Humanism

It's all right here. Don't bother invoking the supernatural or other-world transcendence for your philosophical and ethical stance, say the Humanists, focus on doing good and living well in the here and now.

While the history of  "modern" Humanism is perhaps just a couple of centuries old, the notion of a human-centered philosophy, rather than one based upon divine inspiration, goes back thousands of years. In India, Buddha is known to have expressed such skepticism as far back as the 6th century BCE. The Chinese philosophy of Confucius, a century later, likewise discounted mysticism, superstition, and the notion of an afterlife. The ancient Greeks, around the same time, tended to explain the world in terms of human reason rather than the supernatural. That led in the 3rd century BCE to the human-centered philosophy of Epicurus, a subject we previously explored (Chasing Epicurus, MM 10/2/17). The point here is that allowance for a non theistic stance is nothing new (for a splendid synopsis of Humanism's history, click: Humanism - Wikipedia).

And so, we are left to ponder whence comes the injection of the supernatural. A sister discussion group at the City Club has embarked on that question in its contemplation of James Kugel's book, How To Read The Bible. The connection between the traditional interpretation of the Bible's major passages -- the prophecies, psalms, laws, songs, and sayings -- and the understanding of modern biblical scholars could be described as tenuous at best. We are tempted, though, to see how this movie turns out, given the early spoiler alert, "to keep (our) eye on the ancient interpreters." But, so far, the time-honored traditions have largely been seen through (what Spinoza referred to as), "rabbinic midrash together with Christian typological and allegorical interpretations."

Up for discussion: our belief system is hostage to our upbringing -- family and culture, certainly, with an element of existential fear thrown in for good measure. New Testament folks might still be haunted by Pascal's Wager i.e. Believers who turn out to be wrong face a limited downside; non-Believers who are wrong face eternal damnation. What's the over/under with that bet? The overriding point -- the recognition of our own inherent subjectivity -- opens us up to the appreciation of other perspectives, like those of the Humanists.

Our focus article (click: Gamm On: The Humanist Interview ) is actually in the form of a Q&A with notable local Humanist Gordon Gamm, one of Boulder's top philanthropists. While the first part of the interview focuses on his rich biography, the second part sets forth some fundamental tenets of Humanism in a very living/breathing sort of way. You will be suitably impressed by the ease with which he describes life, meaning, and the nature of belief. He is the very embodiment of (paraphrased) Matthew 7:16, "by their deeds you shall know them."

For some, the terms associated with the supernatural -- God, soul, spirit, angels, divine light, energy, immortality -- carry a deep, abiding, experiential significance. Let us remain open to appreciating the ineffable even as we struggle to define it -- our session on "awesomeness" was one such attempt (Awesomeness, MM 1/22/18). To others these terms are essentially self-referential abstractions as they are reduced (without denigration) to what Joseph Campbell referred to as myth.

Transcendence thereby becomes real in a psychological sense in that it embraces this earth, this body, this life. Man's search for meaning is really man tapping into the experience of being alive. Humanists might (and have) cite(d) the findings of cognitive psychologist Timothy Wilson and his work Strangers To Ourselves that the vast majority of perception happens outside the conscious level i.e. we consciously process maybe forty pieces of information at one time out of the eleven million pieces per second of available input.

Transcendence, then, essentially becomes the ability to mindfully direct the self into a state of hyper-awareness. The extraordinary is thereby drawn from the ordinary, nothing cosmic about it. Of course that could be all wrong.

Let us pray.