HUMANIANITY

TOOLS FOR STUDY AND ADVOCACY

(WORKING TOGETHER ON IMPROVEMENT OF SELF, OTHERS, AND OUR SPECIES)

DESCRIPTIONS OF THE TOOLS PROVIDED IN THE LINKS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE:

THE HUMANIAN BELIEF MANUAL - The new, important, worldwide tool for working on a basic ethical philosophy
THE HUMANIANITY FORUM - A place to share and compare beliefs, working toward agreement
THE HUMANIANITY CONVERSATIONS SECTION - Discussion and debate regarding any and all Humanian thinking
THE PHILOSOPHY AND PODCASTS SECTIONS - Resources for stimulation of Humanian thinking
SUMMARY

THE HUMANIAN BELIEF MANUAL
(A new, world-wide tool for our species)

Many of our specific religious traditions have as a part of them some literature that is the adult study guide for all in those traditions who are trying to enhance the quality of their lives and make their lives be consistent with the ethical values (ethical beliefs, about what should be done, and "ethical sense," motivation to do what one believes should be done) advocated for in that religious tradition.

The Humanian Belief Manual is an example of this kind of literature, but it is different in certain specific ways from at least most, if not all, such literature currently in existence. Those differences are as follows:

Whereas most fundamental or basic religious literature was created at a certain point in time, following which it has therefore had to remained fixed in content, the Humanian Belief Manual is and will always be under continuous construction.
Whereas most fundamental or basic religious literature was "handed down" by a person or persons who have remained regarded within that tradition as being the most basic source of the wisdom being advocated, the Humanian Belief Manual is being constructed by everyone world-wide who wishes to participate, so that wisdom is potentially coming from everyone.
Whereas most fundamental or basic religious literature advocates belief as an act of obedience to the authority of the religious tradition, the Humanian Belief Manual is based upon the achievement of increasing agreement through the sharing and comparing of beliefs in increasing depth for the purpose of obtaining ever-increasing agreement on the part of everyone who engages in such exploration.
Whereas most fundamental or basic religious literature advocates for existential beliefs (about the way the world is, was, and will be) that are fixed according to the time of the construction of the literature, and therefore can easily become inconsistent with the latest findings of Science, the Humanian Belief Manual contains existential beliefs that can always change with the development of new understandings about the world.
Whereas most fundamental or basic religious literature advocates for ethical beliefs (about what we should and should not do) that are logically unsystematic and easily somewhat contradictory to one another, the Humanian Belief Manual is the development of a set of ethical beliefs that are logically consistent with each other and consistent with the Humanian Ultimate Ethical Principle (HUEP), and are deducible by virtue of logical consistency with those existential beliefs that are currently considered to be most accurate by almost everyone, and especially by those regarded by almost everyone as most knowledgeable in any particular area of knowledge.
Whereas most fundamental or basic religious literature makes extensive use of undefined terminology and of metaphoric language, so that there can be highly varying interpretation of what is written, the Humanian Belief Manual emphasizes strongly the importance of accurately understood meaning of the words with which the manual is constructed, and therefore provides for ongoing definition of words being used, with the ability to revise those definitions when considered useful.

The basic method of the Humanian Belief Manual is designed to implement the above goals in the most efficient manner. The Belief Manual is a central place, available to everyone in the world, in which a basic ethical philosophy for our species can be created and viewed by everyone.

First, anyone in the world (who registers at the site) can propose existential or ethical beliefs, along with proposed definitions of words and phrases used in the statements of those proposed beliefs. Anyone in the world can edit those proposed beliefs, if two or more individuals have not already agreed with them (or, if so, if 50% or more expressing an opinion have disagreed with them). And anyone in the world can edit a definition if it is not already in use, or enter an alternative definition. Anyone in the world can also indicate his or her agreement or disagreement with any of the beliefs, and thus build his or her own, personal Belief Manual, i.e., that individual's written presentation of his or her basic ethical philosophy, and then compare his or her Belief Manual with that of any other individual (or organization) that is participating.

