The Humanist Diary
We all have a story to tell or an experience to share and always appreciate a place to do so. This page will allow you to share with others a part of your life and in return share a part of someone else’s.
This column will have the latest of entries and after one month I will move them to the side columns as we create an archive. Your feedback on this page is always welcome as we try to develop it together.
Send your words to: cdrh@humanists.ca
Please indicate if you would like to have your email attached to your submission so others can send you their thoughts and comments.
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The Humanist Tree
by Mark Robinson (added Oct. 4/07)
"The Humanist Tree" is doing very well as we offer it the right amount of water and sunshine. We prune off the bad leaves to help the new buds to grow. The tree will require our full attention as is slowly reaches towards the sun as the trunk becomes strong. The roots move towards fresh ground in search of new ideas bringing them to the branches for the leaves to enjoy. As the tree grows other life will live within bringing new dimension to "The Humanist Tree".
Mark Robinson Sept 2007
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The Turning Point
by Robert Acton added Oct 3 /2007
I wonder how many other people have been seen Richard Dawkins as the turning point to their road to secular humanism. Checking the file creation date on my PC, I downloaded The God Delusion as an audio book on Dec. 15 2006.
I recall, I had been looking for some new reading material and was thrilled to see someone had posted The God Delusion.
That week, there had been nothing posted but a flood of Tim Lahaye and Jerry B. Jenkins crap as well as some Harry Potter reposts. I smiled after having read some of the dozen thank you’s the poster of the god delusion received for posting "something worth listening to" I thought to myself "there must be a lot of atheists on the internet."
I give The Dawkin's book credit as the turning point but what brought me to his book?
Youtube Clips of Borat, Jesus Camp, Ted Haggard and Kathy Griffin's Emmy acceptance speech doesn't ever seem to fizz on the faithful.
This is where I am today. After my enlightenment, For the first time in about 20 plus years of first BBS's then the internet I become involved in forums, loving the fact that I am part of a global movement. Through the internet I discovered Toronto had a clubhouse for atheists. I read on their forum about the controversy over reciting the lords’ prayer at the Durham Regional council and then completely on my own, registered myself to address council.
I joined the Humanist Association of Toronto and as much as I benefited from the opportunity to share ideas with other like minded people on the internet, attending the Sunday morning meetings in Toronto gave me a real sense of community.
On a global map created for the Richard Dawkins Forum I discovered there was an atheist in Bowmanville. After an email exchange Mark Robinson and I met at Tim Horton's and have been meeting ever since.
We have only a small group but I can't help myself think that maybe this is the seed for something really great.
Over the last 9 months I have listened to every Podcast new and archived from the Center of Inquiry along with Richard Dawkins(of course), Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens and easily a dozen other books. As a Humanist I still have a lot of room to grow.
I find it upsetting when a potential premier for this province talks about "teaching the controversy" (Where have I heard that one before?) Here we go again!
Having to work to make this happen will make seeing it happen wonderful.
There are a lot of issues in this crazy mixed up world like war, greed, poverty, environmental concerns, human rights and animal rights, but by helping to build a world based on science and reason will is our best chance for a peace and unity in the future.
Robert Acton Sept 21 /2007
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Meeting New Humanist Friends
By Dr. Sohail added Sept 18/07
My dear friend Zahir Anwar,
You live so far away, yet I feel so close to you. You live thousands of miles away in India but in my imagination I visit you in Calcutta and we go for a long walk and sit in a café and have passionate dialogues about life. For such a visit I do not need an air ticket or a visa. You have been a special friend as we have a creative connection. You have been a source of inspiration for me over the years. If you were in Toronto I would have introduced you to my new Humanist friends. Since you cannot meet them physically I will share with you about them in my letter.
It all started after I received my Humanist of the Year award. One day I got an unexpected email from a stranger Mark Robinson who had read about me on inter-net and wanted to meet me. I invited him for a cup of tea. I was impressed by his humanist philosophy, charming personality and creative talent as a musician. Within a short time we became friends. I introduced him to my sweetheart Bette Davis and he introduced me to his wonderful wife Lisa.
