In order to be a Humanian, there is no required set of beliefs other than the REUEP, which is an ethical belief (about what we should do).

You can be a Humanian and still be a member of any other religion, or have no other religion at all. Perhaps most people come from a specific religious tradition. Therefore, you can be a Christian Humanian, an Islamic Humanian, a Buddhist Humanian, a Bright Humanian, a Humanistic Humanian, an atheistic Humanian, or just a Humanian.

Since "Humanian" can be an adjective as well as a noun, you can be a Humanian Christian, Humanian Bright, etc.



Please note, however, that to be a Humanian entails a lifetime of effort:

• Study
• Learn
• Practice
• Improve
• Model
• Advocate

Why study? We humans do wonderful things and awful things, to ourselves and to others, causing much JCA but also much PSDED. In order to stop causing human-induced PSDED, and in order to increase JCA, we have to understand what it is that we do that is not optimal, and what we should do instead.

Why learn? Since we are not optimal in our functioning so far, we have to bring about change in our brains, such that the behavioral output is different and better.

Why practice? Any new behavioral tendency that we bring about in our brains is weak in comparison to that which comes naturally to us or that which we have been accustomed to doing, and it is through effortful repetition ("exercise") that we strengthen the later, newer behavioral tendencies.

Why improve? Throughout our lives we are always confronted with new situations that involve complex judgements about uncertain situations, and it is therefore always possible and even likely that we can do something even better, achieving an even closer approximation to perfection and thus living even more consistently with the REUEP.

Why model? If indeed we are behaving increasingly consistently with the REUEP, then we can help others to recognize the benefit of doing so, and help them to understand how to do so, by setting a model for them for imitation and identification, one of the most important ways in which all of us learn to do new things.

Why advocate? Others are more likely to join the effort if they become aware of the possibility of doing so, by virtue of their attention being drawn to that possibility, and the more of us that do indeed join the effort, the faster we will increase the JCA and reduce the PSDED of our species.



Each of the above efforts is in behalf of trying to make the world a better place, within our spheres of influence and within the limits of our capabilities.

"Making the world a better place" is defined here as bringing about more JCA and less PSDED. For each of us, our "sphere of influence" is defined here as all of those individuals (including ourselves) upon whom what we do has some effect. The outer boundary of one's sphere of influence is indistinct and unknown. The more influence one has on an individual, the closer he or she is to the center of one's sphere of influence. The self is the center of that sphere. What we do to and for ourselves is important in determining our capabilities for making the world a better place for others.

In order to live consistently with the REUEP, the Humanian will seek to develop and live by a BASIC ETHICAL PHILOSOPHY, consisting of ethical principles that are derived from the REUEP and relevant fundamental facts (see below), and that promote behavior toward self, others, and environment that is more optimal than what tends to occur naturally.



Please note again that what is written above is not a required set of beliefs to be a Humanian. Instead, it is a set of beliefs that would seem to follow from the REUEP and from our lifetimes of observation. (The same is also true for all of what follows below.)  You are free to propose otherwise, namely, that the above-recommended efforts will most likely not be behaving consistently with the REUEP and/or are not consistent with observation. But it will be important for you to demonstrate why you believe as you do, and to engage in dialogue with others who believe differently, in order to reduce the possibility of misunderstanding and consequent mistake. Such dialogue is available in our FORUM.



This website is an effort to advocate that we all commit ourselves to trying to live by the REUEP, and it provides:

• Opportunity for dialogue to promote learning, practicing, and modeling
• Resources for study and advocacy

If you are a Humanian, you may wish to consider this website your home. However, everyone is welcome to explore it and contribute to it. The launch date of this website was 3/27/2009, so it is still an infant. Please join us in our FORUM for contributions, suggestions, and friendly debate.





There are ideas that, through a lifetime of experience, almost everyone with some thought would agree with. Sometimes, however, these ideas may not have been thought about such as to see their significance, which may even be profound.  The following are profound ones that are relevant to Humanianity.  They would seem to be true, but are open to discussion and debate in the FORUM, as are any of the ideas in this website.

