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is compassion, love necessary for humanism? is a healthy mind, a healthy spirit, necessary to a healthy body, a social status?
i'm an atheist. i believe and trust in the law of reciprocity and that love is a necessary, healthy, and curative thing
there are christian atheists. but isn't the overall gist for humanity to love and be loved? if a humanist isn't love and respect for our fellow man, neighbor a necessity. or have you ever thought of love as a basic human need in your belief system.I don't really understand the question but even though I'm an atheist I try and follow the 2nd greatest Christian commandment and that is to treat others how I would like to be treated. Sometimes it's not that easy.
there are christian atheists. but isn't the overall gist for humanity to love and be loved? if a humanist isn't love and respect for our fellow man, neighbor a necessity. or have you ever thought of love as a basic human need in your belief system.
It's part of it but as a massive introvert not the most important part for me.
is compassion, love necessary for humanism? is a healthy mind, a healthy spirit, necessary to a healthy body, a social status?
i'm an atheist. i believe and trust in the law of reciprocity and that love is a necessary, healthy, and curative thing
“Love thy neighbour” is part of the cultural influence Christianity has on people, even in a secular society. Being someone who is generally nice to people (probably too nice), the bigger concern was learning more healthy ways to deal with negative emotions or emotions that are more taboo. E.g. Hatred, anger, lust, jealousy, greed, etc. Partly because of christianity and partly because these emotions are considered anti-social, I’m having to rethink my feelings on them and find a level of radical honesty and acceptance for them as well.
At some level you have to respect yourself enough to have these feelings without the sense it is “sinful” or socially unacceptable to do so. Hiding these feelings doesn’t mean they are not there and Christianity tries to police our inner most thoughts in a way we shouldn’t accept. Otherwise, all we do is lie about them, to ourselves and others. I would argue that genuine moral and spiritual growth requires self-knowledge, including of the darker parts of our personality we are less comfortable with.
There is a difference between experiencing negative emotions - particularly fear and anger - and holding on to them. I agree it can be extremely harmful to deny or repress those emotions. It’s equally if not more damaging to nurture them, justify them, cling to them.
I would suggest that the best way to deal with those emotions is to recognise them in oneself, accept them without judgement, but then to detach from them, to let them go, and if you are of a spiritual disposition, to ask God or the Universe to remove them from you.
In my experience, the only thing policing my inner thoughts is myself; or rather, the ego, which is not the true self, but would have me believe it is.
Incidentally, the poet Ted Hughes talked about the huge leap forward artists sometimes took, when they learned to “outwit their inner policeman”. This inspired an excellent comic poem by Wendy Cope, called “Policing the Unconscious of Ted Hughes”
Compassion and love is necessary for humanism, but to be honest I think an understanding of these is needed for almost anything.is compassion, love necessary for humanism? is a healthy mind, a healthy spirit, necessary to a healthy body, a social status?
i'm an atheist. i believe and trust in the law of reciprocity and that love is a necessary, healthy, and curative thing
That is not really a good commandment to follow What if someone like to inflict pain or sexual harass others? But don't really care or might even enjoy these things being done to them, then doing it to others would be perfectly fine according to this commandment?I don't really understand the question but even though I'm an atheist I try and follow the 2nd greatest Christian commandment and that is to treat others how I would like to be treated. Sometimes it's not that easy.
I would like to be a writer, so this is very much based on the need to “outwit my inner policeman” when I’m thinking about controversial ideas or reasoning them out in much greater detail than is conventionally necessary.
Many of the ideas we accept are based on authority and on peer pressure because it is an easy point of reference without having expert knowledge in a subject. Its a natural part of our socialisation that we assimilate social norms. Its the same with out emotions as what we feel affects how we behave, so some emotions are expected to be repressed to reduce conflict even if this is unhealthy.
I don’t have strong objections to notions of “love thy neighbour” or even “love thy enemy”, but it is this small print where we end up doing something based on fear of disapproval because others expect us to that I find problematic. I take the same view of “positive psychology” (what little I understand of it at least) as I have the right to be upset and not cajoled in to rationalising it or putting a happy face on things in order to conform. Sometimes conflict is necessary for personal growth and those dark emotions are just telling us where we have to go to improve ourselves.
Compassion and love is necessary for humanism, but to be honest I think an understanding of these is needed for almost anything.
That is not really a good commandment to follow What if someone like to inflict pain or sexual harass others? But don't really care or might even enjoy these things being done to them, then doing it to others would be perfectly fine according to this commandment?
Love is a big deceiver. You see how many love stories end up in divorce. I will put my faith in reciprocity. Love the lovable, and take appropriate action for what is not lovable. In short - be practical.i believe and trust in the law of reciprocity and that love is a necessary, healthy, and curative thing
New is compassion, love necessary for humanism?
is a healthy mind, a healthy spirit, necessary to a healthy body, a social status?
I try and follow the 2nd greatest Christian commandment
As long as one doesn't really think to much about and just hold it as a general saying, it is good enough But it always gets thrown out there as if its some amazing saying by Jesus, but it really doesn't make a lot of sense once you think about it.Fair enough. Never thought of it that way but I'm nice so it works for me lol
if a humanist isn't love and respect for our fellow man, neighbor a necessity. or have you ever thought of love as a basic human need in your belief system.
is compassion, love necessary for humanism? is a healthy mind, a healthy spirit, necessary to a healthy body, a social status?
i'm an atheist. i believe and trust in the law of reciprocity and that love is a necessary, healthy, and curative thing