Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Charlotte County
"Spiritual Humanism"
Rev. Samuel A. Trumbore December 14, 1997

Reading

Humanist Manifesto

The Manifesto is a product of many minds. It was designed to represent a developing point of view, not a new creed. The individuals whose signatures appear would, had they been writing individual statements, have stated the propositions in differing terms. The importance of the document is that more than thirty men have come to general agreement on matters of final concern and that these men are undoubtedly representative of a large number who are forging a new philosophy out of the materials of the modern world. Raymond B. Bragg (1933)

The time has come for widespread recognition of the radical changes in religious beliefs throughout the modern world. The time is past for mere revision of traditional attitudes. Science and economic change have disrupted the old beliefs. Religions the world over are under the necessity of coming to terms with new conditions created by a vastly increased knowledge and experience. In every field of human activity, the vital movement is now in the direction of a candid and explicit humanism. In order that religious humanism may be better understood we, the undersigned, desire to make certain affirmations which we believe the facts of our contemporary life demonstrate.

There is great danger of a final, and we believe fatal, identification of the word religion with doctrines and methods which have lost their significance and which are powerless to solve the problem of human living in the Twentieth Century. Religions have always been means for realizing the highest values of life. Their end has been accomplished through the interpretation of the total environing situation (theology or world view), the sense of values resulting therefrom (goal or ideal), and the technique (cult), established for realizing the satisfactory life. A change in any of these factors results in alteration of the outward forms of religion. This fact explains the changefulness of religions through the centuries. But through all changes religion itself remains constant in its quest for abiding values, an inseparable feature of human life.

Today man's larger understanding of the universe, his scientific achievements, and deeper appreciation of brotherhood, have created a situation which requires a new statement of the means and purposes of religion. Such a vital, fearless, and frank religion capable of furnishing adequate social goals and personal satisfactions may appear to many people as a complete break with the past. While this age does owe a vast debt to the traditional religions, it is none the less obvious that any religion that can hope to be a synthesizing and dynamic force for today must be shaped for the needs of this age. To establish such a religion is a major necessity of the present. It is a responsibility which rests upon this generation. We therefore affirm the following:

FIRST: Religious humanists regard the universe as self-existing and not created.

SECOND: Humanism believes that man is a part of nature and that he has emerged as a result of a continuous process.

THIRD: Holding an organic view of life, humanists find that the traditional dualism of mind and body must be rejected.

FOURTH: Humanism recognizes that man's religious culture and civilization, as clearly depicted by anthropology and history, are the product of a gradual development due to his interaction with his natural environment and with his social heritage. The individual born into a particular culture is largely molded by that culture.

FIFTH: Humanism asserts that the nature of the universe depicted by modern science makes unacceptable any supernatural or cosmic guarantees of human values. Obviously humanism does not deny the possibility of realities as yet undiscovered, but it does insist that the way to determine the existence and value of any and all realities is by means of intelligent inquiry and by the assessment of their relations to human needs. Religion must formulate its hopes and plans in the light of the scientific spirit and method.

SIXTH: We are convinced that the time has passed for theism, deism, modernism, and the several varieties of "new thought".

SEVENTH: Religion consists of those actions, purposes, and experiences which are humanly significant. Nothing human is alien to the religious. It includes labor, art, science, philosophy, love, friendship, recreation -- all that is in its degree expressive of intelligently satisfying human living. The distinction between the sacred and the secular can no longer be maintained.

EIGHTH: Religious Humanism considers the complete realization of human personality to be the end of man's life and seeks its development and fulfillment in the here and now. This is the explanation of the humanist's social passion.

NINTH: In the place of the old attitudes involved in worship and prayer the humanist finds his religious emotions expressed in a heightened sense of personal life and in a cooperative effort to promote social well-being.

TENTH: It follows that there will be no uniquely religious emotions and attitudes of the kind hitherto associated with belief in the supernatural.

ELEVENTH: Man will learn to face the crises of life in terms of his knowledge of their naturalness and probability. Reasonable and manly attitudes will be fostered by education and supported by custom. We assume that humanism will take the path of social and mental hygiene and discourage sentimental and unreal hopes and wishful thinking.

TWELFTH: Believing that religion must work increasingly for joy in living, religious humanists aim to foster the creative in man and to encourage achievements that add to the satisfactions of life.

