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October 23 - October 23, 2022
Our conscious appreciation of who we are and where we’ve come from brings with it a huge responsibility. We are not just like every other animal: we are both incredibly powerful and aware of our impact.
The radical idea of humanism is that every human being should be seen as having dignity and equal worth – simply by virtue of their humanity.
We all have human rights. Humanists believe that means we also have responsibilities. The right to a private life is also the obligation to respect the privacy of others. The right to freedom of expression and thought is also the obligation to be generous and make space for others to be heard. The right to be treated with dignity is also the responsibility to respect the humanity and dignity of all other people.
You cannot hope to build a better world without improving the individuals. To that end, each of us must work for our own improvement and, at the same time, share a general responsibility for all humanity, our particular duty being to aid those to whom we think we can be most useful. Marie Curie
Even people who say they’re taking their morals from religious authority, sacred doctrines or holy books mostly have a very selective approach to this – carefully choosing parts that chime with what they already believe to be moral and ignoring other parts. So, they’re not really learning moral lessons from scripture – rather, imposing their own morals on those archaic texts.
Believing you have to work things out for yourself is not the same as saying that moral principles are simply matters of personal preference:
We won’t all come up with the same list of values. But we seem already to have a plausible list of values which many people would accept – kindness, consideration, peace, love, cooperation, honesty, loyalty, fairness, mutual respect and tolerance. The list may even seem obvious. If it does, that is all to the good, for it bears out one of the most basic tenets of humanism – that there are shared human values. Richard Norman
Science is simply common sense at its best, that is, rigidly accurate in observation, and merciless to fallacy in logic. Thomas Henry Huxley
Russell advised: 1. Do not feel absolutely certain of anything. 2. Do not think it worthwhile to proceed by concealing evidence, for the evidence is sure to come to light. 3. Never try to discourage thinking, for you are sure to succeed. 4. When you meet with opposition, even if it should be from your husband or your children, endeavour to overcome it by argument and not by authority, for a victory dependent upon authority is unreal and illusory. 5. Have no respect for the authority of others, for there are always contrary authorities to be found. 6. Do not use power to suppress
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When my information changes, I change my mind. What do you do? Attributed to John Maynard Keynes
I may be wrong and you may be right and, by an effort, we may get nearer the truth. Karl Popper
Some humanists don’t feel very strongly about the fact that people believe things that aren’t true.
Ultimately humanists believe in freedom of belief for all and in working with others of different beliefs.
For a humanist, there is no single meaning of life. The universe has no ultimate direction or purpose. Meaning is not something waiting out there to be discovered like a natural law or a distant star. Meaning is something that we create. We give meaning to our experience and we find fulfilment and happiness in what we do in our lives.
Living well for a humanist is about seeking fulfilment and helping others to do the same.
The best moments in reading are when you come across something – a thought, a feeling, a way of looking at things – which you had thought special and particular to you. Now here it is, set down by someone else, a person you have never met, someone even who is long dead. And it is as if a hand has come out and taken yours. Alan Bennett
One person alone is not a full person: we exist in relation to others. Margaret Atwood
