I’ve read various things that approach “Humanism” as though it were doctrine.
Maybe some people have turned it into that for themselves,
but that’s not why I consider myself a humanist.
Me, myself have approached it from a definitional perspective.
I consider myself a humanist, not because of anything anyone has ever written,
lordie knows I’ve read precious little of it.
I come to “Humanism”, because the descriptive word sounds closes to what I’m feeling.
What is humanism to me?
It’s the exhaltation of being awareness and appreciative of this one moment I’ve been blessed with.
To be a sentient beings at the top of evolution’s game, capable of taking in this planet I was born into.
Capable, heck thirsty to learn about my story, Earth’s story, the universe’s story.
To be witness to five decades of scientists and explorers pealing away ever deeper layers.
From plate tectonics, to black smokers, to mineral evolution, biology, DNA and much more.
All of it has a poetic flow and harmony and a profound pleasing beauty to it, and I’m part of it,
from the cells in my body who’s origins can be traced to the stars,
to the character I inhabit, who’s constantly dancing to keep up with life, as time rushes by.
Well, not just dancing, with Maddy I get an excuse to takes lots of walks,
(getting to know this chunk of land like never before),
and I’ve striven to make contemplative time for myself and the writing when I can get away with it.
Always been filled with introspection and a driving desire to understand the world around me and how I move through it and how it operates.
To better understand folks and the rhythms of our lives. It’s been a fun, passionate, eventful, at times deeply painful and heartbreaking, but more times as good as it gets.
Experiencing the experience of being alive in a profound universe.
That’s what humanism means to me 
What is humanism to me? It's the exhaltation of being awareness and appreciative of this one moment I've been blessed with. To be a sentient beings at the top of evolution's game, capable of taking in this planet I was born into. Capable, heck thirsty to learn about my story, Earth's story, the universe's story. To be witness to five decades of scientists and explorers pealing away ever deeper layers. From plate tectonics, to black smokers, to mineral evolution, biology, DNA and much more. All of it has a poetic flow and harmony and a profound pleasing beauty to it, and I'm part of it, from the cells in my body who's origins can be traced to the stars, to the character I inhabit, who's constantly dancing to keep up with life, as time rushes by. Well, not just dancing, with Maddy I get an excuse to takes lots of walks, (getting to know this chunk of land like never before), and I've striven to make contemplative time for myself and the writing when I can get away with it. Always been filled with introspection and a driving desire to understand the world around me and how I move through it and how it operates. To better understand folks and the rhythms of our lives. It's been a fun, passionate, eventful, at times deeply painful and heartbreaking, but more times as good as it gets. Experiencing the experience of being alive in a profound universe. That's what humanism means to me :)Your words define a broader version of humanism than I feel. Humanism to me is simply putting the improvement of the lives of others at the top of my list of considerations when deciding what is 'right' and 'wrong'. Humanism is using human flourishing (current and future) as the guide-post for morality. What you have described is the life one leads when they live a life using humanistic (and atheistic) concepts. But, again, these are my views on the topic. There will be a range of views, but I bet we're all within spitting distance of each other. And in the end I'm pretty sure we made the right choice when choosing and holding on to these views. My sense of awe with life and the universe is as profound as yours. It's all so freaking cool!
Humanism is using human flourishing (current and future) as the guide-post for morality.I'm confused, what does that mean?
