Living a Humanist Life

Additional Fundamental Principles

I put forward seven additional fundamental principles in the Living Humanism guide.

(1) Use rationality, reason, evidence, then action to support the achievement of your more personal goals and the goals of your families, communities, societies and of our broader humanity.

Rationality, reason and evidence are essential bases for supporting our own well-being and the well-being of others. We need to gather evidence as far as possible and act rationally and reasonably with the information and understanding we have in support of our goals. Rationality, evidence and reason should be used to help us find truth. When reason, rationality and evidence stand against our current beliefs, we need to change our beliefs. Many actions and decisions in life are made intuitively and rapidly. Nevertheless, rationality, reason and evidence should underpin our decisions and actions in order to support our own well-being and the well-being of others.

(2) Use your passion(s), emotions and instincts to help achieve your personal well-being and to support the well-being of others.

We have passions and instincts for many things, for adventure, excitement, challenge, learning and understanding, novelty, decency, fairness, justice, integrity and honesty amongst many other passions and instincts. Our passions, our emotions and feelings, our instincts matter, and can motivate us to achieve things, motivate us to help others, to support our communities, to explore and find the new. We need to acknowledge, understand and respect these passions, emotions and instincts and use them to support our own personal well-being and happiness and the well-being and happiness of others, our families, communities, societies and our broader humanity.

(3) Acknowledge yourself as both an individual and a social being.

We are at the same time both individuals with our more personal concerns and interests, and social beings, living through others and dependent on others. We gain pleasure individually, from our individual experiences and actions, which almost always involve others, but we also gain a sense of togetherness, belonging and fulfillment, at least the majority of us, from being part of the social, our families, groups, teams, organisations, communities and societies as well as from being part of our broader humanity. The reality is that our individual and social identities represent who we are as human beings.

As individual people, we have similarities and differences in our personalities, preferences, beliefs, desires and interests. We have similar and different types of interactions and extent of interaction with others, our communities and societies and wish for and experience different qualities and levels of interaction with others at different times in our lives. And the social world interacts with us, influencing us,

substantially impacting us. Yet we can exert a positive constructive influence on the social world around us, on our families, organisations, communities and societies, and our broader humanity, supporting the well-being of both ourselves and others.

(4) Treat all people primarily as individuals having equal and individual core value and validity, worthy of receiving equal and individual respect, worthy of receiving equal core individual rights, fairness and justice, exercising equal core individual responsibilities.

While we are social beings and may often see ourselves or be seen as part of groups, cultures, races, nationalities and ethnicities, all people must be considered primarily as individuals in terms of their actions, their rights, responsibilities and humanity. As individuals, we benefit from others, from our societies and communities, from our broader humanity recognising each of us as individuals having essential humanity, having rights and responsibilities, recognising and dealing with us as worthy of individual respect and value. Seeing each of us as individuals in this way also benefits the well-being of our families, communities, societies and our broader humanity. While each individual must be respected and seen as having such common humanity and equal validity and rights, we, as individuals, our communities, societies, have the right to protect ourselves and individuals where necessary, by limiting the freedoms of those who represent a significant danger to ourselves, to others, to our communities and societies and our broader humanity.

(5) Take responsibility for yourself, for others, for our communities, societies and for our broader humanity.

While we are only single individuals within the enormous and complex whole of humanity, and while we are influenced by family, community and society, our humanity around us, we are personally responsible for all of our personal actions, the words we use and the ideas we express and the beliefs we hold. Responsibility for our actions cannot be abdicated to our families, communities and societies or our broader humanity and circumstances and situations. And we must take responsibility, also, as far as we can, and as far as is reasonable, for the actions of others, for the actions of our communities and societies, and our broader humanity. We often cannot determine and have absolute control over the actions of others or the social entities to which we have belonging or are seen to belong to (nor would that be desirable), yet each of us has the capacity to influence others, our communities and societies, and indeed the wider world, and as individuals or in concert with others, we all and each have the responsibility to act in support of, not only our own well-being, but also the well-being of all others.

(6) Have regard to, be mindful of, and take care of the non-human world.

Our non-human environment, both physical and biological is core to our well-being and happiness. We need to have regard to this non-human environment and gain understanding of that environment, which supports not only our physical welfare and well-being, but also our psychological well-being. Where necessary, we must maintain, conserve or preserve our environments, but we must recognise the need for actions, which may change this environment in a manner which supports well-being, happiness and fulfillment, and reduces pain and suffering. We must show care and mindfulness in our conduct in regard to our physical environment, refraining from thoughtlessly damaging that environment and having regard to the environmental future. Non-human creatures need to be cared for and looked after in all circumstances where their care and protection is necessary and within our powers. We need to take particular care, where appropriate, to ensure the continuance of those non-human organisms whose existence is under threat.

(7) Aim to be efficient and effective in supporting our personal well-being and the well-being of others.

We need to be as efficient and effective as we can in our efforts to support our own well-being and the well-being of others, and to reduce pain and suffering. Having good intentions and appropriate goals represent good starting points, but managing to achieve in practice and reality must be our aim. We therefore have not only to do things to the best of our ability, to conduct ourselves in an optimal manner, but we must also educate, train ourselves, and develop our knowledge and understanding in support of our goals. While efficiency and effectiveness may not be entirely appropriate in all aspects of our lives (with regard to having fun for example), these concepts of efficiency and effectiveness apply to many key aspects of our lives, and most tasks, however small. There is deep pleasure and satisfaction in doing things well, acting efficiently and effectively to support the well-being of ourselves and others, and acting efficiently and effectively to reduce pain and suffering for ourselves and all others.