THIRTEENTH: Religious humanism maintains that all associations and institutions exist for the fulfillment of human life. The intelligent evaluation, transformation, control, and direction of such associations and institutions with a view to the enhancement of human life is the purpose and program of humanism. Certainly religious institutions, their ritualistic forms, ecclesiastical methods, and communal activities must be reconstituted as rapidly as experience allows, in order to function effectively in the modern world.

FOURTEENTH: The humanists are firmly convinced that existing acquisitive and profit-motivated society has shown itself to be inadequate and that a radical change in methods, controls, and motives must be instituted. A socialized and cooperative economic order must be established to the end that the equitable distribution of the means of life be possible. The goal of humanism is a free and universal society in which people voluntarily and intelligently cooperate for the common good. Humanists demand a shared life in a shared world.

FIFTEENTH AND LAST: We assert that humanism will: (a) affirm life rather than deny it; (b) seek to elicit the possibilities of life, not flee from them; and (c) endeavor to establish the conditions of a satisfactory life for all, not merely for the few. By this positive morale and intention humanism will be guided, and from this perspective and alignment the techniques and efforts of humanism will flow.

So stand the theses of religious humanism. Though we consider the religious forms and ideas of our fathers no longer adequate, the quest for the good life is still the central task for mankind. Man is at last becoming aware that he alone is responsible for the realization of the world of his dreams, that he has within himself the power for its achievement. He must set intelligence and will to the task.

SERMON

I had planned to speak this morning on a more seasonal theme but when I read the article titled "the Marginalized Majority" in the November/December issue of the World, the Journal of the Unitarian Universalist Association, my emotions were engaged and I felt the need to respond. The article refers to the UU minister's convocation in Hot Springs, Arkansas in 1995 where a proposed ministerial covenant for the 21st Century began, "We covenant to affirm that at the heart of our faith is a sense of the holy." Immediately someone jumped up and proposed the addition of the phrase `and a critical trust in the power of reason.' The author of the World article calls the omission of `reason' from the preamble of the proposed covenant, the end of the humanist epoch in Unitarian Universalism. I was at that Convocation and don't remember it as the end of humanism at all, but rather as the recognition of a new form of humanism I'm calling today, Spiritual Humanism.

The inspiration for this seemingly paradoxical term came as I was seized by the sermonic muse upon reading this paragraph from the World article:

A great deal of confusion and misunderstanding within Unitarian Universalism today [result from the] common assumption that humanism and spiritual awareness are inherently at odds...spiritual life develops and flourishes primarily through our relatedness to one another and with the life of this world...believe that a sense of the sacred...is built into us, virtually imprinted in our genetic code, as part and parcel of our evolutionary development as humans." The words are from Khoren Arisian [one of the most articulate humanist leaders] at this year's General Assembly! Adds Lester Mondale, signer of both Humanist Manifestos, "Why not an avowedly humanistic--dare I say `spirituality.' (page 19)

Why not indeed! It already exists! The author of the World article interviewed John Buehrens, the president of our Association. Buehrens made, a very interesting comment about this alleged sea change in Unitarian Universalist religious faith: "There is, in my opinion, a really marvelous new generation of humanist ministers, but people are continually saying that he or she is not a real humanist." At first I wondered who he was talking about. As I reflected on it, I realized he was talking about ministers--like me.

Now I have resistance to calling myself a humanist. Part of the process of growing up and establishing my own identity was to define myself as believing differently than the humanism of my parents. I explored my religious identity in the delightful smorgasbord of spirituality found in California trying out psychic healing, chanting with gurus, and doing yoga postures at mountain top retreats. I explored the silence of the Quakers, the ecstatic song and movement of Sufism, the insightful scriptures of Hinduism, and the complex ritual of Tibetan Buddhism. I have seen myself as a seeker after the wisdom which has inspired all the world's religious traditions.

The synthesis of all these experiences, my reflection on them and insight into them has molded my unique set of beliefs which inform my sermons here on Sunday morning. I have been in the habit of putting these sermons out on the Internet for people to read who visit my web pages. I have a guest book there and people leave me messages about what I have written. What has been fascinating for me is reading what kind of a person seems to like my sermons. To my surprise, I'm quite popular with the humanists! In particular I remember a message from a man who didn't like his minister who was too spiritual and happy he could get some good humanistic talks from me via the Internet!

