Supernaturalism, Imagination & Assumptions

Where there is no imagination there is no horror. ~Arthur Conan Doyle, Sr.

I love me a good horror movie. One with lots of supernatural terror. This may seem strange, since I am a Humanist and a naturalist (note – naturalist is not the same as naturist – the former is about embracing the natural world, the latter is about wandering about naked – as nature intended).

Anyway – while I love contemplating supernaturalism, I don’t worry about it. It’s safe horror fun. Which is why I enjoy horror movies. It’s harmless fun. Mostly.

The problem is when belief in supernatural things exceeds common sense.

I have a kid. He loves to imagine scary supernatural things. But the reason he does it is because he has a good imagination.  And what he doesn’t know, he imagines. And he makes assumptions.

Upon seeing a dark room, he can’t see what’s in it. So his imagination runs wild. Is that dark room empty, like his mom says? Or does it have a Neanderthal in it (don’t ask – geeky kids have unusual fears). And if there is a neanderthal in the room, does it want to eat him? As this point my son doesn’t know and he doesn’t want to find out – so I am called to turn on the light for him – so he can put his fearful imagination to rest and realize – yes – the room is indeed empty.

While this might seem like typical child stuff – some adults do this too. They don’t know something, so they imagine something. Their imagination scares them and they don’t seem to have the courage to turn on the light to find out if what they imagined is real or not. So they assume what they imagine to be real and rather test their assumptions, because that is scary, try to avoid the room altogether.  It’s not a very adult way of dealing with problems is it.

Why do Humanists reject supernaturalism?  Because, we all suffer from the supernatural imagination assumption problem. We all have irrational fears.  When we explicitly choose to reject supernaturalism, we remind ourselves that things aren’t probably as bad as we imagine them to be. It’s unlikely there is a monster in my room and so if I just add a little light of science – I might actually be able to see reality for what it really is instead of how I imagine it to be.

And if I have the courage to face my fears, I may just be surprised by how amazing life can be.

The Power of What If

How to harness the power of your imagination to help make the world a better place

Normally Humanists are very reality based. We know that in order to solve our problems, we need to confront the reality of them. However, in order to solve our problems we need to be creative. We need to consider alternative possibilities. We need to ask ourselves what if things were different.

There is a tremendous amount of power in this simple question. Asking ourselves “What If” allows us to dream fabulous dreams and it is these dreams that give us the motivation to keep reaching for the future.

One of the reasons Humanism is so hard to describe is because at all times, it requires balance. It is never just one thing, like futurism. Humanism actually encourages us to find the balance between realism and futurism.  And it is precisely this balance that Blaise Pascal alluded to when he said:

“A man does not show his greatness by being at one extremity, but rather by touching both at once.” 

Another thing the question “What If” allows us to do, is it allows us to doubt. What if we are wrong? What if there is another reason why things are happening? What if there is another way to solve the problem? A better way perhaps? Without doubt, there can be no progress.

What If” allows us to question the immorality of the present. What if there were no slavery? What if the color of our skin or our gender didn’t matter? What if no one starved to death? These are powerful questions to ask! Because once we start thinking how nice it would be if no one starved to death, we start thinking about how we might accomplish that.

Most importantly “What If” allows us to overcome the inertia that sets in when we realize that the task ahead of us may be too great and that we will probably fail. Because it is only when we ask ourselves “what if” we are wrong? “What if” we could succeed? When we think that question, we realize we have a moral obligation to try.  

What questions do you ask yourself to get and stay motivated and positive?