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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