Humanism - helps people cope without putting all their hope into what is essentially … a hoax.

I was chatting with a fellow Humanist Educator and we were discussing the benefits of Humanism. One of the benefits is -that it helps people cope without putting their hopes into - what is essentially a hoax.

What do we mean by that? Well - a lot of what humans do - is worry. I worry quite a bit. Uncertainty is stressful.  When I really want to know if things will work out - I flip coins to divine the future - until I start laughing at myself - because - seriously - I'm flipping coins.

It's a way to cope without putting my hope and energy and money - into things that don't actually work.  It's a placebo action. Something I can physically do to pretend to help - but that doesn't actually help. The point about flipping coins though, it doesnt hurt either.

Many times, we do things - that have no impact - because we feel we need to do something, and we end up making things worse.  So - in those moments - I flip coins - precisely because - it is harmless. 

There are other ways our anxiety about uncertainty manifests. When we have to make choices. 

The other day I was at a restaurant - and I couldn't decide what to order, so I did eeny meeny miny mo. My friend said - the great thing about doing that is - it helps clarify what you really want - when your answer is not what you really want.

And if you don't really care - then this random selection - helps fix your selection anxiety problem. 

What these things have in common - is they are ways to cope with uncertainty - to help is create clarity in your mind while giving you a tangible action to take that will do no harm. 

Placebo rituals - are a real thing that we humans really seem to need. My friend, who I was originally discussing this with - has his own placebo rituals he does - to help him resist the temptation to spend time, money and energy on things that don't actually work and we are ok with that. Why? Because we know - they are just physical things we are doing to reduce our anxiety. We aren't actually putting our hope into them.  It is when we put our time, energy, money and hope into hoaxes - that we cause ourselves problems.