The Time for Radical Humanism is Now....

My soul honors your soul.

I honor the place in you where the entire universe resides.

I honor the light, love, beauty and peace within you,

because it is also within me.

In sharing these things we are united, we are the same,

we are one.

- Unknown

The time for Radical Humanism is now. Every day that we wait to practice it, more lives are afflicted rather than affirmed and each of us becomes just a bit more wounded by the world not healed by it.

What is Radical Humanism, you ask? Essentially, it's a doctrine of my own imperfect formulation, a reflection of my evolving (and hopefully maturing) worldview, a distillation of the learnings with which life has gifted me both voluntarily and involuntarily and a concept that I'd like to share with the world in hopes that it touches and enriches the lives of all who encounter it.

(It's also not to be confused with the concept of the same name developed by M.N. Roy in the mid-20th century, which was primarily political - democratically so - in its focus.)

Let's start with Humanism and then I'll share how I got to the Radical construct that I'm now trying to preach. According to that modern bedrock source of knowledge Google, Humanism is "an outlook or system of thought attaching prime importance to human rather than divine or supernatural matters. Humanist beliefs stress the potential value and goodness of human beings, emphasize common human needs, and seek solely rational ways of solving human problems."

Well, I'm good with most of that except for the "solely rational ways of solving human problems" part because I'm not sure that we humans are capable of solely rational ways. And I believe that "solely rational" crowds out the often higher dimensions of life - like love - which are not always (or ever) purely rational.

In a sense, my concept of Radical Humanism is similar to what that other fundamental fount of modern knowledge, Wikipedia, suggests of the Religious Humanism and Ethical Culture movements of the 19th and 20th centuries, that they were "an integration of humanist ethical philosophy with religious rituals and beliefs that centre on human needs, interests, and abilities." Further, with respect to Ethical Culture, Wikipedia notes that it was "religious in the sense of playing a defining role in people's lives and addressing issues of ultimate concern." In a sense they were non-theistic religions, which is a core component/tenet of Radical Humanism (for reasons that I'll explain momentarily).

Originally I was drawn to Humanism because of its emphasis on our common/shared humanity rather than an idiosyncratic religious orthodoxy that would separate us. Let's face it, in our world, there are literally hundreds of ways to conceive of and worship God or Allah or YHWH or Hu or Brahman or Olorun or....

So starting with a religious premise seemed limiting to me. What I've come to believe is that we need to get beyond or rise above religion as we know it in the modern world, as it constrains and divides us. Think about it: so much of the strife in our world has a religious cast to it, regrettably. For some reason we are not able to allow each other to see and follow God differently ... so we need to find a way to get beyond this limitation so that we can celebrate, affirm and enhance life for all of God's/Allah's/YHWH's/etc. children. Before we are Christian or Hindu or Buddhist or Jewish or Muslim or ... we are human beings and this fundamental equality-in-commonality must be what we value most.

But this does not mean that I favor a solely secular or rational basis for our relations, either. Failure to acknowledge the unique personality-spirit-soul in each of us is a mistake, I believe, because, again, it limits us. When I acknowledge the unique life force that is within you - beyond just the shell of your body - I have a more holistic and thus higher/more profound appreciation for you, for your very being.

I've come to believe that the Hindus have captured this beautifully in the concept of Namaste, which Rita Geno describes in her Yoga Journal article "The Meaning of Namaste" as representing "the belief that there is a Divine spark within each of us that is located in the heart chakra. The gesture (of Namaste) is an acknowledgment of the soul in one by the soul in another." We are more than flesh, we are soul, too, and perhaps even more so....

So, so far I've gotten to getting beyond a sole focus on rationality and/or religion as the basis for how to relate to each other to honoring the whole of our unique humanity (i.e., both the body and soul in each of us) and now for a final component (at least at this juncture of my refining this concept): Passionate Proactivity.

I have come to believe that we need to be passionately proactive in honoring, nurturing, celebrating and protecting each other's humanity. It's not enough for us to wish each other well - although this would certainly be a huge step forward - because this is largely passive. In order to affect real change in our relations and thus in our world, we must act and, in fact, be proactive in honoring, nurturing, celebrating and protecting each other's unique humanity.

It's this holistic positive intent - and, indeed, commitment to action - that then becomes our primary spiritual and behavioral focus. Not only do I have to treat you well actively - which is the physical/behavioral component of this weltanschauung - but I have to be positive in my intent toward you and your soul as well. 

(For example, we've all known situations in which, though we've behaved acceptably toward another, we've actually had malice or certainly less than positive feelings in our hearts while doing so.  This is why the must be positive spiritual intent as well: because these situations represent missed opportunities in that we could have acted/behaved even better toward others had our spirit been right/positive.)

This positive intent/soul force is in fact a tenet of three major (Eastern) religions - Jainism, Hinduism and Buddhism - as formulated in the concept of Ahimsa, which means "not to injure." As Wikipedia notes, "Ahimsa's precept of 'cause no injury' includes one's deeds, words, and thoughts." So, to practice Radical Humanism, not only must we refrain from violence physically, emotionally and psychically, but we also must proactively exhibit this positive intent in our thoughts, words and deeds.

So what is Radical Humanism? The belief that we are called to honor, nurture, celebrate and protect the unique person and personality in each of our fellow human beings by being passionately and proactively positive in both our intent and our behavior, our physical force and our soul force.

But what's radical about this, you ask?

Look at our world and how we actually behave. In this sad, violent and too often dismaying time and place in our journey as a human race, conscious, proactive positivity is indeed a radical act. And that it should be all-consuming - our 'True North,' our guiding and animating principle in life, etc. - is as well. Virtually every one of us can agree that we need to behave better toward each other, but few of us see this as our guiding/default approach to life and to all of those other souls - especially those who may be unknown or different or in other ways represent "The Other" - with whom we find ourselves on this shared journey.

And, finally, some of you will want to discount Radical Humanism and say that it's just Love. Maybe. But since we clearly don't know how to do a good job of loving each other, let's try practicing Radical Humanism instead....

When we look at modern man, we have to face the fact that

modern man suffers from a kind of poverty of the spirit,

which stands in glaring contrast 

to his scientific and technological abundance.

We've learned to fly the air like birds,

we've learned to swim the seas like fish

and yet we haven't learned to walk the Earth as brothers and sisters.

 - The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.