarded as worthless.

But in Africa, faced with an overwhelming number of ants and mosquitoes, humans have to exterminate some of the life they need to survive. Schweitzer believes that although this is inevitable, people must have a sense of "self-blame." If man thinks he has the right to destroy other life, he will one day go to the point of destroying life similar to himself or destroying himself. This "self-reproach" is a compromise with the principle of "fear of all life" and at the same time a kind of self-awareness. The fundamental purpose of respecting life is to cultivate human moral nature, which is the starting point for human perfection.

Schweitzer sharply criticized the worldview of modern Europe. He believed that the fundamental mistake of modern European thought was to affirm the world, life and ethics, but did not truly understand their inner connections, making the world a cruel battlefield for the self-division of the will of life: Part of life can only survive by destroying other lives. These thoughts are still enlightening for us to understand today's world situation.

Schweitzer spoke loftily of traditional Eastern values. He said: "The ethics of China and India determine in principle the duties and responsibilities of man towards animals." He is the author of "The World View of Indian Thinkers", and he is most impressed by the principles that Indian thought emphasizes that the ethical behavior of man is not only related to his own kind, but also to all life. In his notebook is recorded a Buddhist adage: "You must never kill, abuse, abuse, torture or persecute anything with a soul, life."

Biological diversity and environmental harmony are conditions for human existence. Against the background of two world wars and the deterioration of the earth's environment in the 20th century, Schweitzer saw from the interconnection of life that people could no longer be arrogant and put forward the concept of reverence for all life, which was in line with the opportunity. This was the social background for his lofty reputation. As Schweitzer said, extending the principle of love to animals is a revolution in ethics. This is a new and greater Renaissance than we have emerged from the Middle Ages. It will provide new ideas for the sustainable development of mankind and world peace.

Although Schweitzer was versatile and well-developed from an early age, he always remembered the service and willingness to help others that he had longed for since childhood. At the age of 29, Schweitzer read an article about the dire need for medical assistance on the African continent, which prompted him to make a decision the following year that shocked his parents and close friends: he gave up his flourishing academic status and playing career to re-enter medical school. Eight years later, Schweitzer finally fulfilled his wish. In 1913, with his significant other Helen, he traveled to Lambarene, Gabon, West Africa, to establish Schweitzer Hospital on the banks of the Ogooue River on the edge of the virgin forest, and began to dedicate his love to the people of Africa.

Schweitzer went to Africa in his thirties and devoted all his energy, wisdom and love to the African people whom he had never met and had a language barrier in poor and backward areas close to the wilderness for nearly fifty years until he passed away at the age of ninety. For the first thirty years, he often traveled to major cities in Europe, holding his specialty organ concerts and raising funds for his hospital.

Einstein said, I have hardly discovered a person like Albert Schweitzer who ideally combines goodness and a desire for beauty.

In 1953, at the age of 78, he was a long time, a sea of love, and the world was moved. He heard on the radio that he had won the Nobel Peace Prize. This kind and fraternal elder accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, which represents the world's respect and admiration for him over the years. He did not reserve all the prize money, together with the proceeds of speeches and performances, to increase the leprosy hospital in Guerambarene.

In 1965, when he was 90 years old, the representative of the human conscience of the 20th century and the son of peace, he said: "God! When I ran the road, I tried my best, and I lived a solid life. After that, he stopped toiling on the earth.

Although Schweitzer has passed away more than 40 years ago, he is still one of the most respected and admired people by volunteers around the world. Schweizer is modest and gentle and rarely tells about his deeds and achievements. However, the life path he chose with practical actions has continuously inspired and moved many later volunteers to follow his love of being a family from all over the world. There are still many people internationally who are promoting and developing Schweitzer's spirit of fraternity. The more famous are the International Albert Schweitzer Association and the International Albert Schweitzer Foundation; the former focuses on promoting Schweitzer's spirit, and the latter focuses on continuing his medical aid work in Africa.