Humanism is using human flourishing (current and future) as the guide-post for morality.I'm confused, what does that mean? This just means that, to me, humanism is making choices based on how they affect people now and in the future. It's putting the current and future well-being of humans (and by extension, the entire planet) at the base of your morality. I had never looked up the definition of 'humanism' before seeing the discussions on here about what the word means. After reading a few definitions and descriptions online, I still think my personal definition is fairly close to some others out there. Does my explanation make it any clearer? I see that I basically paraphrased what you quoted from my earlier post, so I hope it's enough. If not, let me know and I'll try to expand my explanation. Is your definition much different? **Edit- added the word 'at' to a sentence.**
Humanism is using human flourishing (current and future) as the guide-post for morality.I'm confused, what does that mean? This just means that, to me, humanism is making choices based on how they affect people now and in the future. It's putting the current and future well-being of humans (and by extension, the entire planet) at the base of your morality. Is your definition much different? It works for me, but it leaves out the whole being a part of this Earth, the planet that created me… us. Why is that part always left out??? Sure seems to me, that's why the human tenure is going to be cut so unnecessarily short, we became so damned self centered, we forgot how dependent we are on the natural world we were born out of. No appreciation for how intimately connected we are to deep time, evolution, and the other creatures and biosphere that inhabit this planet. We're paying dearly for that stupidity and it will only get worse :down:
Humanism is using human flourishing (current and future) as the guide-post for morality.I'm confused, what does that mean? This just means that, to me, humanism is making choices based on how they affect people now and in the future. It's putting the current and future well-being of humans (and by extension, the entire planet) at the base of your morality. Is your definition much different? It works for me, but it leaves out the whole being a part of this Earth, the planet that created me… us. Why is that part always left out??? Sure seems to me, that's why the human tenure is going to be cut so unnecessarily short, we became so damned self centered, we forgot how dependent we are on the natural world we were born out of. No appreciation for how intimately connected we are to deep time, evolution, and the other creatures and biosphere that inhabit this planet. We're paying dearly for that stupidity and it will only get worse :down: I agree that the earth is left out too often. But... - I know for a fact that a far greater percentage of humanists than religious people incorporate the earth into their philosophy, - humanism is only a word that indicates the importance of humans. It's not an exclusionary word that means other factors can't come into play, - even if you have tunnel vision and ONLY care about humans, by natural extension you have no choice but to care for the earth since it's our home. If you notice, I added the parenthetical comment that I care for the entire planet. I stated it as an extension of my humanism, but humanism is by no means the only reason I care for the earth. All living things are precious, and there are many instances where I think people should take less and enjoy things less in order to save the natural world. So I think you can relax a bit. Humanists can't ignore the earth if they want to, and practically none of them want to. **I only see typos after I submit posts.**
Humanism is using human flourishing (current and future) as the guide-post for morality.I'm confused, what does that mean? This just means that, to me, humanism is making choices based on how they affect people now and in the future. It's putting the current and future well-being of humans (and by extension, the entire planet) at the base of your morality. Is your definition much different? It works for me, but it leaves out the whole being a part of this Earth, the planet that created me… us. Why is that part always left out??? Sure seems to me, that's why the human tenure is going to be cut so unnecessarily short, we became so damned self centered, we forgot how dependent we are on the natural world we were born out of. No appreciation for how intimately connected we are to deep time, evolution, and the other creatures and biosphere that inhabit this planet. We're paying dearly for that stupidity and it will only get worse :down: I agree that the earth is left out too often. But... - I know for a fact that a far greater percentage of humanists than religious people incorporate the earth into their philosophy, - humanism is only a word that indicates the importance of humans. It's not an exclusionary word that means other factors can't come into play, - even if you have tunnel vision and ONLY care about humans, by natural extension you have no choice but to care for the earth since it's our home. If you notice, I added the parenthetical comment that I care for the entire planet. I stated it as an extension of my humanism, but humanism is by no means the only reason I care for the earth. All living things are precious, and there are many instances where I think people should take less and enjoy things less in order to save the natural world.We have no disagreement, in fact I embrace most of what you wrote.
So I think you can relax a bit. Humanists can't ignore the earth if they want to, and practically none of them want to.Relax. Interesting concept, relax in the face of what we are doing to this planet we depend on for everything. :blank: Relax as I watch people who thought they had it all figured out, having the bottom fall out from under them, and they are clueless as to why and too disconnected to appreciate why and what it means. Yeah, I can relax. I'm a human we are fantastic at compartmentalizing and denial and adaptation. What do you chose to be "present to in this moment" and all that. Sad thing is, it only works when turning my back and closing my eyes on the reality of the state of our planet, not to mention the on going deterioration in human society/behavior/thinking. **I only see typos after I submit posts.** I fell your pain :)
Relax. Interesting concept, relax in the face of what we are doing to this planet we depend on for everything. :blank: Relax as I watch people who thought they had it all figured out, having the bottom fall out from under them, and they are clueless as to why and too disconnected to appreciate why and what it means. Yeah, I can relax. I'm a human we are fantastic at compartmentalizing and denial and adaptation. What do you chose to be "present to in this moment" and all that. Sad thing is, it only works when turning my back and closing my eyes on the reality of the state of our planet, not to mention the on going deterioration in human society/behavior/thinking. **I only see typos after I submit posts.** I fell your pain :)This forum is mainly used by only a dozen or so regulars and, except for me and a few others, you are all really dialed in to current events and science and the arts. So when you're on here you are seeing questions and solutions that are deep and important to all of us. But when you mainly see problems and are concerned about what the solutions are, you often don't see the good news stories or the solved problems (they're not considered newsworthy by news outlets and are hard to find.) If you have kids, making sure they grow up to be aware and involved citizens is the best thing you can do. After that, be the best you can be. After that, support good causes. And when doing those things know that there are millions of other people doing the same thing with more joining 'our side' all the time. Every generation gets us closer to a better future, so don't look for improvement over days or weeks or months or even years, use decades which seem like a long time but in the grand scheme of things they're not long at all. I'm sure that in the decades to come humanity will slowly climb out of the hole we've dug for ourselves. Yes, there are crazies out there who can ruin it all, but equate them with unknown killer asteroids heading for earth. If you can't do anything to prevent them, don't worry about them! So, yes, relax. You are part of the solution to the "state of our planet, not to mention the on going deterioration in human society/behavior/thinking." And that's the best anyone can be.
