Social Anxiety Blogs

For years I've been trying to find my place in the religious or spiritual sense. I was raised in a non-religious home. We attended a Unitarian Church occasionally, which has no real beliefs and you can pretty much believe whatever you want. Although both my parents were Jewish, we celebrated Christmas and Easter along with Hanukkah.

I've tried my hand at being religious. I studied Judaism for a few years, and my wife and I celebrate some of the holidays, but it turned into a celebration of heritage more than anything spiritual. The whole religious part of it just never took hold. For me, the bible is just a series of books that were written a few thousand years ago when people were trying to explain things they didn't understand, and while it's somewhat interesting, it's not something that is going to play a dominant role in my life.

Buddhism seemed to be a better fit for me. I practice meditation daily -- not a formal, sit-down in a Buddha cross-legged meditation, but more a mindful meditation during my daily activities. Some call it insight meditation. Essentially, it's just focusing on breathing to calm the mind. It's funny... a lot of the leaders in American Buddhism are Jewish. I read that 2/3 of the people who practice Buddhism in the United States are Jewish. So I fit right in. Jewish Buddhists are sometimes called Jubus. Buddhism is essentially a secular religion and it can be practiced along with other religions without any conflicting beliefs.

I'll never be a Buddhist, though. It seems a little too new agey. I think what I am is a Secular Humanist.

From Wikipedia:

• Secular humanism is a humanist philosophy that upholds reason, ethics, and justice, and specifically rejects the supernatural and the spiritual as warrants of moral reflection and decision-making. Like other types of humanism, secular humanism is a life stance or a praxis focusing on the way human beings can lead good and happy lives (eupraxsophy). The term was coined in the 20th century to make a clear distinction from "religious humanism". A related concept is scientific humanism, which the biologist Edward O. Wilson claimed to be "the only worldview compatible with science's growing knowledge of the real world and the laws of nature".

Tenets

Secular humanism describes a world view with the following elements and principles:

• Need to test beliefs - A conviction that dogmas, ideologies and traditions, whether religious, political or social, must be weighed and tested by each individual and not simply accepted on faith.
• Reason, evidence, scientific method - Commitment to the use of critical reason, factual evidence, and scientific methods of inquiry, rather than faith and mysticism, in seeking solutions to human problems and answers to important human questions.
• Fulfillment, growth, creativity - A primary concern with fulfillment, growth, and creativity for both the individual and humankind in general.
• Search for truth - A constant search for objective truth, with the understanding that new knowledge and experience constantly alter our imperfect perception of it.
• This life - A concern for this life and a commitment to making it meaningful through better understanding of ourselves, our history, our intellectual and artistic achievements, and the outlooks of those who differ from us.
• Ethics - A search for viable individual, social and political principles of ethical conduct, judging them on their ability to enhance human well-being and individual responsibility.
• Building a better world - A conviction that with reason, an open exchange of ideas, good will, and tolerance, progress can be made in building a better world for ourselves and our children.

More to come on humanism...

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