Now every Monday evening when Steve and I go for a cup of tea in Tim Horton’s in Oshawa, Mark and his other humanist friends drop in and we have intellectually stimulating dialogues.
While I was getting to know Mark and John and Rob I received a call from Janet Thomson, a CBC television producer who was making a documentary on Atheism and Humanism. She wanted to know about my Atheist and Humanist friends. I told her that I meet with a group that come from Muslim and Pakistani background who have said goodbye to God and Religion and another group that come from Christian and Jewish background. She asked me to invite all of them one evening and have a meeting. So I invited Rafiq Sultan, Zahra Naqvi, Askari Naqvi and Malik Jahanzeb, my Eastern friends and Mark Robinson, John Manuel, Carl Legault, Mark Witzel, Hildy Abrams and Bette Davis, my Western friends.
Janet came with her camera crew and videotaped our Humanist meeting and her colleague Clifton interviewed us by asking pointed questions.
During that evening Janet met Bette Davis and they liked each other. After the meeting Janet asked Clifton to interview Bette and I as a couple as she was curious how Bette, brought up in a Catholic family of Newfoundland, became a Spiritual Humanist and fell in love with a Secular Humanist from a Muslim family from Pakistan. We told them that we believe that the essence of a healthy loving relationship is to resolve conflicts peacefully. Differences can be a blessing as they can enrich the relationship. They only become a curse when they turn into conflicts and cause tension and resentment. Bette and I had been friends for 25 years before we became sweethearts. Friendship is the cake, the romance the icing. Janet was quite fascinated by our loving relationship.
I just got a letter from Janet that the documentary will be shown next week. There is a suspense, as we do not know out of 4 hours of taping how much she has included in her 22 minute documentary. For me it was exciting to be part of that adventure irrespective of what she will include or not include in her documentary. For me it was significant to become a bridge between my Eastern and Western friends who are atheists, agnostics, humanists and free thinkers.
On Sep 16th, 2007, I was invited by Humanist Association of Toronto HAT to present a paper on The Psychology of Fundamentalist and Humanist Personalities. It was an exciting experience. Mark Robinson helped me with my power point presentation. I spoke for an hour sharing my views that philosophy may not be a true reflection of personality and beliefs might be a poor reflection of behaviours. I shared that alongside religious fundamentalists there are also atheists who have a fundamentalist personality and while there are secular people with humanist personality there are also religious people who have a humanist personality. I believe that it is easier for two people with humanist personality to have a genuine dialogue and become friends even when they have philosophical differences but it is hard for two people with fundamentalist personality to have a dialogue as they get into bitter debates trying to convert each other. I suggested that it is harder to change one’s personality than one’s philosophy. I shared the stories of those friends and clients who had a fundamentalist personality but after their introspection and hard work they developed a humanist personality. I was pleased with the response of the audience. They asked many questions. Many people came after wards to talk to me. I just received some wonderful letters from Kevin and Lisette sharing what my presentation meant to them and how they wanted to share my paper with other friends. I was touched when Lisette called me a ‘loving humanist’ rather than an angry atheist. I have invited them to have dinner with me, Bette, Mark and Lisa. We are expanding our circle of humanist friends. I wish you were here so that you could join us too. In the next few weeks we would be visiting Port Hope and Belleville to meet more humanist friends.
On Dec 1st, 2007 we are planning to have a seminar in Toronto on Understanding Fundamentalism in which a number of speakers will share their papers on religious, political and psychological aspects of fundamentalism and then have an open dialogue. I will moderate that seminar. It is our humble attempt to build a bridge between secular humanist friends from different communities and cultures.
Mark has created a website in which he has created a Humanist Diary inviting people to share their biography and philosophy. So my letter to you is my contribution to that Diary. I wish one day they meet you and find out what a wonderful humanist and a playwright you are who lives so far but still is so close to my heart.
