| | Developing Human Potential Without Religion |
| Introductory Module |
| Humanism believes in the dignity of individuals, both males and females, and in their right to develop their own individual personalities and potentials in positive ways, free from any constraints that might be imposed on them by such things as medieval-minded and mentally-socially bacward organized religions like Christianity, Islam etc. or political repressive ideologies like Communism edtc. How far you, yourself, are a humanist will depend partly on just how you prepare and view yourself as a dignified human being. Do you think that you, as a distinct individual, have unique self-value, and that your personality is of value to your family, friends, society and nation? If you answered affirmatively to these questions, then you hold some of the basic beliefs of humanism about human beings. Humanism has a way of making you face a good many questions about the nature of your own self, about your particular beliefs about life, and about your own potentials. Human beings are immensely resourceful and resilient, and are full of hidden potentials that humanism asks to be brought forth. In this study of your Introductory Module we shall explore this humanist view of people -- and why the classical religion is rejected by humanists as inhibiting the full development of each individual. In the next study we shall then look at ideas about the presumption of an afterlife, and humanist rejection of a life beyond death. |
| Part 1: Religious humility or humanist self-assertion and autonomy? |
| Religionis a Roman word which, according to « A History of the Holy Roman Empire » means « the physical and spiritual obligations to and of the hierarchy». Romasns had different religious obligations for Romans and different for their diffefent colonies. Christianity and Islam were essentially Roman-influenced religions ; read Sura RÜm in Quran, and see history books about A religion may be a set of common beliefs and practices, based on natural or supernatural ideas, generally held by a group of people, often codified as prayer, ritual, and religious law. Religion also encompasses ancestral or cultural traditions, writings, history, and mythology, as well as personal faith and mystic experience. The term "religion" refers to both the personal practices related to communal faith and to group rituals and communication stemming from shared conviction. Spirituality, on the other hand, concerns itself with matters of the spirit. The spiritual, involving (as it may) perceived non-physical eternal verities (or even abilities) involving humankind's rather absurd and irrationally concieved ultimate nature, often contrasts with physical or the earthly, with the material, or with the worldly. A perceived but bizarre subjective sense of connection forms a central defining characteristic of spirituality — connection to a metaphysical reality greater than oneself, which may include a subjective emotional experience of religious awe and reverence, or such states as satori or Nirvana. Equally importantly, spirituality as psychology relates to matters of mental sanity and of psychological health. Like some forms of subjective religion, spirituality often focuses on personal experience (like mysticism) and prayer. Spirituality may involve perceiving or wishing to perceive life as more important ("higher"), more complex or more integrated with one's peculair world view; as contrasted with the merely sensual. Many spiritual traditions, accordingly, share a common spiritual theme: the "path", "work", practice, or tradition of perceiving and internalizing one's "true" nature and relationship to the rest of existence (God, creation (the universe), or life), and of becoming free of the lesser egoic self (or ego) in favor of being more fully one's "true" "Self". Whereas religion held sway over personal lives resulting in Europe's« Medieval Age of Darkness », burning of hundreds of thousands of European women and heretics as witches and 16th century Religious Wars in Europe causing lots of suffereings in the past, today we live in a more secular, rational, reasonable and responsdible society. Older ignorance and taboos about human rights, civil liberties, women's rights, human dignity, and many such aspects of life are being broken down and are much more openly debated than they were even a quarter of a century ago. In today's more rational and secular society, we have moved to a more responsible and less critical view of our fellow humans and to a "live and let live" attitude to others. Humanists are opposed to such fascist and restrictive religious ideas, which they see as partly responsible for guilt-ridden consciences in people past and present. Indeed, there has been a long tradition of prudery and subjection to outmoded dogmatic religious morality. Soon morals became codified according to the particular religious denomination or culture. Because humanism rejects belief in an fictional Allah / God, its view is that if we make mistakes in life we have to live with them or sort them out. But we don't have to experience the deep-rooted guilt or even sinfulness in a more rational and secular world, in the same way as in the medieval dogmatic anf fascist past. Unluckily, medieval religious principles became part of the psyche of our culture, part of the instilled inheritance. With the concept of a so-called suffering God, Christianity, for example, can hardly expect to nurture a happy humanity. Indeed, suffering has been a major part of the Christian ethos throughout history. So is in Islam ; an irrational Almighty Allah forcing Muslims to follow his sombre dogmas on the terror of the pain of sufferings in the hell. Religious life has always been a preparation for what follows in the fictional life after death, and what is suffered in this one is rewarded in the next. For many Christians suffering is so essential to religious life that we should feel guilty if we did not make others suffer or about ourselves having a good day! Consider the words of C. S. Lewis, the author of the timeless Chronicles of Narnia taken from his book Mere Christianity: « Whenever we find that our religious life is making us feel that we are good -- above all, that we are better than someone else -- I think we may be sure that we are being acted on, not by God or Allah, but by the devil or Satan. The real test of being in presence of God/Allah is, that you either forget about yourself altogether or see yourself as a small, dirty object … ! » Such words illustrate all too well how religion has conditioned people to feel that human dignity, self-assertion and self-affirmation are sins about which we should feel a