Humanism: Without God, Not Anti-God

Last updated on: September 15, 2016 at 5:42 am By David Breeden

The September 2016 Atlantic features an article about new Humanist communities titled “A Less Lonely Way to Lose Your Faith.” The article describes the burgeoning crop of secular communities as if they were a new phenomenon. This is particularly ironic since this autumn First Unitarian Society of Minneapolis is celebrating one hundred years as a Humanist congregation. It was the autumn of 1916 when the people of FUS called John Dietrich to be their minister. Dietrich had been tried for... Read more

Sharing in the Anthropocene

Last updated on: September 9, 2016 at 7:17 am By David Breeden

My ethics in terms of economics comes from the first of the Humanist Manifestos: “Humanists demand a shared life in a shared world.” That’s foundational for me. I know that it’s idealistic, but that’s what ethical stances are for, idealism. This idealistic stance becomes more and more important to say out loud as we realize how damaged our planet is. The Anthropocene is what many are calling our new geological age—“antropos” meaning “people”—an age in which human meddling dominates the... Read more

The Mindfulness of Stoicism, Part Five

Last updated on: September 1, 2016 at 6:07 am By David Breeden

Last week I continued a discussion of the Stoic methods of inner-discipline (what’s popularly called spiritual practice nowadays). http://www.patheos.com/blogs/uucollective/2016/08/the-mindfulness-of-stoicism-part-three/ Number one is Write and Reflect in the Morning. The second is Focus on Your Goals. The third is Take the Long View and Practice Letting Go. The fourth is Practice Self Control. Today I will conclude with the final two. 5. Go on Retreat in your Own Mind I have to admit that I’m baffled when friends talk about going... Read more

The Mindfulness of Stoicism, Part Four

Last updated on: August 25, 2016 at 6:05 am By David Breeden

Last week I continued a discussion of the Stoic methods of inner-discipline (what’s popularly called spiritual practice nowadays). http://www.patheos.com/blogs/uucollective/2016/08/the-mindfulness-of-stoicism-part-three/ Number one is Write and Reflect in the Morning. The second is Focus on Your Goals. The third is Take the Long View and Practice Letting Go. Today I want to look at the fourth, Practice Self Control. For the Stoics, the secret to happiness (better translated as “flourishing”) is doing the right thing. Sure, in reality the road is more... Read more

The Mindfulness of Stoicism, Part Three

Last updated on: August 18, 2016 at 8:06 am By David Breeden

Last week I continued a discussion of the seven Stoic methods of inner-discipline (what’s popularly called spiritual practice nowadays). http://www.patheos.com/blogs/uucollective/2016/08/stoic-mindfulness/ Number one is “Write and Reflect in the Morning.” The second is 2. Focus on Your Goals. The list continues: 3. Take the Long View and Practice Letting Go 4. Visualize Catastrophe and Practice Letting Go 5. Practice Self Control 6. Go on Retreat in your Own Mind 7. Reflect on your Actions in the Evening Today I want to... Read more

The Mindfulness of Stoicism Part 2.

Last updated on: August 11, 2016 at 5:46 am By David Breeden

Last week I began discussing the seven Stoic methods of inner-discipline (what’s popularly called spiritual practice). http://www.patheos.com/blogs/uucollective/2016/08/stoic-mindfulness/ Number one is “Write and Reflect in the Morning.” The list continues: 2. Focus on Your Goals 3. Take the Long and the High View 4. Visualize Catastrophe and Practice Letting Go 5. Practice Self Control 6. Go on Retreat in your Own Mind 7. Reflect on your Actions in the Evening Today I want to look at the second, “Focus on Your... Read more

Stoic Mindfulness

Last updated on: August 4, 2016 at 6:37 am By David Breeden

As the number of the post-religious skyrockets in the United States, the “mindfulness” train is picking up speed. Mindfulness answers a basic question: how do we tame our own thoughts? Most mindfulness programs are based in Buddhist practice, but the study of Stoicism is a growing trend. Stoicism has the advantage of being a Western philosophy, and therefore more easily accessible to Westerners. Perhaps the most popular Stoic, the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius, said, “Those who do not observe the... Read more

Cosmopolitanism in a Time of Petty Nationalism

Last updated on: July 28, 2016 at 6:13 am By David Breeden

To be Humanist is to say, with the philosopher Diogenes of Sinope, “My city is the world.” (In Greek the English word “world” is “kosmos.”) Humanists are necessarily cosmopolites, not because we are always leaping on jets touring the planet, but because we have realized that all perceived differences in humanity (homo sapiens sapiens) are superficial. The academic philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah usefully calls cosmopolitanism “universality plus difference.” This phrase expresses the realization that perceived human difference is at once... Read more

When Hope Seems Silly

Last updated on: July 21, 2016 at 6:13 am By David Breeden

The life that no longer trusts another human being and no longer forms ties to the political community is not a human life any longer. ~Martha Nussbaum This summer of 2016 has been a summer of tragedy. Many are mentioning the summer of 1968 as the last time so much bad news crowded a season. That rings true for me as I think back across the years. Again I hear talk of hope and prayer and of solutions. To me,... Read more

Law and Order: Donald Trump’s Fantasy

Last updated on: September 29, 2016 at 12:10 pm By Lynn Ungar

Donald Trump has promised us that he will be the candidate standing on the side of law and order in the face of all of the scary things going on in the world. And goodness knows, the world is a scary place. Shootings by police. Shootings of police. Terrorists and people who want to dignify their rage and maladjustment by looking like terrorists. So much feels out of whack, and who doesn’t want things to be ordered and tidy and... Read more