Becoming A Humanist Isn’t Enough
Why I AM No Longer A Humanist
Very Unpopular Strong Opinions Blog by Christyl Rivers
It’s pretty simple, really.
I’m not merely human, I am a part of the biosphere.
The science, our evolution, our vast time on Earth as animals sharing DNA with every living being should teach us. All living systems and connections, tell us, yet Humanism is limited to one species, while all of life is expansive and spiritual.
We are EARTHLINGS! Sorry to yell, but I think those of us who understand the vital importance of knowing our natural connections to Earth right now, do understand.
We sapiens started something that has gotten out of our control. It came from our self-centered, and later, abstract interpretation of reality. That is, we think, write, act, and live in code. We let go of our immersion in the natural world to a dangerous degree.
If we don’t recognize our inter-dependency upon planetary systems and the biosphere, we sort of lost our recognition of them. This is a tragic error.
Domination Industrialization
There is absolutely nothing wrong with Humanism. It just doesn’t go far enough. It centers, as the name implies, on human beings, not on our connections that are interwoven to everything else.
We are in the late, (and dying) industrial age. There are plenty of arguments as to whether we got here through experimenting and repeated failed attempts to create egalitarian civilizations. What won out is domination hierarchy. If you don’t believe me look up the Vlad Putin guy, or his immediate adversary Volodymyr Zelenskiy, or collectively the dominant “West.”
Even the enlightenment, emphasizing reason and equality, fell on its decapitated head when it came to stopping the worst abuses of capitalism and exploitation.
I’ll leave our long journey here up to the fascinating and fastidious archeologists and anthropologists as to why this is so.
Belonging is acceptance
But as an ecopsychologist, I do understand the psycho-social foundations. To put it in a straightforward way, we are of tribes that insist upon belonging, and we like to create stories that assure us our leaders are strong, have the answers, and we don’t have to be over-bothered to think for ourselves.
Science reversed this trend. However, not enough people pay attention to science, a process for collecting evidence and establishing theories. To prove my point, how many of us have actually read the latest IPCC reports? How many of us are more interested in what the Kardashians are doing? Very many of us just need escape, so we tune into what my husband calls “GO SPORTS TEAM!”
Belonging means we are not hung up on thinking one animal (man) is more feeling, reasoning, or essential.
Another short-coming of Humanism is that language — as always — is confusing. Some people ask, why not just call feminism “humanism.” It’s about equality, no? Or they suggest little “h” humanism, or just calling it skeptical inquiry that centers on our human acumen and drive.
My reasoning has to do with how sapiens spent most of our time on Earth living in relative harmony with the biosphere. Not a noble savage, but not a total dick either. We lived outdoors. We recognized the seasons. And stars. We knew our neighbors. We followed game and grain. We knew who it was, or where it was, we were eating.
Most of all, we were not yet eight billion, so we couldn’t wreak as much havoc and exploit the excrement out of one another and the abundant resources.
Some paths lead to nowhere, others, to the source of all
My own journey has been almost as experimental as ancient tribal/city-state experiments. I was raised as a Social Justice Jesus Christian, went through a repentance stage briefly as a fundamentalist, (I was a teen and there was this really hunky guy). Then I progressed as I found out about universal religions like Bahai’, then on to a fascination with Buddhism. Then I flirted quite a lot with atheism, then paganism, Humanism, and more.
Then, I finally realized a fundamental truth.
Unless we are total sheep — and unquestioning entirely — we are not just one thing. If we think we are, it must be a Wednesday, and on Thursday, this will change.
I don’t think I am fickle, it’s more accurate to say I question everything and glean foundational truth wherever I can find it.
One truth is this, we are most definitely human animals dependent upon one another and biodiversity.
Is there an afterlife? Don’t depend on any other authority to tell you. But do know that there is no other planet for us, at least for now.
This means we need to get back to how we evolved. We need to apply our magnificent technology and virtual knowledge into true immersion into understanding the wisdom of nature.