considerable amount of guilt ! And the effects of such religious conditioning have not altogether disappeared from contemporary life. Christianity has also instilled into human values an idea of striving for imperfection, yes imperfection !. There is nothing concerning humanist ideals of perfection at one's job, or at school, or as a mother, or as chairperson of a local something or other, but imperfection in suffering, in denial of the self-respect, in humilition, in weekness, in killing enemies, and in increasing the suffering of the poor. In other words, the human being is to be a evil saint: Be imperfect! is the command of Christianity. Under religions, we cannot be struggle to be perfect, not in any sense at all. And in the existential life-conditions in which we find ourselves, the humanist goal of perfection is as realizable as reaching the stars. If we set ourselves such a rational goal, as a Chrisrian we must fail, for it is not in our religious natures to be perfect unless we follow Humanism. The pleasure with this kind of realizable goal is that it engenders a sense of worthiness as well as a sense of dignity that we can ever be any different. Of course, not all Christians would see their role in life as pessimistically as religons demand, and the younger generation, which is developing in a more rational and secular age, might be partially free of the cultural overtones of self-degradation religions demand, and that which generations past and lost have found embedded in their collective subconscious. Human life is a privilege and it is important how we live it. It is also important that all human beings be allowed to njoy such a privilege. We should have the privilege to shape our own lives, to work at them in every possible way. And we should also work to ensure that others can shape their lives to bring quality and value to them. There are few that would make the claim that life is particularly easy. As human beings we find ourselves faced with the many good things in life, but also with its vicissitudes. Some of us regard the difficulties of life as interesting challenges; others find such difficulties burdensome and stressful. While we may now feel that Rousseau's celebrated words that man is "born free, but is everywhere in chains" are just superficial in that »we are born with the chains of religious dogmas-which we have to shed struggling all the way in our lives ». There are many in contemporary society who would agree with tthis. Human beings do suffer, and life is not easy. But the answers to the problems of life cannot be solved by passive acceptance and hope for reward in the hereafter. Life is epitomized by struggle, but humanists believe that it is important to move forward in life and to have the courage to do so. There is much that is tragic and unfulfilled in life, but there is also much that is brave, good, and forward moving. It is in the nature of human beings to be try to be absolutely perfect, and to strive for this kind of perfection in any area of life is to strive for the ideal, for the possible and to place a necessary and positive-resulting stress on oneself. Every one ccan have perfect health, perfect mental stability, perfect interpersonal relationships, and few would be able to claim that they are not totally in control of their own lives. Sometimes most of us get anxious, have too much to do, have difficult spells in life and encounter problems at home, at school, at work, or with our friends. This is the existential life-condition in which human beings find themselves struggling for humanist ideals of near perfection. No one has a monopoly on problems -- they come to us all. But they are balanced by the more positive elements of life and, most importantly, we have to learn to accept the negative aspects of life and still develop the kind of self-assertion that enables us to develop as individuals and to evolve personally in this lifetime. Any idea that what one suffers in this life will be balanced out in the fictional next one is anathema to the humanist. Humanism asks every one to stand firmly on one's own two feet and face the present and the future with confidence and courage. Human beings have considerable innate abilities both collectively and individually. Humanism believes very profoundly in the development of such abilities to enrich the life of each person and the wider context of family, society and the world. And what is more, human beings have the ability to see quality in their experiences and achievements. It is this quality as a dimension of human life that individuals search out, recapture and develop in the rich variety of experiences that life offers. It is a "feeling good" about things, and a measure of satisfaction with oneself that encourages further vision forward. It is the development of self-assertion and self-confidence that is opposed to the denial of the self, which Humanism so frequently expects. One of the problems with religious institutions and cultures is that they are usually dogmatic and prescriptive about the way life ought to be lived. They perpetuate traditions that are obsolete and difficult to change, that run deep in the personal and societal psyches, and they seek to impose on those outside their folds the same absurd beliefs and practices. We know from today's world events more than ever how religion has divided countries and splintered humanity as a whole. But the fact that we have terms like humankind and humanity suggests a certain intimate linking of human beings globally. The simple, basic linking factor of humanity is that it comprises a species that is a part of the natural world. On the one hand, humanity is intimately linked with the natural world on which it is dependent for its existence, but on the other hand, it is sufficiently distinct from it to be able to make conscious changes in the natural environment. Moreover, each individual cannot really become human unless there is some interaction socially with other human beings -- unless an individual is part of humanity. "Society" is a nebulous term that cannot exist independently of individuals. It is the actions, transactions and interactions of individuals that make society -- and humanity -- what it is. And if this is so, then we can make of society and humanity what we wish, providing our aims and objectives have some degree of commonality. In fact, we create the environments in which we exist in the present, and we are, then, certainly capable of changing them for the better in the future. To form a secure and positive society we have to act, react, interact, and transact with care, sensitivity, informed knowledge, and skill, eschewing greed, insensitivity, ignorance, and