After you decide what you believe about life the universe and everything, you now have to figure out how best to live your life given what you believe. That’s where Humanism comes in.
It turns out that deciding whether you believe in a god, gods or no gods or some amorphous deity or, that you just refuse to even think about it and make a decision on what you think (the apathetic agnostic option), is the easy part.
Once you know what you believe, you now have to get on with the business of living life, hopefully, in accordance with your beliefs, or in my case, lack of belief. How do we make decisions? How do we live life fully? Heck, what do we mean by living life fully?
These are the hard existential questions that aren’t actually answered when you decide how you feel about the god/not god question. Which is why Humanism is so important. Because Humanism helps us to not only find answers to these questions, but the answers are REALLY satisfying and very practical on a day to day basis.
Yeah – it’s not as sexy as a good old god off – but that’s ok. Because learning how to life your life in a way you can feel good about and that can do good for others, is a lifelong task. We never stop learning.
So, how can Humanism help you? Well, you can decide to be a good person. Just because. You can decide to try and make your impact on others as positive as possible. Again, just because. To have a positive impact requires you to make good decisions and that requires you to learn how to think well so that you can make good decisions.
Having trouble with interpersonal issues, Humanism can help you there too. The other person is human, just like you are and they can’t read minds. This means, you should be compassionate with them and stop assuming that just because they weren’t acting in a way you think is perfect doesn’t mean that they are a horrible person incapable of compassion.
Struggling with fears of death? Yup, Humanism can help with that too. You are going to die. Stop wasting what little time you have alive worrying about the inevitable and get on with living life to the fullest while you still can. And if you still can’t stop worrying, go seek professional help! There is a reason why early Humanists were active in psychology. We realize that living isn’t easy and almost everyone needs help to maximize their potential and to be reasonably happy and satisfied in life. So don’t be afraid to seek out help when you need it. It’s the Humanist way.
It turns out that deciding whether you believe in a god, gods or no gods or some amorphous deity or, that you just refuse to even think about it and make a decision on what you think (the apathetic agnostic option), is the easy part.
Once you know what you believe, you now have to get on with the business of living life, hopefully, in accordance with your beliefs, or in my case, lack of belief. How do we make decisions? How do we live life fully? Heck, what do we mean by living life fully?
These are the hard existential questions that aren’t actually answered when you decide how you feel about the god/not god question. Which is why Humanism is so important. Because Humanism helps us to not only find answers to these questions, but the answers are REALLY satisfying and very practical on a day to day basis.
Yeah – it’s not as sexy as a good old god off – but that’s ok. Because learning how to life your life in a way you can feel good about and that can do good for others, is a lifelong task. We never stop learning.
So, how can Humanism help you? Well, you can decide to be a good person. Just because. You can decide to try and make your impact on others as positive as possible. Again, just because. To have a positive impact requires you to make good decisions and that requires you to learn how to think well so that you can make good decisions.
Having trouble with interpersonal issues, Humanism can help you there too. The other person is human, just like you are and they can’t read minds. This means, you should be compassionate with them and stop assuming that just because they weren’t acting in a way you think is perfect doesn’t mean that they are a horrible person incapable of compassion.
Struggling with fears of death? Yup, Humanism can help with that too. You are going to die. Stop wasting what little time you have alive worrying about the inevitable and get on with living life to the fullest while you still can. And if you still can’t stop worrying, go seek professional help! There is a reason why early Humanists were active in psychology. We realize that living isn’t easy and almost everyone needs help to maximize their potential and to be reasonably happy and satisfied in life. So don’t be afraid to seek out help when you need it. It’s the Humanist way.
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