Humanism - Introduction

 After not being involved with any churches for a while, and developing my own World View as not believing in any outside authority to tell me what to believe, or what my ethics should be, or what my principles should be, I decided that I would be a Humanist.  Since most people do not know what Humanism represents, I found I could accept that label because I could define it myself rather than have other people's stereotypes define me.

I hate/detest labels.  I am not a Republican, nor a Democrat; I am not a Liberal, nor a Conservative.  I do not identify with any label - even American.  I prefer to view myself as a Global Citizen rather than a citizen of any tribe or nation.  But I needed a label for my World View, and I found that if I could define Humanism myself, I could live with that label.

As a Humanist, I believe I have the ability and the responsibility to do all that I can to develop all that it means to be human both in myself and in others.

Then comes the fun part of defining what it means to be human.  Of course it includes our rational selves, but it also includes our emotional, our psychological, our social, and our physical selves.  BUT it also includes what are included in the Universities as the Humanities - art, poetry, dance, literature, music, theater, language, history, education, philosophy, social science, journalism, ethics, etc. etc.  These all make us human.

I believe we should all sing, even if we're not singers.  We should not leave singing to "others" because they are professional.  In the same vein, we should create art even if we are not artists; we should all dance even if we are not dancers; etc. etc.  And yes, we should all develop our own philosophies even if we are not philosophers.  The joy and the benefit of these humanities is not to be found in the level of performance, nor in the level of reception by others.  The joy and the benefit of the humanities is found in the act of engaging in them.

My goal in life is to develop all that it means to be human both in myself and also in others.

However, when I checked out some Humanists organizations, I found too many were rationalists rather than humanists - they defined a human as being totally rational.  I also found too many humanist organizations who had the narrow vision of being anti-religious.  I recognize that every religion has its problems and I personally cannot identify with any of them - many because they are focused on love and compassion.  (They mouth the words but they don't walk the talk.)  So I have continued with my own definitions.

As well as being a Humanist, I do not believe in the supernatural.  That means I do not believe in Greek gods, or Roman gods, or Hindu gods, or Muslim gods, or Christian gods or heaven, or hell, or angels, or devils, or demons or unicorns, or fairies, or leprechauns.  I don't care if a person is Protestant, or Catholic, or Jewish, or Muslim, or Buddhist, or Hindu, or Wiccan, or New Age, or Agnostic - as long as they live a life of Compassion and Empathy towards others.  I don't care about their beliefs - it's their actions that I care about.

Instead of focusing only on the bad parts of each and every religion, i prefer to focus on the good parts of all religions.  I found that Compassion is one of the good things that most every religion emphasizes.  

I did find a Humanist group in Concord, MA that I could identify with.  While with that group, we started a web site where I wrote several blogs centered on Humanism.  I am including many of those blogs here.  

Over the years, I became a Humanist Celebrant and several years later I became a Humanist Chaplain.  I was a Humanist Chaplain for several years at the Cleveland Clinic Indian River Hospital in Vero Beach, FL.

Many of these blogs were written several years ago and if I were to devote the time, I might like to change or edit some of them as they were originally written before I had the World View that I have now.  

My definition of Humanism helps me with my World View, my philosophy, my religion, and my ethics.

The Vitruvian man (Da Vinci) The Perfectly Proportioned Man in All Aspects