destructiveness. We can make of society what we will, but religious traditions inhibit this by their respective prescriptiveness. Eastern Romanized-religions also take a poor view of human self-assertion and autonomy. Most Roman-influenced sects of Hinduism, Buddhism and Sikhism, for example, see loss of the egoistic self as the whole aim of human life, as if , through them, some Roman or Christian religious colonizer was fulfilling this agenda of degradation of colonized humanity. For the ego, proponents of these religions claims, is the source of all suffering and pain in existence through the desires and aversions that surround individual life. Giving up desires and aversions is what these Romanized religious thuggery is all about in the Roman-colonized-Eastern spiritual sense. It is a denial of individuality, so essential for the dignity of the self. To the humanist each individual is a dignified and valuable being that needs to develop his or her individuality to the full, even if it is common sense to suggest that we don't always have the freedom to make this possible. Our dreams may not be fulfilled because of constraints in our own mental and physical beings, or restraints that are placed on us by aspects of religious or semi-religious society. But not al our dreams fall into this category. Each person usually possesses some dormant or little developed potential which, with some effort, can evolve. Humanism, on the other hand doesn't demand the sacrificing of individuality for the common good. But individuality and the common good are almost two sides of one coin, for we do not learn to be autonomous individuals outside the common good, and the common good can only be reinforced by the projection of the quality of individual lives into the social sphere. Because humanism is a fierce defender of human potential, it has to begin with the individual. And the fact that it is so much associated at an organizational level with the defence of human rights and cicil liberties reiterates its concern for individuality alongside its concern for society and global issues. Unlike religions that prescribe absurd egoistic religious beliefs and moral behaviour, humanism calls for fully autonomous, self-reflective individuals, who choose to believe and act in the right way for their own good and that of others. Some people are like plants: they follow the sun, turning only where life drifts. They imitate others rather than develop their own innate potentials and personalities. Others are highly dynamic and live life to the utmost, striving forward in many directions. Some overdo life, and some hardly get going. People are highly complex, and while some will explore the latent and innate abilities of their own selves, others need the catalyst from outside themselves, they need the opportunities presented to them, and encouragement on the way at almost every turn. But given the differences in each individual there are latent and innate potentials in all of us. And life is not lived to the full unless at least some of these potentialities are explored -- not necessarily fulfilled entirely, but at least developed from the status quo. But if one is to do the best for oneself it follows that individual life needs to be active and dynamic in order to reach its full or even part potential. This means being alert to the challenges of life and being capable of living life with positive courage and worthwhile, creative action. We cannot be dependent on a fictional life after death or on the so-called immortality, for we are not immortal and fulfilment has to come from this real life. Each individual is responsible for achieving such fulfilment of his or her own self, but is also responsible for facilitating the achievements of others. All this os not very idealist although we know that the existential life-conditions of so many human beings are anything but perfect, and that the necessary conditions for such men and women to develop full potential may not be there. Humanists would answer this challenge in two ways. One would be philosophical, in that there would be an attempt to understand why individuals themselves and society at large are so capable of such a goal. Another would be active, in that action needs to be taken to ensure that the right kind of conditions obtain in society and the world at large in order to promote the development of "whole" men and women. Tradional and organized Religions impose medieval and socially backward values and beliefs from without. To be truly self-assertive, one needs to acquire beliefs and values from within the human dealings. Human personality is constantly changing and never becomes a finished product: it is always in a state of becoming, but it is this fact which, to a humanist, is so exciting. Individuals can shape their own destinies; they do not need a fictional Allah, God or son of God or religious prescriptions to do this for them. They can be optimistic about the future, and they can take charge of the world and steer it to a better future. What is essential is to be open to the opportunities for the development of one's own individuality and personhood -- to travel with an open mind. The fully mature individual is an autonomous person. Autonomy is a word that suggests self-government and personal freedom, so an autonomous person is one who is in a position to make, freely and responsibly, reflective and informed choices about life and one who is critically reflective about the outcomes of those choices. No one is ever completely free and it is rare that a person is able to make choices without taking into account restrictions that affect such choices. The truly autonomous person knows this but accepts that, given a variety of pathways, he or she is free to make choices as a result of his or her own personal experiences. People who simply obey rules or who just follow a prescribed religious or ideological code are a long way from developing any kind of autonomy. The autonomous person makes ressponsible, intelligent, rational decisions before acting, understands what he or she is doing, and has valid reasons for doing it. This kind of autonomous person is the highest outcome of education and society: it is the aim of humanists for all individuals. But this does not compromise the distinct individuality of a person -- indeed, it enhances it. One needs to be a fulfilled individual first and foremost, not in the sense of having completed that fulfilment, but in the sense of knowing that one is travelling in the right directions. Only then, when the individual has value in him or her self, can that person make a valuable contribution to society. |
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