Religion isn’t going away. According to the Pew Forum 84% of the world is religious and they predict this figure will rise to 90% by 2050.
Many of society's most pressing issues - immigration, mental health, diversity, climate change, etc. - have an inherent religious element, and would benefit from the centuries of ethical reflection embedded in faith traditions. And yet in Western countries religion is often poorly understood, feared or ignored.
We believe that faith, and Christianity in particular, is a force for good in society. Though public narratives focus on the small (but very real) instances of faith as a problem, our starting point is that religious communities, and the wisdom embedded in them, are friends not foes, gifts not threats.
We exist to inform and enrich the understanding of everyone with a stake in shaping the public conversation. Wherever you stand on matters of faith, we hope you’ll join the conversation.
This was at Conway Hall? That's like the heart of public humanism in England. Nice one Theos, for getting them to let Tom Holland stand there and systematically rip humanism apart. Shame a Q and A wasn't included, though.
I read both of Katheyn's books as my mum's journey with dementia reached its end. I'd hoped that knowing more would help me, but it didn't. Because if her books, I trusted that the staff would make sure my mother was comfortable. I made sure that they had scripts ready to help with pain and restlessness. Then we found ourselves going through hell with her, surrounded by uncaring staff and an rn who was too scared to give her the morphine we felt she needed. We are haunted by the fear that she suffered in her last days and we have no way of knowing when her awareness left because her dementia meant she could not communicate with her and nobody was there to tell us what was happening at each stage. It was terrible. Your books gave me a false sense of trust in the professionals around us. I feel betrayed twice. Once by the system and once by you, Kathryn, for making me think it would be ok. It was not. It was far from ok. 6 months later I am still haunted.
Interesting, she and her partner are very clever and funny people. But, I think she is wrong. It is not reasonable nor equitable to ask the whole of society to cover the cost of genetic dysfunctions. Even worse that I read somewhere they were encouraging them to have children. I find that appalling in so many ways. We had this solved shortly after health policy adjusted itself to incorporate Darwinism and now we are, in terms of societal fitness, in decline and it’s so selfish for future generations.
I listen to Tom's podcast 'The Rest is History' so I guess YT gave me this because it spies on me 🙂. Now, I know Tom is a wonderful historian and brilliant speaker, yet I ask myself, why can a person who is not a 'professional Christian' able to give so much drama and wonder to the text of Genesis 1, while the PCs quiver and apologize for it not matching up with modern science as they see it! Jordan Peterson has similar confident insights into biblical stories. On these too the PCs offer more jello! But, man, both Holland and Peterson light an intellectual and cultural bonfire with these texts, while the PCs just miss their point, their heart-throb, the great story that they tell! I want my money back!!
In fact, all the great discoveries and revelations of ancient humanity were carried out by (Hindu or Buddhist) monks . No- one else had the education or access to facilities
I prefer if AI lets us communicate with the dead via audio/video like a facetime call. If heaven exists AI can make a tech that connects us to them and we see them inside the room we are in. Having them in human form would be weird, save that for FDVR where it copies your memories of your life in perfect detail and you can relive it with the people of the past.
in a sense you could see humanism as a game of jenga, it is growing higher while destroying it's own fundaments and will eventually fall down leaving nothing to replace it.
No fear or panic? Lady, you have only observed death of people who pass from old age naturally. Trust me, seeing someone die from unnatural cause such as in combat, there is fear and panic in them. It is unnatural and the helplessness is the worst part.
I guess you mean that Genesis influenced the waters, which imperceptibly formed the point of view I acquired from our culture, not that its stories directly made a big impression on me. They did a bit, but so did Prometheus, Icarus and Phaeton, Pandora, the pride of Cassiopeia and of Arachne, Orpheus and Eurydice, Atalanta, Scylla and Charybdis. [Edit: also {Agamemnon, Iphigenia, Clytemnestra, Aegisthus, Electra, Orestes}, {Odysseus, Calypso, the suitors, Telemachus, Penelope}, Ceres and Persephone, Phaedra, Oedipus and the futility of trying to escape the fate seen by a soothsayer. I can't see how to take a moral from the stories of Noah and Adam and Eve that I could usefully apply in practical living. Of the Greek myths only Icarus, Phaeton, Scylla and Charybdis. The New Testament parables are more comprehensible guides. ]
How about talking to atheists from various religious backgrounds - Hindu, Buddhist, Mohammedan - and trying to find out how much of their ethical beliefs come from their waters and how much may be immanent in humanity - perennial?
The belief in Darwinian evolution is a strange religious belief that the programs found in the complexity of DNA refute. Unfortunately, a belief in evolution is the religion currently being imposed on youth in the American public schools. This religious belief in the survival of the fittest shows up in the willingness to sacrifice the next generation at Planned Parenthood chapels across the country. Religious beliefs haven't been stamped out in the west. Rather they have been replaced by the religion that occupied Canaan before God sent Joshua in to root our this rejection of the God who created humans.
