This morning I downloaded A.C. Graylings The Good Book: A Humanist Bible on my iphone Kindle app:
I'm pretty excited about this. I've been following Grayling in the news for some time and I remember when this book was first published it made national news. I've wanted to read it ever since.
Hopefully it possesses some good insights. As I read my way through it I'll be sure to post about it accordingly. Please submit a comment if you have read this book!
Monday, October 31, 2011
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Why Humanism?
I suppose most people experience periods in their lives with feelings of vulnerability. I'm no different. I get frustrated by people I interactive with, or the bad things I read and hear in the news. I reflect on these things and daydream about what I would do if given the power to make them better.
And when I encounter those stressors (which is often) for some reason I always think about how religious people rely on one another to get through it all. I believe this is because I've encountered many religious people in my life who are successful and claim their religions as integral to their success. I know way more religious people who are successful than successful atheists. That is not to say I think this trend holds true all the time; it is just what I have observed. Also, whenever a new study comes out in the news about how to live to 100, it seems like many times centarians are described as being actively spiritual.
So, being someone who wants to be successful and who wants to live for a very long time, I am obviously a little envious. I hope that the humanism community and way of life can fill that void. If the act of being religious can be distilled down to a means of getting to live longer and more prosperously, then why can't I just lead a religious life of sorts without all of the stuff I don't believe in? I can congregate with likeminded people, read about my religion, meditate, etc. Who knows what such a life could bring...
I'm still trying to figure it out.
And when I encounter those stressors (which is often) for some reason I always think about how religious people rely on one another to get through it all. I believe this is because I've encountered many religious people in my life who are successful and claim their religions as integral to their success. I know way more religious people who are successful than successful atheists. That is not to say I think this trend holds true all the time; it is just what I have observed. Also, whenever a new study comes out in the news about how to live to 100, it seems like many times centarians are described as being actively spiritual.
So, being someone who wants to be successful and who wants to live for a very long time, I am obviously a little envious. I hope that the humanism community and way of life can fill that void. If the act of being religious can be distilled down to a means of getting to live longer and more prosperously, then why can't I just lead a religious life of sorts without all of the stuff I don't believe in? I can congregate with likeminded people, read about my religion, meditate, etc. Who knows what such a life could bring...
I'm still trying to figure it out.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Introduction - This a blog about Humanism
First a little about me:
My name is Gabe. For a living, I work in a cube crunching numbers for a large organization doing work completely unrelated to the subject matter of this blog. Save for a couple of acronym-laden emails a day: I'm no writer. But, despite this disconnection, I've found myself, for quite some time, constantly compelled to learn and write about, of all things, Humanism.
Perhaps you are wondering what that is. Well... so am I! Hence my attempt to blog about Humanism and experience it in this open forum.
For a start, let us resort to the experts:
"Humanism is a progressive philosophy of life that,
without theism and other supernatural beliefs, affirms our ability and responsibility to lead ethical lives of personal fulfillment that aspire to the greater good of humanity.
-American Humanist Association"
The sentence from AMA above, which I had never seen until I googled "Humanism" just now, actually sums up my beliefs better than anything ever written. That is not to say I didn't have the gist of it before writing this, but it is the most succinct definition of Humanism I've come across.
My whole life I have acted as an observer. I've watched other people live their lives, take risks, seize opportunities, and, most importantly, act on their beliefs. I have seen how religions and shared philosophies connect people in a way that, frankly, creates a change in their behavior that I have never fully experienced for myself. When your beliefs are totally secular and atheist, but you are surrounded by theists, difficulties arise when it comes time for you to ground yourself and assert yourself. This is because you are constantly digressing while they progress, they get to strike first, and the world we live in rewards action.
I want to stop the digression. I want to have a sense of community. I want to have a sense of spirituality. But I can't do it by acting like I believe in things I know do not exist. Things that I cannot observe or cannot be explained by science are not real and therefore can never influence my actions.
Hopefully, this simple exercise will aide in my pursuit and if I am lucky, I will run into a few likeminded folks along the way. This is my open and official invitation to contact me if you feel anything remotely like I do.
In the meantime, check out the official Humanist logo known as the "Happy Human" created by Denis Barrington in 1965:
My name is Gabe. For a living, I work in a cube crunching numbers for a large organization doing work completely unrelated to the subject matter of this blog. Save for a couple of acronym-laden emails a day: I'm no writer. But, despite this disconnection, I've found myself, for quite some time, constantly compelled to learn and write about, of all things, Humanism.
Perhaps you are wondering what that is. Well... so am I! Hence my attempt to blog about Humanism and experience it in this open forum.
For a start, let us resort to the experts:
"Humanism is a progressive philosophy of life that,
without theism and other supernatural beliefs, affirms our ability and responsibility to lead ethical lives of personal fulfillment that aspire to the greater good of humanity.
-American Humanist Association"
The sentence from AMA above, which I had never seen until I googled "Humanism" just now, actually sums up my beliefs better than anything ever written. That is not to say I didn't have the gist of it before writing this, but it is the most succinct definition of Humanism I've come across.
My whole life I have acted as an observer. I've watched other people live their lives, take risks, seize opportunities, and, most importantly, act on their beliefs. I have seen how religions and shared philosophies connect people in a way that, frankly, creates a change in their behavior that I have never fully experienced for myself. When your beliefs are totally secular and atheist, but you are surrounded by theists, difficulties arise when it comes time for you to ground yourself and assert yourself. This is because you are constantly digressing while they progress, they get to strike first, and the world we live in rewards action.
I want to stop the digression. I want to have a sense of community. I want to have a sense of spirituality. But I can't do it by acting like I believe in things I know do not exist. Things that I cannot observe or cannot be explained by science are not real and therefore can never influence my actions.
Hopefully, this simple exercise will aide in my pursuit and if I am lucky, I will run into a few likeminded folks along the way. This is my open and official invitation to contact me if you feel anything remotely like I do.
In the meantime, check out the official Humanist logo known as the "Happy Human" created by Denis Barrington in 1965:
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