Animal Rights: Leo Tolstoy, “If he be really and serious seeking to live a good,…

If he be really and seriously seeking to live a good life, the first thing from which he will abstain will always be the use of animal food, because …its use is simply immoral, as it involves the performance of an act which is contrary to the moral feeling – killing.
Leo Tolstoy

Who was Leo Tolstoy?
Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy, usually referred to in English as Leo Tolstoy, was a Russian writer who is regarded as one of the greatest authors of all time.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_Tolstoy

Leo Tolstoy and Animal rights:

Count Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy, 1828 – 1910 is best known as one of Russia’s greatest novelists, the most well known of his novels are War and peace and Anna Karenina. He was also a contemporary of Russian writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky another advocate of vegetarianism and animal rights.

Tolstoy was however more than a writer he was a moral philosopher, a humanitarian, and a mystic. After his conversion to vegetarianism he lived upon simple food such as bread, fruits vegetables and porridge.

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Animal Rights: A history Tolstoy
http://thinkdifferentlyaboutsheep.weebly.com/animal-rights-a-history-leo-tolstoy.html

Motivation/Inspiration: Ralph Waldo Emerson, “To know even one life has breathed easier because you …

To know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Who was Ralph Waldo Emerson?

Ralph Waldo Emerson, who went by his middle name Waldo, was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, and poet who led the transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Waldo_Emerson

The Environment: Nelson Mandela, “It is in your hands…”

“It is in your hands to create a better world for all who live in it.”
Nelson Mandela

Who Was Nelson Mandela?

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was a South African anti-apartheid revolutionary, political leader and philanthropist who served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the country’s first black head of state and the first elected in a fully representative democratic election.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Mandela

Animal Rights: Jean Paul,” Because the heart beats under a covering of hair, of fur, feathers or wings, it is,…

“Because the heart beats under a covering of hair, of fur, feathers, or wings, it is, for that reason, to be of no account?”
Jean Paul

Who is Jean Paul?

Jean Paul, born Johann Paul Friedrich Richter, 21 March 1763 – 14 November 1825) was a German Romantic writer, best known for his humorous novels and stories.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Paul

Motivation/Inspiration: Lao Tzu” If you are depressed you are living..”

“If you are depressed you are living in the past.
If you are anxious you are living in the future.
If you are at peace you are living in the present.”
Lao Tzu

Who was Lao Tzu?

Lao Tzu, also rendered as Laozi and Lao-Tze, was an ancient Chinese philosopher and writer. He is the reputed author of the Tao Te Ching, the founder of philosophical Taoism, and a deity in religious Taoism and traditional Chinese religions.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laozi

 

Animal Rights: Thomas A. Edison, ” Non violence leads to the highest ethics,…”

“Non-violence leads to the highest ethics, which is the goal of all evolution. Until we stop harming all other living beings, we are still savages.”
Thomas A. Edison

Who was Thomas A. Edison ?

Thomas Alva Edison was an American inventor and businessman who has been described as America’s greatest inventor. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Edison

Animal Rights: Albert Schweitzer, “The man who has become a thinking being …”

“The man who has become a thinking being feels a compulsion to give every will-to-live the same reverence for life that he gives to his own. He experiences that other life in his own.”
Albert Schweitzer

Who was Albert Schweitzer?

Albert Schweitzer (January 14, 1875-September 4, 1965) was born into an Alsatian family which for generations had been devoted to religion, music, and education. His father and maternal grandfather were ministers; both of his grandfathers were talented organists; many of his relatives were persons of scholarly attainments.

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https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1952/schweitzer/biographical/

Albert Schweitzer, animal rights and a reverence for life

Albert Schweitzer developed a philosophy which he called a “Reverence for Life”, for which he received the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize; he considered this philosophy his greatest contribution to mankind. He thought that Western civilisations were decaying as a result of the abandonment of its ethical foundation, namely the affirmation of and respect for life. Reverence for life was an essential part of Schweitzer’s personal Philosophy which he hoped would be made known throughout the world by means of his books and talks and through his own example.

“At sunset of the third day, near the village of Igendja, we moved along an island set in the middle of the wide river. On a sandback to our left, four hippopotamuses and their young plodded along in our same direction. Just then, in my great tiredness and discouragement, the phrase, Reverence for Life, struck me like a flash. As far as I knew, it was a phrase I had never heard nor ever read. I realized at once that it carried within itself the solution to the problem that had been torturing me. Now I knew that a system of values which concerns itself only with our relationship to other people is incomplete and therefore lacking in power for good. Only by means of reverence for life can we establish a spiritual and humane relationship with both people and all living creatures within our reach. Only in this fashion can we avoid harming others, and, within the limits our our capacity, go to their aid whenever they need us.”

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http://thinkdifferentlyaboutsheep.weebly.com/animal-rights-a-history-albert-schweither.html

Reverence for Life , Albert Schweitzer