I was reading an article on a web page that came to my attention courtesy of the Birmingham Humanists blog a few days ago. In it the author covered a few things, mainly related to Humanism and differences among some sub groups. But while doing that, he mentioned the fact that we usually focus more on our differences than the things that we have in common.
What piqued my interest further was the mention of ‘pushing away’ as a process. The idea was that the author had defined himself during his formative years as a Humanist by pushing away from elements of religion and superstition. He then pointed out that we tend to carry this process over to people.
The author described his own growth into Humanism in these terms, he talked of the things he was pushing away from. He then observed that many Humanists still do this, which helps to cause much fracturing in the community. The whole thing put me in mind of “The Judean Peoples Front” and the “Peoples Front of Judea” in Monty Python’s The Life of Brian.
In my view the author was describing a Taoist style process of definition by negation. In other words that’s when you define a thing by what it’s not. The Tao itself tends to be defined in these terms, and as you’re tend to be thinking in terms of emptiness it’s a natural way to do it.
Defining a stance by negation might seem like allowing others to take the initiative, that Humanism can only be defined by it’s opposition to much of religious thought, but it isn’t necessarily the case. Of course, the danger for Humanism in this is that we risk losing sight of the positive expression of our stance. We know what we’re against, but what how well do we put across what we’re for? Do Humanists risk becoming better known for haranguing believers than offering a better alternative to religious indoctrination?
My comment here is that definition by negation does not have to be seen as reactionary and negative. I could say that I’m “against indoctrination” or I could say that I’m “for free thought”. This goes deeper than spin, as expressing these things positively will build habits of thought that I feel will prove very beneficial and much more attractive.
