Skip to content

Living By the Humanist Narrative

God doesn’t answer back.  That’s the problem.  Humans can.
Sign up for Big Think on Substack
The most surprising and impactful new stories delivered to your inbox every week, for free.

The narrative I live by is the humanist narrative that if we are looking for morality, if we’re looking for vices and virtues, we can find them both in humanity—in human creations, human culture, humanity’s endeavor to develop our reason or our emotions and not only relationships between humans, but with the animal world and our environment.


I think that is a superior source of morality and a superior source of spirituality even than to any form of organized religion.  God doesn’t answer back.  That’s the problem.  Humans can.  You can talk to them and you can improve on what humans have said and done.  You can’t improve on what an invisible entity might say or think because you don’t know. 

In Their Own Words is recorded in Big Think’s studio.

Image courtesy of Shutterstock

Sign up for Big Think on Substack
The most surprising and impactful new stories delivered to your inbox every week, for free.

Related
The hospital where Rainn Wilson’s wife and son nearly died became his own personal holy site. There, he discovered that the sacred can exist in places we least expect it. During his talk at A Night of Awe and Wonder, he explained how the awe we feel in moments of courage and love is moral beauty — and following it might be the start of our spiritual revolution.
13 min
with

Up Next