First Unitarian Society of Minneapolis

Tony Hileman
First Unitarian Society of Minneapolis
October 21, 2001

A Humanist World -- Living on the Creative Edge of Our Culture

My remarks this morning were inspired by a sermon John Dietrich delivered before this very congregation about eighty years ago. As one of a small, committed band responsible for the publication of Humanist Manifesto I in 1933, and the founding of the American Humanist Association shortly there after in 1941, it can be argued that John Dietrich was one of, if not the most influential Humanists of the twentieth century.

It's humbling and personally satisfying to be welcomed before the congregation he served for so many years. Thank you for having me here.

His sermon was entitled simply What if the World Went Humanist? When I read the title I thought he meant, "what if we were to find ourselves living in a Humanist world." That's not what he meant, of course, and that's good for it would be a misplaced hope. Progress has been made toward the Humanist world Dietrich spoke of nearly a century ago but, even if his most ideal Humanist aspirations were fully and exactly realized, we still wouldn't be living in a Humanist world for those ideals themselves would have advanced still further-beyond our most vivid imagination.

Cultures advance. That has been the course of social evolution throughout human history. And cultures that advance have, by definition, a leading edge. Living on that creative edge means being at the forward reach of how we think about and act toward the world in which we live. It will come as no surprise to you that, like John Dietrich, I think Humanism resides at that forward reach, as well as at the growing tip of ethics-and by ethics I mean the way we behave in our relationships with each other and with the environment of which we are a part

It is a soaring truth we Humanists chase, a truth that has a way of receding into the future whenever we near it. John Dietrich said, "Humanism is really the attempt to conserve all the human values that humanity in its age-long struggle has built up, and in addition create such new values as will add to the significance of life on this planet." That's living at the creative edge of our culture.

I don't mean to imply that Humanism has cornered the market on cultural progress. The truth is many peoples of different traditions, philosophies, life stances or worldviews, share the same simple aims we have. Some might even call these pan-cultural aims. I would. I find these aims to be the impelling forces behind Humanism and cultural progress, which I consider separate but inextricably intertwined. While we can and have had cultural progress in eras and areas devoid of Humanism, you cannot have Humanism without the aim of cultural progress because that is exactly what Humanism is about.

We don't have a monopoly on cultural progress but, at the same time, not everyone can be at the forward reach, at the leading, creative edge of our culture. Sociologist Paul Ray refers to those who are as "cultural creatives," a group that likely includes everyone in this room to one degree or another.

In his 1996 classic thesis, The Rise Of Integral Culture, Ray holds that, compared to the rest of society, cultural creatives have values that are more idealistic, have more interest in relationships strive for psychological development, are more environmentally concerned, and are more open to creating a positive future.

Does that sound like anyone you know? Or does that sound like most everyone you know? We do tend to stick together.

On of the distinctive qualities of living on the creative edge of our culture is change-personal, social, and cultural change. The late Willis Harmon, futurist thinker and author of Global Mind Change, said, "Throughout history, the real fundamental changes in societies have come about not from the dictates of governments or the results of battles but through vast numbers of people changing their minds-sometimes only a little bit!"

Only a little bit.

Our culture is created and re-created in a continuing process of sometimes barely discernable steps-steps that repeatedly replace the mythologies of one age with the rationality of another. This in turn alters our view of the world which again causes change which results in the creation of yet another new culture.

There comes a point in this cycle of change, as we push back the frontier of the known-there comes a point when we realize that what we've held as rational has become rationalization. There comes a point where we once again uncover in our own thinking a mythology masquerading as rationality. That point, that instant of realization, exists on the creative edge of our culture.

This rotation of cultural creation, this cycle of change, can be a delightful and dizzying upward spiral, but it doesn't happen by itself-we have to work at it if we want to foster a Humanist world.

I believe we are today in the midst of a considerable shift of mind toward a perspective that embraces this kind of perpetual change and advancement-a shift toward a Humanist perspective.

That, in a few paragraphs outlines what I want to do this morning-to explore the progressive aspects of Humanism, and probe how cultures change as a result of the way we think about and lead our lives.

I've been tossing around the term "Humanism" as if we all understand and agree on what it means. The fact is the meaning of the word Humanism has been elusive since it was given currency in this country early in the twentieth century by John Dietrich, and other Unitarian ministers like Curtis Reese, Burdette Backus, Ed Wilson, and Lester Mondale, all signers of the first Humanist Manifesto.

As they knew, Humanism is difficult to pin down. There are numerous academic and analytic definitions running around, but let me share with you one I think speaks directly of the Humanism of the American Humanist Association. Listen to what social activist Corlis Lamont had to say about the stance of Humanism in his epic, The Philosophy of Humanism. Now in its ninth edition, it first appeared in 1949.

There's a grandeur to Humanism. It is an empowering faith in ourselves and in each other that gives us each the rational prospect of living a fuller, happier life than did ourforbearers who indeed gave us this Humanism we cherish so dearly. Humanism is also an attitude of hope that offers the real possibility of making the lives of those yet to come easier, more content, and more full of what we consider good.

