Thursday, May 2, 2013

All for One! And One for All?

Emmanuel Bronner was born in 1908 in Germany to Jewish parents. In 1929, he began making soap, and moved to the United States. After having escaped a mental institution in Illinois in 1947, Bronner moved to California and began producing the now-famous Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap, which is an 18-in-1 liquid made from peppermint and other natural ingredients.
Now, you might be thinking, "Why, Samantha, are you doing a blog post about an old German soapmaker?"
Well, dear reader, I shall tell you that the soap's not what's important, but that the secret's in the packaging.
You see, what makes Dr. Bronner's soap so different from any other multipurpose soap is what is written on the label of every single bottle of the stuff.
The Moral ABC, or what Bronner himself described to be a way "To unite all mankind free", was an every-evolving philosophy of Bronner's, that continued to relay different messages until the "Doctor's" death in 1997.
Bronner's philosophy starts off with the following words:
"Absolute cleanliness is Godliness!"
The label goes on to promote unification of all people and their religions, suggesting that if everyone is for everyone else, there will be no turmoil, and that love and God will be the championing powers.
Now, I'm not trying to promote the All-One ideology, but I'm not trying to shoot it down, either.
The whole idea kinda seems crazy, of you think about it. Spreading a religious ideology by printing it on labels for soap?
But if you think about it, the suggestions Bronner makes are good food for thought.
What if everyone were to give up their beliefs in order to have peaceable relations with everyone else?
Maybe the world would be a better place if we asked ourselves the questions on the bottle, like "If I'm not for me, who am I?"
Before I actually start quoting John Lennon's "Imagine", though, let me just remind you that though to some it might seem like a marvelous idea and to others, it could be the rapture. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but it's a good thing to reflect on.
Some questions I began to ask after looking into this scheme were:
Would I be willing to do what the bottle asked in order to achieve world peace?
But does putting it on a soap bottle make sense?
Has anyone ever actually begun to follow this Moral ABC, and if so, how well did that work out?
How did he ever come up with this idea, and why can't I have the courage to shout my opinions from the top of a mountain, just to say what I want to say?
If this is kind of like giving pamphlets to people about becoming a Jehova's Witness or trying to convert someone to a religion, then should the Moral ABC be allowed?
And following that, should anyone be allowed to try and shove their opinion down another person's throat?

Now that I've whet your appetite on the subject, and given you some thinks about which you can think, watch these two videos as you lather, rinse and repeat. The first is the trailer for a documentary about Dr. Bronner's, the other is the video for "Imagine".





 


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