I read an older humanist essay last night on Google Scholar, and basically this "humanist" was worried about the lack of emotion in humanist rational thinking. His idea was that somehow religion has captured this but humanism has not.
Emotion is something that you have, whether you want it or not. It is determined by the chemicals, and ordering of your body. What he is talking about, without actually identifying it, is contrived emotion. There's a certain masturbatory aspect of religion that finds delight in believing things that are highly highly improbable. I compare it to the way a gang jumps in its members. It basically says, "Hey, if you can believe these things really happened, even if all aspects of life tell you it is highly improbable, then you can be one of us!" It's the jump in aspect of SOME religions. Reality demands respect. Reality just IS. To defy it is masturbatory opportunism. The emotion this "humanist" claims is missing from the rationalist's life is contrived, imaginary emotion. It does add another dimension to life, but a dimension not unlike a drug high. Instead of thinking we are losing this imaginary emotion, we should think that it was never real life to begin with. You want to be certain about your life? At your center, allow reality to be, don't tell it how to look for you. That is the height of arrogance.
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