• There is not a single thing that we can have that does not require others having done their part.
• There is not a single thing that we can do (beyond the extremely trivial) that does not require others having done their part.
• There is no individual, and there never has been, who knows how to make anything you see around you.
• Without others doing their part, you and I die.
• The more people do their part, the more everyone benefits.
• What we believe is an important determinant of what we do.
• If our beliefs are not accurate, we are more prone to make mistakes.
• We accomplish nothing without some degree of agreement.
• If we agree to that which is inaccurate, we can make really big mistakes, causing enormous PSDED.
• The seeking of accurate beliefs to which we all can agree is crucial to the quality of our lives and our survival as a species.
• We can believe almost anything.
• Agreement of everyone with regard to a belief does not guarantee that the belief is accurate.
• The best way to increase the accuracy of our beliefs is through friendly debate, an extremely difficult skill.
• My tools for making the world a better place are my body, my brain, my mind, and my possessions (overlapping concepts), and I have the choice of taking care of them or not.

The following values would seem to follow from the REUEP and the relevant fundamental facts (above). However, any of these values are open to question and friendly debate in the FORUM.  “Value” is here defined as what is wanted or not wanted.  Humanian values would be those things we should want or not want in order to live according to the REUEP.  What follows is not at all a complete list.

WHAT WE SHOULD WANT:

• Doing our part to make the world a better place, within our spheres of influence and within the limits the limits of our capabilities.
• Self improvement, relationship improvement, improvement of our religions, societies, and cultures.
• Dialogue, sharing and comparing of beliefs, friendly debate, understanding of self and others.
• Accuracy of belief, education, science, communication technology.
• Empathy for all beings that can suffer.
• Cooperation, effort toward agreement regarding accurate beliefs.
• Personal good health, mental hygiene, maintenance of capacity for joy.
• Organization, efficiency, creativity, capacity for new insight.

WHAT WE SHOULD NOT WANT:

• Lack of empathy, imperviousness to suffering.
• Unresolved relationship discontent, chronic anger, wishes for bad fortune for others.
• Hostility, antisocial behavior, predatory behavior, violence, terrorism, war.
• Avoidable natural and human-induced hardship and disaster, disease, poverty.
• Religious and ideological alienation and persecution.
• Cultural victimization, ignorance, superstition, denial of harmless freedom.

Humanianity is a religion in the sense that it is a human activity the purpose of which is to help the individual formulate fundamental principles regarding the best way to live his or her life.

Humanianity is not an organized religion or even an organization.  There may indeed develop organizations with functions including assisting Humanian thought and advocating for Humanianity, but to be Humanian does not require joining any group.

Humanianity is not something to replace or compete with any group or group activity.  Humanianity is a personal orientation that any member of any group can decide to have, an orientation that may indeed result in that individual attempting to help his or her group improve in certain ways.

The Humanianity Forum is a tool to help any individual or group improve itself, and is indeed organized.  An individual may be a member of the Forum without being Humanian.





HUMANIANITY FORUM MANAGEMENT
PHILOSOPHICO-RELIGIOUS ISSUES
     CULTURAL VICTIMIZATION
     JUSTICE
     SPIRITUALITY
     GOODNESS, THE “ETHICAL SENSE,” AND MOTIVATION
     SCIENCE AND RELIGION
     THE UNBORN, UNCONCEIVED, YET-TO-BE-CONCEIVED, AND NON-HUMAN
     IMPROVEMENT OF RELIGION
     OUR GODS
     IDEAL GOVERNMENT
     FAITH AND DOUBT
     THE MIND-BODY PROBLEM
     ANNOYANCE, IRRITATION, ANGER, OUTRAGE, HOSTILITY, REVENGE, PUNISHMENT, VIOLENCE, TERRORISM, WAR
     FREE WILL VS. DETERMINISM
     CREATING HUMANS
     RELEVANT FUNDAMENTAL FACTS
     REUEP AND FUNDAMENTAL HUMANIAN VALUES
     LEXICON, LANGUAGE, AND LYRICS
VARIETIES OF HUMANIANITY
HUMANIANITY RESOURCES
     EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES
     HUMANITARIAN ORGANIZATIONS
     HUMANIANITY ORGANIZATIONS (HUMANIANITY OF ____)
PERSONAL ISSUES

Go to FORUM.





