Humanist Thought of the Week

Letting go of fear

Consider this a little Humanist non-prayer prayer for the next time you find yourself paralyzed with fear.

If you are a fan of Dune, you will know this.

I share this because learning to overcome fear is a lifelong lesson and central to how a Humanist approaches life.

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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?

Why teaching critical thinking fails

Why freethinkers need to focus on moral fortitude if we are to actually encourage people to think more critically.

I read a great essay by Edward Clint a while back (link at the end of this post). It was about why teaching critical thinking fails.

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I am a Power of Attraction Scrooge

Why rejecting the law of attraction and the magic of positive thinking is a positive thing to do. And not at all scroogy.

I admit it, I don’t like the power of attraction. I know a lot of people who do. The problem is that it promotes magical thinking.

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Ethics and Morality

Every wonder what the difference is between ethics and morality? Does the difference even matter?

Ethics is defined as a system of values or principles people use to determine what is right and what is wrong. Morality is basically a judgment call on how well someone has put their professed ethical values into practice. Or more realistically whether or not other people embody the values I personally wish that they would.

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