All of this has precipitated a bit of an identity crisis. Am I or am I not a humanist?

To find an answer to this question, we need to review just what are the core beliefs of humanism. There are many flavors of humanist, the Greek humanist, the Renaissance humanist, the religious humanist, the scientific humanist, the naturalistic humanist, and the atheistic humanist to name a few, which all share pretty much a common core of thinking.

The most central belief of humanism arises from epistemology, answering the question: "What is the source of our knowing?" The humanist believes that all of our knowledge comes to us through our experience. The world of nature is the sum total of reality. There are no divine sources of revelation which come from an entity which is outside of experience and can alter that experience in violation of the laws of nature. The humanist rejects the idea of a special sixth sense which allows us to get messages from God in the form of personal revelation. Any inspiration we get comes from our senses, our experience, our history and the creative process in which the mind engages. Thus sacred texts like the Bible have no special authority beyond the historical wisdom they contain. In the search for truth, our favorite sacred text, the works of Shakespeare, are potentially as powerful, useful or meaningful as any psalm or proverb of the Bible.

Because what we know comes though our personal experience, the importance of the individual is paramount. We cannot rely on a promise of the hereafter because all that is in this universe is here and now. What is knowable is accessible to all of us and not the purview of intercessionary priests. If individual experience is our best source of data then our reasoning ability will best guide us in discerning religious matters. Our faith should be in the product of human genius not the revelation of Biblical scribes.

Since individual experience is unique, subjective and thus unreliable, the most powerful way for individuals to agree on what is true is the use of the scientific method. Superstitious belief needs to be tested in the light of cold hard evidence for and against it. If there be an immortal soul, why let us find it, measure and weigh it. If their really be angels, then let us capture them on film and calculate their wing span. Science is our most trustworthy tool to determine what is true and what is false.

A good guide in understanding humanism is the Humanist Manifesto. The Humanist Manifesto I read parts of for you earlier was written during the worst of the Great Depression. It was a low time in our history in which many people were feeling abandoned by their loving God who was not answering their prayers of need. The humanists proclaimed that instead of repenting our sin and praying for God's help, we needed to be our own agents of change. A monastic asceticism beseeching God to solve our problems was futile. If we had problems, we had to use our talents and abilities to fix them. The Manifesto is very hopeful and optimistic about what humans can do--under their own power--without any help from a divine being, thank you.

The new crop of humanist ministers and members coming into our congregations mostly share these humanist values. They do not want to be told what to believe. If they want a church which has all the answers, there are plenty to choose from. These new members come in because they don't trust those easy answers and are looking for a more satisfying solution to the complex dilemma of life. They are cautious about embracing anything supernatural based on faith without personal experience.

These new members want their mind engaged. They welcome scientific understanding as a way of getting at the truth. They want to use reason as part of their religious life and are offended when they are asked to suspend it. Generally they don't believe in miracles and dislike hierarchical authority.

What I think is deceptive for the older humanists is the manner in which the hard won truths of humanism are assumed by the new humanists as their starting point. We live in an age dominated by scientific thinking and techniques. Children learn to think scientifically at school. Businesses, manufacturing, education and research all depend on mathematics and the scientific method as their gospel. We do live in a humanist age of liberalism.

And of course there are some differences between the old and the new humanism otherwise we wouldn't be having this controversy in the World. What you may not know is these differences have existed for a long time.

A book I'd like to recommend to you if you want to get a handle on religious humanism which I have been reading this week is American Religious Humanism by Mason Olds. One of the forms of Humanism Olds discusses is literary humanism advocated by such men as Irving Babbit, Paul Elmer More, and Norman Foerster which peaked in the 1920's and 30's. Distressed by the technical nature of literary criticism, they stressed finding the message of the text as well as understanding its history and modifications. The message of the Greek humanists was finding a harmonious balance in one's life that inspired greater humanity. The literary humanists were less interested in science and more interested in reading the classics and mining them for meaning. To become more human, we needed to strive for inner harmony and that was done by turning inward. The religious humanists disagreed. They recommended that we should do the opposite, turn outward in our search for the truth.

