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consciousness and even can become a Tirthankara. This strong acceptance of the potential equality of all souls naturally leads to the recognition of the value and claim of every life form same as one's own. "Respect of life wherever found” and principle of reciprocity i.e. "we should do to others as we would like to be done by”, inevitably becomes the most important and fundamental duty, as defined in Jainism. This approach of Jainism is in direct contrast to the anthropocentric world view which is grounded on the belief that man is the center of the universe and has a natural dominion over whatever exists in it - animate or inanimate. The universe is created solely for consumption and enjoyment of human beings and they have inviolable right to exploit Nature and all other non-human entities for their own ends. Except man, no other cosmic being has any intrinsic value. Every other entity is of instrumental value only. Descartes, the father of modern western philosophy, strongly believed that animals have no soul and plants are lifeless entities. Contrary to this, according to the non-anthropocentric world view of Jains, every entity, from the smallest plant to the highly developed five sensed beings, is endowed with life and consciousness, has intrinsic value and is connected with rest of the world with a subtle relationship of love and care. Welfare and happiness of one form of life necessarily influences, and is influenced by those of other forms of life. This universe is one unitary whole and any harm to any part will ultimately result in the harm to the whole. In last few decades, the pro-pounders of Deep Ecology ethics, such as Laurance Johnson (Morally Deep World), Freya Methews (Ecological Self) and others have also advocated fervently for a similar holistic view of life. Jain metaphysics which views all living beings as repositories of potential divinity, leads to an ethics based on profound reverence for all life forms and prescribes 'way of life' which causes least harm to the equilibrium and harmony of the universe.
An Ahimsa Crisis: You Decide
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