Recently during the last 13 billion years, this tiny planet formed and developed life on it.  And today, we find ourselves incomprehensibly blessed with not only the capacity to begin to understand what has happened, but also the ability to appreciate it and to joyfully experience many wonders, natural and human-made.  We have worked hard for many thousands of years now to make this world a better place for ourselves, each other, and our progeny.  With our development of many tools, not the least of which has been our languages and scientific methods for improving the accuracy of our understanding, we have incredibly accomplished what no other species on this planet has done and what had even fairly recently been considered by most of us to be impossible.

In addition, however, we have come to realize that we have emerged from a biological background of life building on itself by competition and predation, entailing for all sentient species much pain, suffering, disability, and early death, and we as a species have endured much of this, with competition and predation even among ourselves.  We have assumed until recently that such is life.  But now we are increasingly realizing that we have the capability of using our tools, our understanding, and our amazing capabilities in order to bring about a change in our natural ways of behaving, such that we can actually reduce drastically our pain, suffering, disability, and early death, especially that which we inflict upon ourselves and each other. We have not done much of this yet, but we are beginning.  And the possibilities are enormously exciting to contemplate and to work on.

For most of the thousands of years of our existence, we probably have had group activities that we now label as “religions.”  These group activities have had to do with trying to understand how we should live our lives. Our religions have arisen in the context of, and have been to some extent in the service of, our natural background of competition and predation, but we are increasingly seeing our religions as pulling themselves upward, through improved understanding, out of that which has supported competition and predation and toward that which seeks to promote an unnatural but much superior way of life, superior in its potential to drastically reduce our pain, suffering, disability, and early death.

Although we correctly think of ourselves as behaving often as groups, no change occurs in how those groups behave that is not change within individuals.  Each of us therefore has the option of devoting himself or herself to this wonderful human project, and the more of us that do, the more joy, contentment, and appreciation we will all have, and the less pain, suffering, disability, and early death.  It is the recognition of our extreme importance to each other that can enhance our awareness of the importance of how we live the minutes of our lives.  And this means that there may be no more important activity that we can engage in than working to understand how we should live our lives, an understanding which our religions have tried to help us to achieve.  So it is crucially important that our religions grow and improve, such that they may provide more joy, contentment, and appreciation and such that they increasingly let go of any aspects of them that bring about pain, suffering, disability, and early death.  This effort at growing and improving is Humanianity, a personal religion available to all individuals.

And so, rather than our religions engaging in competition and predation, there is a need for people of all religions, philosophies, and general orientations to optimal living to come together to share what they have learned and to help each other grow and improve.  If one can imagine how far things have come in this universe, and how much further we as a species very likely can go, it is hard to imagine a more joyful and satisfying expenditure of one’s life minutes than devoting oneself to promoting this development of our species.

Perhaps there can be no greater gratification in life than putting forth Humanian effort, and no greater satisfaction than to have used one’s life in this manner.

Our Forum is a tool useful for the Humanian in his or her effort to achieve the very best approximation to the REUEP in his or her living.  It is by the sharing and comparing of one’s beliefs with others who may have different beliefs that one is most likely to grow in wisdom, ability to communicate effectively, and capacity for objectivity and accuracy of belief.  This skill of friendly debate is as yet a very undeveloped one for our species, but the learning of it is perhaps the most important contribution the Humanian can make in behalf of everyone, now and in the future.

Go to FORUM.