Throughout the world, Humanian organizations hopefully will arise, consisting of small, geographically-located groups of individuals committed to the HUEP, primarily to study together as to how to live most ethically, but possibly also to undertake together specific projects exemplary of the implementation of the HUEP. Also, any existing organization, religious or otherwise, that has a website, can designate itself as being such an organization and register itself in the Humanian Belief Manual. Each such registered organization will show endorsement of any of those beliefs, with their linked definitions, meaning that 90% or more of individuals in that organization, who have expressed an opinion about those beliefs, agree with the beliefs as stated. For a specific organization, all the beliefs endorsed by that organization become its Belief Manual, and such endorsements always reflect the most recent changes in belief. Everyone in the world can then see what beliefs have been endorsed by at least one organization, how many organizations have endorsed them, and what each organization's Belief Manual currently consists of. It is expected that, as the decades continue, there will be increasing agreement throughout the world, but always open to reconsideration.

For the participating individual, there are important benefits. Although Humanian organizations will probably meet face-to-face in their geographical locations, the construction of the Humanian Belief Manual does not require this. Anyone at home, with Internet connection, can not only propose beliefs but also examine each proposed belief and decide whether he or she agrees or disagrees with that belief. The individual can thus "vote" on each belief (express agreement, disagreement, or the having of no opinion) by a click or tap, and such a decision can be changed at any time. This personal Belief Manual (stating his or her basic ethical philosophy) can be used, for instance, within the individual's family as a topic for discussion in that individual's family meetings or in the child rearing process, or as a means of enhancing self-revealing discussion between that individual and another or others in attempting to know one another better. And always available will be the opportunity for an individual easily to compare that individual's Belief Manual with any other individual's or any organization's Belief Manual in the world, and even to study the agreement statistics (number agreeing, disagreeing, or expressing no opinion) of all participating individuals and of members of all such organizations world-wide. The effect of this on the individual should be a much heightened awareness of the possibility of acting according to well-thought-out ethical principles, and a much stronger commitment to live according to those principles (stronger ethical sense), by virtue of one's awareness of agreement with those principles by others throughout the world and by virtue of one's own publicly stated commitment to live according to those principles.

To properly evaluate the Humanian Belief Manual, one must have a proper perspective. The Humanian Belief Manual at one time did not exist. When it came into existence, it did so in the only possible way, namely, as the work of one or a very few individuals. Therefore, the original content of the manual, at its very beginning, can only have been that placed there by that one or those few individuals. As the years and decades pass, the manual will grow in size, and more and more humans will participate. There will come a time when the website itself will need to be taken over by some organization that is far more knowledgeable concerning Internet technology than has been true of the original developer(s), as a way of dealing with problems such as differences in language. So the website will ultimately be owned by our species and is indeed meant to be the property of everyone, whatever the way becomes of managing it and caring for it. And it will be important for everyone to feel, by virtue of transparency, that the way in which the website is handled is such as to maintain Humanian values. For instance, the Humanian Belief Manual should have no other purpose (such as the use of the site for advertising or entertainment) than the purposes outlined above. The operation of the website should be as simple as possible while accomplishing the basic goal for which it exists, the coming together of our species to work on having a far better life than we have ever known so far, with benefit for everyone.

So the Humanian Belief Manual is simply a tool belonging to our species, designed to help us in a most fundamental way become far, far better than we ever have been so far. We have suffered tremendously throughout our whole past history, because of the enormous amount of tragedy that we have brought upon ourselves by virtue of decision-making based upon inaccurate existential beliefs and a very, very disorganized set of ethical beliefs accompanied by a very weak ethical sense (motivation to do what we believe we should). (Authoritarian ethics tends more to produce the motivation "not to get caught," and frequently produces some oppositional motivation, a wish to be free of coercion.) It will be by virtue of our studying together and advocating for such study that we will become increasingly unified with regard to a basic ethical philosophy for all of us, resulting in increasingly achieving a much better existence on this planet.

Such success, of course, is in no way guaranteed. What is guaranteed is that it will never happen unless we work for it. And many of us, throughout our existence, have indeed been putting forth such effort in behalf of us all. The Humanian Belief Manual is simply our way of strengthening that effort, improving its efficiency, and helping it to become increasingly widespread. For the individual Humanian, participation in the development of the Humanian Belief Manual is a way of paying forward in return for the wonderful things that our species has accomplished because of those in our past who have put in the time and effort to make our lives better. It also will be beneficial to the individual as a tool in the ethical organization of his or her life, resulting in healthier living, improved relationships, and greater satisfaction obtained from life through meaningful participation in behalf of others.