We come together this morning as individuals who want to shape improved ways of being together; people who want to form and adhere to clear agreements between us; women and men who care about, and want to care for, each other; who want to further our ethics toward the betterment of all. Being thus engaged in the flow of human progress is living on the creative edge of our culture.

In Tuesday's With Morrie, Mitch Albom quotes Morrie Schwartz, the subject of his incredibly long-running bestseller: "You have to be strong enough to say if the culture doesn't work, don't buy it. Create your own." So, Morrie might ask, what is it about our culture that doesn't work?

We don't have enough time to go into everything that is wrong with our society, but one thing on my short list would be the myths that still drive our culture. For example, there is a myth in our culture today that this life doesn't amount to much except as a test for another, better life to come. Given that myth, is it surprising that there are those in our society who find excuses for using each other, for letting others do their thinking for them, or for accepting life and themselves for less than what they are?

Think of the fundamental change that would take place in our culture if, as Willis Harmon said, vast numbers of people changed their mind on this single issue. Consider how the world might look if there were a shift in thinking so that our global culture as a whole held human life as being of supreme worth, each of us an end unto ourselves and not a means to the end of another person or promise. Think of what might happen-and think of what might no longer continue to happen.

Another myth in our culture is that we have to have metaphysical unanimity to have unity; if we don't agree on questions of origin, destiny and ultimate meaning we cannot cooperate on issues of common cause. This is the sort of divisive thinking that leads the holders of one set of tenets to deem themselves better, more worthy than those with a different way of thinking.

It was Thomas Jefferson who pointed out that differences of opinion are not necessarily differences of principle. Many who have formed different opinions about our existence share meaningful principles. We should embrace that commonality and work in concert with those with whom we differ whenever we find we share a common cause. If we are to advance in a diverse harmony, the emphasis in respectful disagreement needs to be on respect.

Still we await that change of mind that will lead to a more universal acceptance of freedom of inquiry and expression of thought as the means of discovering reality and gaining insight to our own human experience displacing revealed, authoritarian truths that simply do not meet the measure of today's understanding of the world.

How rich and full this life would be if we all accepted that the deepest enrichment of human experience comes through our own efforts. The supreme worth of human life, freedom of thought, enrichment of human experience-these all exist on the creative edge of our culture today. When enough people change their minds just a little bit these ideals will be our culture.

Last year at a Humanist Conference in Florida, Bill Murry, the dean of Meadville-Lombard Unitarian seminary said, "It is the radical claim of ... humanism that we can live rich full lives without believing in the supernatural or in life beyond this one. It is the even more radical claim that such lives aremore satisfying because they come closer to truthfulness and do not rely on illusions and because they are lived meaningfully through the joys and challenges of working to transform the world." Given that, it's not so radical to claim that lives so lived are lived on the creative edge of our culture-propelling us forward.

Kurt Vonnegut, the honorary president of the American Humanist Association, put it this way: "Humanists try to behave decently and honorably without any expectation of rewards or punishments in an afterlife." We Humanists don't spend a lot of energy pondering questions of creation; we accept the universe as self-existing and are comfortable without pat answers to questions of destiny. That's unsettling to some in our culture. Perhaps many. Okay, that's unsettling to most in our national culture.

Fixed, absolute answers give people comfort, and supernatural constructs are real to those who accept them as truth. Two years ago the Washington Post ran a four-month-long series of articles on people of differing religious convictions. It was entitled, "Moving from uncertainty and despair to spiritual fulfillment." Metaphysical uncertainty is linked with despair by our society! Not for us. Humanists are different. We find exciting challenge where others find troubling uncertainty.

I don't know why we experience exhilaration where others experience fear. I don't fully understand this quickening of wonder I experience at the edge of my own understanding, or how that wonder turns to awe in the face of discovery, or in the bafflement of nature's mysteries. Nor do I understand why others feel a sense of despair in the absence of complete answers. Maybe we're just wired differently.

But I do know that cultural myths, like those that exist today, don't just evaporate in the face of convincing evidence to the contrary. They gradually lose credibility and disappear as numbers, vast numbers of people change their mind.

Living on the creative edge of our culture is to be progressive, to look forward embracing what can be while remaining fully aware of what is and what has been. It means being for something, something tangible that can have impact. It means, in the words of Paul Ray, being for "the possibility of a new culture centered on ... community and connection with others ...; connected with nature and learning to integrate ecology and economy ..."

Most of us are active in one social or political cause or another-or two or three or a dozen. To care about others is part of our life stance. But we can live on the creative edge of our culture without being activists, social, political or otherwise. Without aiding, assisting, advocating or acting directly in support of particular causes, we can act in ways that sustain and promote those causes and give them currency in our society. By living in accordance with our ideals we can be active apart from being activists.

Global mind changes do not come about by accident, but they are not necessarily the result of intentional, specific purposes, either. Generally, it is not acts of greatness or causes of majesty that create our culture. They have impact, to be sure and it is in that impact that the seeds of change often take root. But cultural progress most often comes about as a result of the way we live our lives-our simple, daily lives.

