My Journey To Humanism*
I was always a Humanist even before I ever heard the word. As a child I never believed. Not in God, Santa Claus, The Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy, or boogie man. The grown ups gave it away. They never talked about God like they talked about the President. As a queer adolescent I found the Catholic Church’s hysteria over all sexuality, mine in particular, degrading and sadistic. As a freethinker and skeptic I found religious and political dogma to be poisonous. During my late teens and twenties I explored qaballah, paganism, lucid dreaming, ceremonial magic, meditation, psychedelics, sexual alchemy. Applied consciousness expansion and fun of many kinds.
By my late twenties I settled into the patient, year after year projects of ego deconstruction and other and emotional recalibrations and always always working myself free of the mental and intellectual limitations placed on me by my upbringing. During my thirties I joined with a group freethinkers, artists, and activists to form a group called A Temple of the Apotheosis. We were humanists without the philosophical acumen to know the term. We marched, performed our arts and always fought to be conscious of the intersection between the group and the individual. During that time I helped found the New York Area Bisexual Network and was part of the cohort that chivvied and cajoled the Gay and Lesbian Community to believe we existed and were worth adding the “B” to LGBT.
During the first decade of this millennium I helped found the Vermont Pride Center.
Always always I kept with the work of applied consciousness expansion and fun. Meditation, journaling, contemplation, soul swiffering, and putting my general state of near onanistic self absorption to some kind of good use.
In 2014 I bumbled through the door of the Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture. Finally! I found the most servicable word to describe my ideas and values: Humanism. So far so good. I have been on the Board of Trustees since June of 2015 and am delighted to be part of the community I wish I could have grown up in. We are hard at work moving ourselves into this decade and media environment.
As a polyamorous queer man whose interest is mostly men this decade, I am privileged to have the company of my collection of hot, sweet, accomplished men. Most younger than I. As the designated daddy they allow me to mentor them, to model emotional openness, sexual discovery, joy, laughter and even that you can be a sexual warrior and have amazing heartfelt conversations with your partners. I love each and every one of them. Nurturing them and learning from them is a huge part of what keeps my life adventurous and worthwhile. My husband finds all this hugely entertaining and will even cook dinner for me and a favorite on occasion.
My husband is a Buddhist but also a Humanist. I don’t know how he can believe in reincarnation and he doesn’t know how I can’t.
Last year the same team that started A.T.O.T.A during the 90s assembled again to enter formally into the culture wars. We incorporated When Humanists Attack our YouTube channel as a 501(c)(3) in the state of Vermont. Our ever improving videos can be found at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-41d9J7eVRS9rSGtcj0pNQ
Our Facebook Page is at
https://www.facebook.com/whenhumanistsattack
Our Twitter is @HumanistsWhen
Two of our founding Board members are members of the AHA and so far one of us, Chris West has been honored by being certified by AHA as a Humanist Celebrant.
We called our Channel When Humanists Attack because when Humanists attack we do it with words, art, ideas and self development. We aren’t looking to harm our opponents. We are looking to demonstrate to them that our values and beliefs are demonstrably better for more people more of the time. This is competition and evolution.
I see Humanism as an obvious home for the growing number of Americans who have no formal religious affiliation. I see secularism as the only rational workable basis for a free society. As an artist and activist and Progressive I’m excited and stimulated by the dangerous times we live in. There is no meaningful change without danger. I’ve never been able to move to the next phase of my life without risk. Why should a society as a whole be any different?
I’m privileged to live in New York City in the United States of America where I have the freedom to live openly as queer and as a Humanist. After growing up surrounded by hate I do not take this for granted for even a second.
I think I have an ethical obligation to my fellow Humans to share Humanism with them and let them have the opportunity to decide if its for them.
*1/23/2021 Essay on my journey towards humanism for the AHA
