Our values:
Freedom, fairness and compassion, health and happiness, and using science and reason to acquire and apply knowledge.
Our vision:
Living by and acting on these values, for the greater good, while balancing current versus future needs and desires.
Martin Squibbs and Brian Davis
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Humanists value freedom, compassion, fairness, and knowledge derived from science and reason. We seek ethical and personally-fulfilling lives that aspire to the greater good of humanity.
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Humanism is a philosophy of life valuing freedom, compassion, fairness, and knowledge derived from science and reason. It affirms our ability and responsibility to lead ethical lives of personal fulfillment aspiring to the greater good of humanity.
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Links to recent articles on Humanism:
- Letter from Patrick Colucci on Humanism and HumanLight, December 2008.
- New York Times article by Samuel Freedman, December 28, 2012.
- New York Times discussion of Atheism.
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Humanism is a way of life which values leading personally healthy, liberating and fulfilling lives while also working to realize a broader vision of a diverse, thriving and well informed human world.
Martin Squibbs ________________________________________________________________________________________
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Humanists believe in the inherent worth of every person and affirm that:
- Reason and science are the soundest means for investigating claims of truth.
- All ideas, values, myths, and social systems are based on human experiences.
- Creative ability and personal responsibility thrive best within free democracies.
- Respect for the biological diversity is essential for the survival of future generations.
Sena Havasy
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The Humanist Community of Silicon Valley
Our mission: To meet the social, intellectual, and emotional needs of Humanists of all ages; to contribute the the well-being of the larger community; and to be a voice for Humanism.
- Our values: Freedom, reason, and tolerance.
- Our goals: A humane society now; a fair future for our progeny.
- Our style: Integrity, laughter at oneself, and goodwill to others.
Traditional HCSV Statement
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A Humanist Creed
I believe in the real world and in people. I believe in separating myth from reality. I believe that people can solve their problems by using imagination and common sense applied with courage and following basic moral principles.
All my life I want to learn and develop and enrich the lives of other people. I want to feel the joy of life. I want to make peace, democracy, and well-being in the world while respecting the freedom of people everywhere.
I believe in beauty and in the beauty of truth. Beauty can be loved even when it is not understood, but truth can only found through understanding. Truth becomes clearer and more beautiful the more it is investigated.
— Peter and Catherine Bishop
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Just Who Am I?
by Dennis Ricks (Nov 12, 2011)
I’ve often been labeled an optimist.
That’s better than being a pessimist.
But when life’s bad days come their way,
I’m really a positive pragmatist.
My employees think I’m a capitalist,
Republicans call me a socialist,
I think the poor should have much more,
But please do not call me a communist.
My mother would call me a scientist.
My kids think I’m more of a futurist.
But when at night I see the sky,
I can’t help but become a cosmologist.
My father would call me an atheist,
My wife thinks of me as an ethicist,
Just who am I? Until I die—
I’ll think of myself as a Humanist.
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On Humanism and Problem Solving
If we reflect on human history, we humans are pretty good problem solvers. We share our pasts and our knowledge in our history books and scientific results, and imagine and share our futures in our plans and predictions. And with these futures in mind, we shape, control and change as best we can this planet Earth by our actions, leveraged with both our tools and technologies, and driven by tapping the Earth’s and Sun’s energy sources. Through all these efforts we have made, on balance, our human worlds healthier, more comfortable, more joyful, and better understood.
And then, guess what, we create more problems. We now face two relatively new and serious problems, both at a global scale. Our economic system supposedly reflects, with money, our wealth and the value we create, but the system is now so manipulated by the lending and printing of money, that real wealth and value (the Earth’s resources and the products and services we realize from them for our civilized lives) can become largely forgotten. Meanwhile, in reality beyond these financial creations and reflections of ours, we mine nature and burn fossil fuels at a rate which may well lead us to a tropical and ice-free world of record high temperatures and oceans, not seen since the dinosaurs roamed this planet.
A humanistic philosophy may help us to address these problems, to manage and flourish and find again real value within our human worlds, and to return into balance with this Earth’s resources. Because it reminds us to focus on what is real, and what exists, here and now. For our histories and pasts are made and created right here; right now, and understanding our history can help us predict the consequences of our actions, here and now. And for all of the possible futures we predict and plan for, only one becomes that past, and it does so right here, right now. This is our life in the making, and is the only effect we ever have, as we live it and breathe, right here, right now. And so to act now, with relevant and appropriate past knowledge and understanding in mind, with a will to do what is right, and with a view to moving towards a predictably better future, is surely what we must and all we can do. We are problem solvers, so I say let us solve as best we can our problems. Let us do so together, and let us do so now; in good spirits, with good humor, and with compassion, knowledge, understanding, curiosity, and of course, hope, in mind.
Martin Squibbs
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Other references to the philosophy of Humanism
- Letter from Patrick Colucci on Humanism and HumanLight.
- a summary extracted from the works of Corliss Lamont
- a modern idyll by Mickie W Anderson
- (not on line, but suggested) booklet:Humanism by Barbara Stoker
- (not on line, but suggested) book:Humanism as the Next Step by Lloyd & Mary Morain