It's the way we lead our lives that makes the difference. Not just how we respond to staggering situations with overwhelming implications, but how we face the niggling little trials of our everyday lives.

Living on the creative edge of our culture means speaking out in the face of injustice, wherever we may find it. We don't have to be international diplomats or have been elected to high office to make a difference. Even in ordinary circumstances a simple "That's not right" or "Hey, that's not fair" can have a profound impact on events. Living on the creative edge of our culture means speaking up when you hear slander that denigrates others. Silence isn't acquiescence, but it's all to often taken for such. Speak up. Stand up and speak out!

Stand up and proudly proclaim your Humanism at every opportunity. Others do not hesitate to identify themselves by the tradition or movement that best expresses their view of the world. Why should we remain silent about our Humanism? Speak up! Stand up and speak out!

Living on the creative edge of our culture means reminding your friends, especially the affluent, of our shared responsibility for the world in which we live. It's okay to tell others, especially employers, that it is wrong to treat employees as tools-as mere means to an end. It's necessary to point out that a person whose work does not have the same economic value as another's still has equal worth and dignity and is equally deserving of our respect.

Living on the creative edge of our culture means taking responsibility for your own beliefs and not accepting another's view of the world simply because she or he is in a position of influence or authority. Living on the creative edge of our culture means having the courage to think for yourself and to freely express your views to others considerately.

We have this moral responsibility, to think for ourselves, whether we want it or not. It is up to us to individually and collectively form and understand our ethics, and to act in accordance with those standards. It's how we think about and lead our lives, our simple everyday lives, that creates culture.

I have been speaking about those at the creative edge of our culture who lead us forward, but I am deeply concerned about those at the trailing, regressive and destructive edge who fight to drag us back-back to outmoded ways of thinking and being, to ways and acts that elude civilized understanding. Back to unjustified means that are offensive to our highest ideals.

We hold the worth and dignity of human existence as our highest ideal. Those at the trailing edge of our culture do not. There still exist today those who have taken concepts born of human imagination, hardened them, and used them to establish belief systems based on values that are placed above human life. Those values continue to be used as justification for unjustifiable acts that we condemn.

Let us not be dragged down to the level of that which we condemn, but let us rise to the heights of our own ideals.

Just as we judge others by their acts, so will we be judged, and judge ourselves, by the way we react. Let our reactions reflect the humanity that the acts we condemn do not. And, most importantly, let our actions be in agreement with our highest values.

We've all been tragically brought to an examination of our deepest beliefs and highest ideals. I find comfort that the morals of the Humanism I embrace and depend upon to guide me can never be called upon to justify acts inconsistent with the common good. And, despite the rhetoric and fervor, religious and patriotic, that floods the pages and fills the airwaves of our nation, I'm confident that such a sober examination of belief cannot help but bring our culture closer to a transformative mind change.

We are small in number, we cultural creatives, but we travel in the midst of an enormous company of principled allies, of those oh so close to that crucial mind change that will bring about a transformation of our culture.

This is not a fringe phenomenon but is tantalizingly close to being part of the mainstream of American life. Now, Humanism is not the dominant view of American society and may never be. But I do not accept it as a mere tributary of the mainstream of our culture. I believe our way of thinking to be the undercurrent of progressive thought carrying us forward.

We Humanists have believed so long and so passionately in humanity's capacity to improve itself. We believe in our ability to change the world, to create, through the way we lead our lives, the mind shift that will continue to carry us forward-to create through our good intentions and ethical actions a global mind change that alters for the better the way we act toward one another.

It was the Humanist impulse that refused to accept the status quo and freed us from the shackles of authoritarianism, recognized our human abilities and responsibilities, and moved us forward toward where we are today. It has not been a smooth progression through the numerous stages of our advancement, but we are still moving forward. Despite the many misfortunes of the past and the tragedies of the present, and in light of the inevitable challenges to come, I believe the direction is set.

It is the fullest expression of my Humanist faith that the world, and we in it, will continue this change for the better. I invite you to share that belief with me, not only abstractly but as we take up the work of improving our selves, our communities, our society, and our culture.

Acting from a common perspective we can ignite in others our reverence for the supreme worth of human life, our insistence on free inquiry and open expression of thought, and our longing for fuller, richer lives for all.

Humanism is an idea-an idea and an ideal. An idea that has brightly lit some of the most luminous eras of our history. An ideal that helped guide the advancement of our ethics through those eras, and continues to do so today. Just as we enjoy the life dreamt of by our Humanist forbearers, the ideas and ideals of Humanism can light the way and guide us as we create the culture that will bring our heirs happiness and fulfillment we can only dream of.

It can get dark, as it is now, and lonely at times out there ahead of the cultural curve as we hope and believe we are. Let's work together to keep the torch burning brightly as we light the way for others. Let it shine equally on our successes and our failures so others may learn from our lives in order to lead more successful lives themselves.

What better legacy, what better world, can we leave?

What better work can we do on the creative edge of our culture?