Choice

Which path would you choose?

Humanism is a philosophy of choice.  It is a choice to decide to live your life ethically. It is a choice to decide that what really matters is how you behave towards others. It is a choice to respect others as the individuals they are instead of lumping people together into some sort of generic caricature.  It is a choice to remain optimistic about the future, despite the problems of the present.

To effectively solve our problems we know that knowledge is better then ignorance so we choose to be educated.  To make sure we aren’t missing some key piece of the puzzle we choose to practice Freethought. And because we know that, despite our best efforts, our own reasoning may be flawed we choose to be critical of our own thinking.

And finally, a Humanist chooses to put their reason and compassion into action. It is a choice to reject the status quo if the status quo involves suffering. It is a choice to make a commitment to yourself that when the situation calls for it, you will to do what needs to be done to end an injustice. 

People are not born Humanists, though they may be born to Humanists parents.  To be a Humanist is to make a choice. And that choice is to be the best, most moral human being you can be. Not because you are expecting a reward or punishment as a result of your choice. But because being a good person is who you want and choose to be.

Why I am passionate about Humanism - Faith - BradentonHerald.com

My column in today's paper - did you know I write a freelance column for the Bradenton Herald? Now you do!

Just to give you a hint - the reason I am so passionate about Humanism is because *shocker* I firmly believe it is better then the alternatives. Enjoy.

Why I am passionate about Humanism - Faith - BradentonHerald.com

We need to do better

I got an email from someone over the weekend who had heard me on Skepticality.  Which is great. They were very excited to find out that they weren’t the only people who hold the Humanist philosophy and were even more excited to learn that there are Humanist groups all over the country, including where they live.

I bring this up because we Humanists need to do better.  If active members of the skeptic movement who consider themselves to be Humanists aren’t aware of the existence of the Humanist movement then we Humanists simply aren’t doing a good enough job of spreading the word.  We shouldn’t be assuming that our fellow Humanists, skeptics, freethinkers, Brights and Atheists know we exist or that we have, you know, groups and stuff. Because they don’t and won’t unless we tell them.

We also shouldn’t assume that people in these movements know whether or not they are Humanists. Again, if no one bothers to talk about the philosophy, we can’t expect people to know about it.  We need to do better. 

Rant over.

I Hate Hate

I was reminded again yesterday that I hate hate. I hate everything about that emotion.  I hate how it feels. I hate how it makes us want to act and I hate how it negatively impacts our society.

I hate that some people are so angry and hate filled that they indiscriminately kill other people. I even hate that the indiscriminate killing of other people makes me so angry I end up hating the people who kill.  I hate the senselessness of the whole thing. I hate feeling hate.

I’ve written before about turning hate into compassion. (see: http://humanisthappiness.blogspot.com/2010/01/turning-hate-into-compassion.html)  But what I want to say today, and what I teach my child when he is angry: is that it’s ok to feel the emotion. Just don’t act on it.

And I think that’s what I hate about hate the most. It’s an irrational emotion that is often overwhelming when we experience it. It robs us of our rationality.  We have to fight to regain a sense of balance so that we can act rationally and with compassion despite our anger and frustration and yes, hate.

To me part of being a good person is understanding that I have a moral obligation to control my emotions so that I do not negatively impact myself or others. I hate that not everyone cares enough to even try to control their emotions and I especially hate that not everyone is even capable of that level of self-control.  In short: I hate hate.  Thanks. I really needed to get that off my chest.

Thou Shall Not Kill

Obama and his team watch the raid live

This week, Osama Bin Laden was killed in a raid ordered by US President Barack Obama. Lots of people were happy about it. Some were angered by it and a whole lot of people had mixed emotions about it.  I fell into the mixed emotions group.

The killing of Bin Laden represents what happens when our values come in conflict with one another. Humanists understand that all ethics and all moral value systems are situational. But that doesn't mean it's easy thinking through moral problems.  It's hard sometimes.

Here's the moral dilemma that the killing of Bin Laden brought up. Is it OK to kill one person in order to save the lives of thousands?  For Obama and his team, the answer is apparently yes because that's the decision that was made. Intellectually I agree, but killing is still killing and the thought of someone dying makes me sad. Even if that someone was Bin Laden. While I don't like feeling this way, I would rather feel sad about a death then ambivalent about it. People who aren't emotionally moved by death scare me.

Anyway, Bin Laden's death has also brought up those horrid emotions from Sept 11th and how I felt when I watched the towers collapse on television and saw people jumping to their deaths to avoid immolation. So even though a part of me is relieved that Bin Laden can't order peoples death's anymore. The other part of me is still mourning the tragedy of Sept 11, 2001 and wishing that the world didn't include such sorrow.

Compassion, not sanctions, is best response to workplace anger

This is a cool study - something that is obvious, but not until it is pointed out to you. It turns out that responding to anger with compassion yields better results then if you blame the angry person for being angry without trying to figure out why they got mad in the first place.

Don't you just love science?

Compassion, not sanctions, is best response to workplace anger