I think I’ve always yearned to experience reverence, even before I had any notion of what the source or object of that reverence might be. Reverence is related to a number of perennial spiritual virtues, such as humility, wonder, and awe. That said, a case can be made that reverence is the most primordial of human response to the immense, astonishing, and breathtaking cosmic mystery of which are both a tiny and essential part.
Despite its role as a basic human response to life, reverence has sadly become a largely forgotten practice in the modern world. Proof that reverence is not commonly practiced today can be seen in everything from industries making choices that will destroy the earth to our own wasteful consumption, from women and children being the ongoing victims of violence to the abuse of our own bodies, from the widespread poverty and injustice in the world to the lack of civility, respect and compassion we show for each other.
Philosopher and scholar Paul Woodruff has made a study of the practice of reverence in both ancient civilizations and in our own time. In his fascinating book Reverence: Renewing a Forgotten Virtue, Woodruff describes reverence as “being linked to a sense that there is something larger than a human being.” It is, he writes, accompanied by the capacity for awe, respect, and humility. So primary is the experience of reverence, he says, that it straddles boundaries between religious traditions and bridges the gap between religion and secular life.
In modern Western culture, Woodruff says, reverence has somehow regrettably and mistakenly become entwined with notions of faith and belief, with obedience to someone or something which has power over us. According to Woodruff this is not true reverence. So if that’s not the true nature and purpose of reverence, what is? Among the many misconceptions about reverence Paul Woodruff addresses is the idea that reverence is in any fundamental way connected to belief or creed or, for that matter, to any form of religion. He also goes on to say that reverence does not require a supreme being as its object. This is why it is possible to feel deep reverence for many things, including life, nature, beauty, justice, and truth.
Unitarian Universalist minister Kendyl Gibbons writes beautifully of what she calls “primal reverence,” the reverence we feel in and for the natural world. She describes this primal reverence for nature as a “visceral response,” a response “as real and as functional to the kind of creatures we are as our hunger, our fear, our sexual impulses, our protection of the young.” Standing at the shore of the ocean, gazing up at the stars in the nighttime sky, trekking through a grove of towering redwoods, beholding the drama of a thunderstorm, or observing the radiance of a sunset can evoke in us this primal reverence of which Rev Kendall speaks. We can also experience it in smaller and more humble ways like marveling at the first shoots of green in a springtime garden, encountering the mystery of a nest of bird’s eggs, or observing at the unfolding consciousness of a small child. Such reverence, Rev. Kendall contends, precedes theology of any variety.
Perhaps the greatest prophet of the kind of reverence that Rev Kendall speaks about was the great philosopher, theologian, and humanitarian Albert Schweitzer. Schweitzer made reverence for life the centerpiece of his worldview and it was he who coined the phrase “Reverence for Life” while on a boat trip in equatorial Africa.
As a philosophy, Reverence for Life starts with the premise that the only thing we can ever be sure of is that we are alive and that we want to go on living. This quality, Schweitzer contends, is one we share with every other living thing from an elephant to a blade of grass. That fact, Schweitzer taught, means we are of necessity brothers and sisters to all of life. And if it teaches us nothing else, the evolving story of the new cosmology reminds us that the world, indeed the universe, has evolved to give life to every living thing on this planet.
In a broader sense, we can also speak of a reverence as a kind of radical respect, one which perceives and honors the presence of the sacred in everything. In the natural world, for example, we need to radically respect the animals and plants, the water in our rivers and oceans, and even the rocks of the earth. We can also bring an attitude of reverence and respect to the many beautiful and useful works of human creativity and ingenuity. In addition, we can feel that same sense of radical respect for the actions of courageous and just leaders, to all those who seek to improve life on this planet in both great and small ways. Indeed, the practice of reverence as radical respect can be practiced in any area of life.
According to Rev Gibbons, possibly the most essential tenet of liberal religion in all of its forms is the idea that each one of us is responsible for what we do with, about, and because of our capacity for deep and profound reverence. Unlike adherents of many of the world’s orthodox religious traditions, we choose not to start with concern about rituals and beliefs. Instead, liberal religious traditions ask us to start by questioning what it is that actually evokes in our bodies and our minds, our hearts and our consciences the experience of reverence. Moreover, we may not rest content in the knowledge of what it is we find worthy of reverence. That must then become the basis for how we treat everything from our own bodies and our relationship to each other to the wellbeing of the earth itself and all that it contains.