Affectionately,
Sohail
Sep 18th, 2007
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Accepting Death
by Mark Robinson (added sept. 17/07)
Dealing with death has always been a tough and enduring process in life for all and everyone deals and reacts differently since we all have varying emotions to situations of this nature. We all know it’s inevitable and that we will all experience
it one day. The turning point for me was how comfortable I became with understanding that I was not created by a divine being but had actually evolved through a natural process helped me understand and accept the death of my father. It seemed this period in my life took the thinking process to its defining stages for me to believe what I do today.
My father died of lung cancer and fought a strong and courageous battle to the end.
Throughout his battle with this illness he found the strength to battle and he continued to impress me as he did through out his whole life. From traveling to radiation treatments to sitting and just chatting like we had always done showed me that even under such immense pain and worry and fearfulness he was able to continue living and be there for me, the one who he had given his genes so his life can continue on in me. A lot happened in that period of time in my thought process as I will recall part of that journey.
I saw for the first time up close what a person dieing goes through. The first stage that hit me was the time when my father went to have an operation to see if the doctors could remove the cancer from his lung. My mother and two sisters and I sat nervously with him in a waiting room before they took him into surgery. This gave me a feeling I have never felt or could have prepared for. Dressed in generic blue hospital garments I bet my father had never felt as alone in his entire life as when he walked through those doors to the operating room. The surgery was unsuccessful and we awaited the news from the doctor as to his condition. His fight had begun, and for all of us I am sure we had thoughts smothering our minds as to what was going to happen to this man that had given us so much. I knew there was going to be a fatal outcome and it would most likely be months instead of years till the day came. At this point all my ideas and opinions of what happens after life ends started to uncover themselves in my mind and surface to my critical level of thought. When this happens you can’t avoid these thoughts as they occupy your day and night like crashing waves across a lonesome beach and with every wave you are reminded how his life has can become such a struggle to survive. Is there a heaven, a place after life, angels to guide him? Has he been chosen by a creator, did someone need him in a higher place?
I gave all of these questions some thought for a final time but it was brief. If god needed my father in heaven for a chosen plan which would make him so important then why would he make him suffer so much before taking him of for that matter put his family through the same pain? The answers were no where to be found and I felt in order to believe that this was an act of god or that my father was called by god to serve him then I would have to lie to myself to believe such dogmatic ideas. I had done what’s right, through the pain and emotion I had taken the time to question and be honest with myself. This was a defining moment in my life, how could I lie to myself to in order to find a way to delude myself from the truth and the real reason we live was becoming very clear. The answers which I concluded from my thoughts and questions lead me to continue in my search for the truth of life and with everyday the picture receives new brush strokes from the colorful paint of life.
I was comfortable knowing that my father has lived his life and it is ending. I learned that being comfortable with this idea wasn’t what I wanted but it was the observation of reality I was accepting. I am part of his continued existence through our passing of genes and I continue to have part of him with me physically which I definitely feel is worth more than hoping he is watching down on me. He doesn’t need to watch me any more. My father has done his role in making me who I am. He has given me his guidance and led me to where I am today. He has left me with the memory of our life time together.
At this point I was aware that I had discovered true facts that his existence with me is still continuing and I can enjoy the memories and look at my children and see that through us a part of him is still here.
When the time of his death came I did have moments of breaking down, crying all alone and letting out my pain. No matter what you believe the pain is still present though the difference in believing that death is final gave me a feeling of closure without wondering.
Life is random no one or supernatural being controls the length of our lives from beginning to end. Life in this universe happens only once to us. Each of us was conceived out of a pool of millions of sperm and in that pool we are the only one that received this chance to experience life.
We won the lottery at one single moment of conception. That is the most amazing thing that will happen in your life time and the first thing anyone will ever cross in the beginning of their existence. From that very point on you should live your life with.
By Mark Robinson
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