THE HUMANIANITY FORUM

The Humanianity Forum is a tool to help any individual or group improve, and especially to help in the development of the Humanian Belief Manual. An individual may be a member of the Forum without being Humanian. The Forum is the place to have world-wide (as opposed to within a specific organization), in-depth discussions concerning the beliefs proposed in the Humanian Belief Manual, as well as a place for anyone wishing to share and compare beliefs about how best to live our lives and thereby become better people. And it also will be a place to find Humanian resources, identified by participating Humanians.

Within the Humanian Belief Manual, an individual can visit any other Humanian's Belief Manual, and then write a brief message to that person, inviting the person to come to the Forum in order to discuss some issue, such as a particular belief in the Belief Manual, perhaps about which they did not agree. If the sender of the message has already started a topic in the Forum in anticipation of such a discussion, he or she may give to the recipient a phrase or belief number, so that the recipient can enter it into the Search input field in the Forum in order to go quickly to that post.

THE HUMANIANITY CONVERSATIONS SECTION

This section is the most recent, and consists mostly of one-to-one YouTube recorded Skype and Zoom conversations to explore Humanianity-related issues in greater depth. The participants have widely varying degrees of understanding of the concepts involved in the Humanianity project, as well as widely varying understanding of and commitments to various belief systems. Thus, there is often a quite lively discussion, as apparently contradictory belief systems collide and various misunderstandings occur (especially due to the inherent ambiguity of language). The goal for the participants, and also the viewers, is the achievement of greater depth and clarity of thought, as well as the gradual coming to tentative agreement (but always with the ability to question). It is by virtue of our species becoming clearer and more accurate and optimal in its shared beliefs, with consequent increasing agreement, that cooperative and perhaps species-saving behavior can increasingly emerge. We have already made significant progress, but we have a long, long way to go, in a situation of ever-increasing urgency.

THE PHILOSOPHY AND PODCASTS SECTIONS

These tools are for the study of the concept of Humanianity, with all of its ramifications with regard to our thought and behavior, and therefore the quality of our lives and the welfare of our species. They are the ideas and proposals of one Humanian (and links to seemingly relevant presentations by others), who has spent much of his life in activities, including professional ones, that have led to the identification of these concepts and the conviction that they are of value and in fact of crucial importance. However, a very basic concept that underlies all of the other ones is that anyone can be mistaken, no matter how certain he or she may be of the validity of those beliefs, or concepts. So all of these ideas that have been presented are simply offered as material to be thought about, challenged, and if seeming not to make sense, rejected. Of course, a person coming to such a conclusion also can be mistaken, so the importance of engaging in friendly debate with others should be recognized.

The PHILOSOPHY section is the effort of one Humanian, over time, to gradually put together a set of ideas in as clear as manner as possible, with much attention being given to the development of a lexicon that allows for as precise an understanding as possible, as opposed to the usual, often metaphoric, way of speaking that allows for all sorts of interpretations of what is being read or said, this in turn leading to great difficulty in coming to any meaningful agreement based upon clear understanding as to what is being agreed upon. (Unfortunately, agreement is often based upon group membership and obedience, rather than consistency with that which the scientific methods, that have made us so capable, have arrived at.)

The PODCASTS section should be especially helpful. It is, of course, a set of ideas from the perspective of just one Humanian. Some of the material offered is also available in the PHILOSOPHY section, and when this is true, that material will appear while the podcast is being presented, so that one can read along while listening, if wished. Further additions are expected. An effort has been made to make navigation and the finding of desired material as easy and clear as possible.

SUMMARY

So this entire website is essentially a collection of tools, offered by one Humanian, to assist in the identification of, clarification of, advocacy for, and facilitation of a most important development, or movement, that is occurring within our species. That development involves changes in our usual ways of thinking and behaving, so bringing about such changes involves effort, in the form of study, both individually and with others. These tools should greatly increase the efficiency of that process. It is predicted that with time these tools will become more efficient and effective. Everyone is encouraged to provide suggestions for improvements and additions. Hopefully, in the near future this website will officially become the property of our species, and be managed by organizations far more capable of development of such tools, with transparent management that is consistent with the nature of Humanianity.