Humanist Thought of the Week

Distressed about death?

Don’t be.

You are going to die. There is no point worry about it.

The more you worry, about something that is inevitable, the less enjoyment you will have in the here and now.

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The Meaning of Life

Humanists, being non-religious, don’t generally believe that there is a meaning to life.

That doesn’t mean we live lives without meaning.

I happen to think my life is full of meaning. For me.

It just means that in the macro or big sense, I don’t think someone or something external has a grand plan for anything.

But just because there isn’t macro meaning doesn’t mean there isn’t micro meaning. 

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Does everything happen for a reason?

No. 

Sometimes things just happen.

Granted, most things are subject to cause and effect, but not everything.

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Which comes first?

Is courage more important to ethical development? Or is compassion? Or perhaps critical thinking? The answer: None of the above. They are all equally important.

As a Humanist parent, I hope my child will grow into an ethically courageous adult.

I know that compassion is important to my son’s growing sense of moral courage.

I also know that in order to be courageous he needs to be able to think for himself.

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Who we are

Finding balance between now and the future. Who we are vs. who we should be.

The central problem of ethics and morality is that we are constantly confronted with a world that isn’t as it should be. This is a real problem. We have to face reality while striving to do and to be better, despite all the forces against us. To motivate ourselves we have to balance our vision of the future with the reality of the present. We have to accept who we are right now while always striving to become who we know we should be. Finding this balance is hard. But it is one of the main reasons why I like being a Humanist. Humanism encourages me to be realistic, yet idealistic at the same time. It helps me to get that balance right. What do you do when you find yourself engaging in too much wishful thinking. Or when you find yourself disheartened by the state of humanity? How do you keep your optimism while remaining grounded?