Every generation gets us closer to a better future, so don't look for improvement over days or weeks or months or even years, use decades which seem like a long time but in the grand scheme of things they're not long at all. I'm sure that in the decades to come humanity will slowly climb out of the hole we've dug for ourselves.Have reached an attentive 60 years of age, I'm aware of how fast children grow and decades pass. Unfortunately, the generations I've watched parade by, have definitely not supported the sweet bromide: it will all work out for the best. Nor that every generation get's us closer to a better future. case in point http://www.npr.org/2016/06/23/483211713/handguns-in-america-and-the-rise-of-the-concealed-carry-lifestyle
Every generation gets us closer to a better future, so don't look for improvement over days or weeks or months or even years, use decades which seem like a long time but in the grand scheme of things they're not long at all. I'm sure that in the decades to come humanity will slowly climb out of the hole we've dug for ourselves.Have reached an attentive 60 years of age, I'm aware of how fast children grow and decades pass. Unfortunately, the generations I've watched parade by, have definitely not supported the sweet bromide: it will all work out for the best. Nor that every generation get's us closer to a better future. case in point http://www.npr.org/2016/06/23/483211713/handguns-in-america-and-the-rise-of-the-concealed-carry-lifestyle I agree that there are lots of justifications to have a negative outlook for our future. But I do think that although our ability to destroy ourselves is increasing all the time, we are also, on average, getting better at treating each other better. (I wish I could say the same for how we treat our planet, but with our population and growth rate and 'improving standard of living', we have a long loooong way to go.) Maybe it's my optimistic attitude that makes me assume we'll steer ourselves away from the cliff we are approaching. Or maybe it's a self-defense mechanism in my brain that won't allow me to despair too much to function. Whatever the reason, I still think we have a greater than 50% chance of success (ie. surviving and thriving on a planet rich with life.) There are just so many variables that I don't know if I know all of them. And some things might be way more important than I think and some that I think are important might me almost irrelevant (If ignorance is bliss, I'm as happy as a pig in %$#@.) All I do know for sure is that educating our kids it the top of the list. [Today is the last day of school for my kids. It's summer holidays for them until the very end of September. What? Me jealous? Nah! :shut:]
I agree that there are lots of justifications to have a negative outlook for our future. But I do think that although our ability to destroy ourselves is increasing all the time, we are also, on average, getting better at treating each other better. (I wish I could say the same for how we treat our planet, but with our population and growth rate and 'improving standard of living', we have a long loooong way to go.)I wonder how you feel after this "election campaign" and its result?
I agree that there are lots of justifications to have a negative outlook for our future. But I do think that although our ability to destroy ourselves is increasing all the time, we are also, on average, getting better at treating each other better. (I wish I could say the same for how we treat our planet, but with our population and growth rate and 'improving standard of living', we have a long loooong way to go.)I wonder how you feel after this "election campaign" and its result? Trump really puts my optimism and all my rationalizations for it to the test. He's an absolutely terrible person in practically every respect. Making him leader of the most influential country in the world is scary stuff because so many disastrous things can happen. But in spite of all that, I still think we'll escape the next four years alive, even if socially damaged and regressed in many ways. Many of my friends (all fellow Canadians) have a similar outlook, but there are some uber religious friends who love Trump. Our Liberal Prime Minister and NDP provincial Premier have lots of Albertans in an uproar over the carbon tax, higher minimum wage, and indications of wanting to slow down and eventually close the oil sands. Perceived out of control liberalism is poisoning the well for all things liberal, so Trump looks less terrible than he would if we didn't have our own issues with liberal ideals. That said, we're generally more liberal than Americans, and we most of us can see the lunacy of Trump. It's comforting to know that more Americans are against him than for him, and the numbers of Trump voters who regret their choice is growing, so hopefully Trumps ego and narcissism can't run rampant with no repercussions. Social experiments are fascinating, I just wish this one wasn't using the planet as it's lab and all humans as the guinea pigs.
Social experiments are fascinating,How's that curse go: May you live in interesting times.
Social experiments are fascinating,How's that curse go: May you live in interesting times. Truly, these are interesting times- only time will tell if this is also the end of times. My hope is that the "deplorables" who voted for him will see their mistake, get angry, and choose to learn and think about things in order to protect themselves from liars and con artists (but I'm not holding my breath.)