Right here is for me the big and perhaps the only significant difference between the old and new humanists today. The new humanists want to turn inward and discover for themselves what is true on the inside as well as the outside.

Part of the reason for this change in humanism is the great advances of science in the area of brain research and psychology. Popular psychology has conquered our culture as the television talk shows, newspapers and magazines regularly feature mental health advocates who tell us to look inside at our motivations for our actions. The success of the addiction treatment programs in helping people based on seeking spiritual resources in recovery opens people to help beyond themselves .

We also live in a time of tremendous religious ferment. Esoteric religious practices locked up in monasteries now show up in supermarket tabloids. Because of the noted health benefits of yoga and meditation from India and now Qi-gong from China, these Eastern forms of spiritual practice are propagating in storefronts, living rooms, and church basements all across the country. An amazing selection of books exploring the religions of the world cram the bookstore shelves. It is not uncommon for today's intellectual to be conversant in the religious thought of obscure sects around the world. These young religious scholars are aware of the expanse of religious thought in the world and are looking for a place to synthesize their understanding, looking for the common threads of religious thought; a place where they can test the inspirations that come through their reading and practice of what they discover; a place unrestricted by a creed which denies all but one way to live religiously.

Even science today isn't what it was some sixty years ago when the manifesto was written. Today's particle physics gets more mysterious all the time with quarks named strange and charm. Hardly answering all questions, science keeps on coming up with five new questions for every answer it produces. I never worried about my matter decaying until it was discovered that matter isn't completely stable. I had no idea we were at risk of being destroyed by asteroids floating around in space that intersect the orbit of the earth. The newly discovered diseases like Chronic Fatigue and Gulf War Syndrome are terrifying as are biological weapons of mass destruction. Perhaps when we have our genetic code figured out that will solve a few mysteries and cure some diseases. And I'm sure there will also be unexpected discoveries which, if exploited, could threaten our survival as the discovery of splitting the atom did. If looked at in total, the value of science to the survival of our species could lead to a lively debate. Scientific advance is a decidedly mixed blessing.

And the reason is what is inside us.

What has been so wonderful about science is it gives us a fair and impartial way to advance our knowledge of what is real. Unfortunately the most important affairs of the heart and mind are invisible to this mental tool. Science cannot prove or disprove the existence of God. Science cannot explain the origin and nature of free will. Science can calculate the odds for making choices but cannot determine with certainty what is the good and just decision.

And it is right here that the struggle between the inner directed and the outer directed humanism is fought. The new spiritual humanists desire their own personal experience of the true and good as well as receiving it from others. They desire to explore for themselves the frontiers of consciousness and experience being changed by what they find. Like the literary humanists, they are open to the messages and meaning found in the sacred texts of the world's religions as well as in college textbooks.

This individualistic inner journey is not without a well known enemy to the religious humanists: self deception and delusion. America is overrun by the prophets of God doing the Holy Spirit's bidding. Our own experience is tainted by our prejudices and preconceptions. Without the controls of science, our own inspirations can be nothing more than mirages.

Yet the path of the inner journey toward inner peace and balance is well worn and understood. What is required is fellow travelers with whom to share what is discovered. Those fellow travelers need to be open minded and non-dogmatic. Those fellow travelers also need to be honest and reflect back what they see in us. The spiritual humanist needs a community to encourage their exploration and affirmation of the wisdom they glean from their search. Unitarian Universalism is this kind of religious community. That is why this spiritual humanism is growing within us. It is to this new kind of spiritual humanism, I can add my name.

The spiritual humanists share much with the religious humanists in our congregations already. The new forms of spiritual exploration may seem unusual. Their reinterpreted metaphoric language may use previously rejected Christian words. Their choice of symbols may be reminiscent of traditional religion. What is important to remember is that the new and old humanists hold in common the same core humanistic values. The satisfying answers of sixty years ago do not fully address today's questions. The spiritual humanists are hungry for a sense of wholeness in an increasingly fragmented, dehumanized world. The religious humanists can benefit from inner exploration of the spiritual humanists. The spiritual humanists can benefit from encouragement to engage with the world and be agents of change.

The combination of religious and spiritual humanism will, I predict, create an even better kind of humanism which will change both our inner and outer worlds for the better.

Copyright (c) 1997 by Rev. Samuel A. Trumbore. All rights reserved.