What’s Wrong With These People?

I’m rather upset about the extreme negative response some people have had to the gay marriage vote in NY. The anger and violence directed towards gays doesn’t make any sense to me. I get that some people have religious objections to gay marriage, but I don’t understand why anyone would care enough to react with violence. I mean seriously, what does it matter who people want to have sex with? Unless they want to have sex with you, you aren’t even involved.

When I see scenes of violence against gays, and gays receiving death threats, I am forced to ask, what the heck is wrong with these people? Don’t they have anything better to do? Don’t they have a life? Are there really that many people struggling with latent homosexual desires? I just don’t get it.

So to those of you who are so scared of gays that you are lashing out in violence against them: get a life already. Gays are humans. Not some alien race trying to take over our planet. If the idea of homosexuality disgusts you, that’s fine. There’s a rational way to deal with your disgust. Ignore them. They probably don’t want to have sex with you anyway.

Morality 1: Good without gods

For those of you interesting in viewing one of the best explanations of how Humanists approach the very important subject of morality - how we feel about it and why we take the approach we do - watch this video. It's excellent.

I’ve been re-reading Some Reflections on Ethics by my friend Ramendra Nath. His chapter on Epicurus is particularly interesting because of it’s discussion of pleasure and happiness.

Happiness, according to Epicurus is found “not so much in positive pleasure as in freedom from pain, and a calm and contented mind.”

Contrary to popular belief, Epicurus didn’t advocate pleasure as the sole goal of life. He was advocating using reason to help make our whole lives happy. To this end, he advocated a simple set of principles, which we can use to guide our decisions to help us lead a happy and contented life.

According to Ramendra, here is Epicurus’ recipe for happiness:

· Pleasure which produces no pain is to be embraced.
· Pain which produces no pleasure is to be avoided.
· Pleasure which prevents a greater pleasure, or produces greater pain is to be avoided.
· Pain which averts a greater pain or secures a greater pleasure is to be endured.

Yup, I think that about covers it.

The Zen of Happiness

What is the sound of one hand clapping?  I have no idea. But I do know that you don’t achieve happiness by seeking happiness. You achieve happiness almost in hindsight, after the fact. It is when you are doing and being that you are content and happy. And you can only realize this upon reflection. So don’t worry so much about being happy. Focus on doing and being. Be the best human you can be. Do things that help yourself and help others. Be nice. Be compassionate. Do your best to help make the world just a tad bit easier for the people you meet in life. Find hobbies and projects that help you calm your mind. Produce something of beauty and share it. And finally, volunteer to help someone in need.

Living an ethical life of personal fulfillment that aspires to the greater good of humanity truly is the best way to become happy. In my humble opinion. 

Humanism in America

Map of Humanist Groups Across America by Jen Hancock

So I've been doing a little research using MapInfo.I'm a bit rusty. But basically, I was trying to figure out where the Humanist groups are for a writing project I'm working on. I decided it might be fun to map the groups.Yes, I am a geek.  Anyhoo - I made this map. It shows all the Humanist groups (blue diamonds), the Student groups (light blue squares), Center for Inquiry groups (yellow diamonds), American Ethical Union groups (purple-ish diamonds) and the Secular Jewish Humanist groups (green triangles).

It's an interesting map and rather pretty if I don't say so myself. Thinking about converting to a raster image at some point, but I realized that's a bit geeky and really, wasn't necessary for the research I was doing.(sigh). Work first.

Anyway - feel free to share - just make sure you credit me as the creator of the map.  Thanks!