Humanist Thought of the Week

Overcoming Societal Norms

We humans are herd animals.

Our desires to fit in means that we tend to adopt the behavioral norms of the crowd we are in. This is why the bystander effect occurs.

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The Need for Validation

We all fall prey to it Especially when we are working on something creative.

Sometimes we feel like we are on top of the world and can conquer anything. Other times we are convinced our work is total crap and perhaps we should just go eat some worms.

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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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Letting go of anger

Letting go of anger, as hard as it is, is an important part of effective problem solving.

It is clear that some people just like being angry.

Or they are afraid of letting go of their anger.

Probably the latter.

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The 3 C’s of Humanism

The idea behind this is not to provide a perfect definition of Humanism, but rather to help Humanists consider a different aspect of the philosophy in a new way.

Humanism is a deceptively simple philosophies.

Yet, it is really hard to describe well because once you start getting into the details, there is all the nuance and balance that is required to do it well.

Regardless, here is yet another attempt by me to describe and define Humanism in a simple way that is nothing but simple.

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