Excellent discussion. I would love to have a cuppa tea with Sir Ian and speak with him in Silence. Thank you Brother for shining a light in this world. I feel one of the reasons the Christian Bible says "You will find me (God) when you seek me with your whole heart." ...is because the heart is beautifully silent and nondual. I love this quote by Odilon Redon: "Subjective art as it were the radiation of things towards the dream ...towards that which the mind is traveling to...Decadence or not, that is what it is. Let us call it rather the growth and evolution of art for the ultimate advancement of our own life. All the critics mistakes about me were committed because they failed to see that nothing must be defined, nothing must be understood, nothing must be limited and nothing must be made explicit, because everything that is sincerely and humbly new like beauty itself, indeed - carries its meaning in itself." Amen ✝️
Jordan Peterson thinks that the Bible is literally true in its own way, that it is about spiritual matters, not primarily about history. I think that the historical truth is important though, to try to correct some of the stuff. For example the extreme punishments dating back to thousands of years BC. If Jesus be a spiritual vision of intensely religious cults and not a historical person, then two thousand years of persecution of the Jews for crucifying Him are not valid. They would not be anyway, because according to John it was only the High Priest and a Jerusalem mob organized by him, not the thousands of followers and healed persons, and not the Jewish nation as a whole, and it has been too long to keep a grudge, especially one so contrived. The trouble with atheism though, is that one also needs a philosophy of freedom and humanitarianism strong enough to pinch hit for faith in God, and this is pretty intellectual and of less popular appeal.
"The Historical Foundations of Humanitarian Action" international-review.icrc.org/sites/default/files/S0020860400078359a.pdf agrees with Holland that the Greek and Roman mentality was rough and tough, and though it gives credit to 19 centuries of Christianity and two of philosophical renewal, acting even at the unconscious level, (we are swimming in a Christian fish bowl as Holland feels) it traces humanism's early growth from zero in the classical cultures alongside the slavery and military aspects, amidst double think over the contradictions. It also says that cultures beside our own accepted Henry Dunant's ideas and the Red Cross and Red Crescent movements.
I understand what you say and don't deny it, but have some associated ideas. Benevolent aspects of religion - I call the stories instructive myths, not childish nonsense. Faced with Inquisition philosophy, throwing homos off rooftops, the curse on the descendents of Ham, unegalitarian treatment of women, death penalties for adultery - literal Old Testament needs to be resisted. A prime example is the law to murder, by stoning in front of her family, brides found not to be virgin. Some women are born without hymens. God would know this and to be just would have to make an allowance in the law. So God did not write the law. It is not a sure absolute truth valid for all time. It is probably from an ancient tribal patriarch or priest, immersed in the superstitions of that time, and determined to keep women in their place. Therefore, the other Old Testament ordinances are probably also mere human creations. Since such punishments and prejudices still exist it is important to downgrade our belief in them as eternal divine truth in order to avoid persecuting and excessively punishing. The tendency to regress to fundamentalism makes this more urgent, since modern liberal religious ideas which bypass the old beliefs, to be more humanitarian, are being discarded by some pressure groups who have considerable political influence. Not to throw out all the counsel of the Old Testament, but to recognize that we no longer hang men for stealing a loaf to feed their starving family, and that Jesus said something like the Golden Rule is the Law and the Prophets, despite that elsewhere He said that not a single verse could be neglected. I think that this leaves us on our own, But I think that we can manage. If Jesus was not historical, then Mark is a moral fable, written by a human without benefit of true divine revelation, and it is in many ways darned good. People may be going fundamentalist because science, liberal philosophy and government taking over religion's traditional charities is eating away at belief and they see no alternative but to close their thinking minds in order to keep the faith.
The reverence of humanists for humanity? It's pretty clear that the reverence humans have for our own species pre-dates Genesis and probably every other text by decamillennia. That's pretty much what anthropomorphisation of natural forces. Is human ego writ large. And Genesis is hardly a high point in the history of human 'reverence' for our species... Rather the reverse... it reduces humans to mere manufactured things, dependent on a handout of meaning and significance from a deity. But then that's the pitfall of egotism as it ultimately trivialises what it seeks to aggrandise. Humanism is a pretty obvious divergence from the rather trivial human ego on display in Genesis.
Sorry, while this person makes some valid comments about dying, this seems something of a fluff piece to mollify and comfort the living. I have had experience of five dying persons, some stoic, some frightened, some not wanting to die, some wanting to die, but not one has been a good death. I am not saying that a good death is not possible; I'm sure it is. But that has not been my experience.
Five? Hardly a representative sample size - KM has personally witnessed over 10,000 - the excellent video is about 'ordinary death'. As for 'something of a fluff piece' - that's quite rude. Take the time to read Dr Mannix's 'With the End in Mind' - your perspective might alter.
Thank you for this. My elderly mother passed recently. She basically went to bed for 17 days taking only sips of water. Everything was peaceful. Myself and the Care Home staff sang hymns around her bed during those days and I prayed. In the last two days mum repeatedly pointed across the room and said that someone was there. She eventually said it was her sister. She just stopped breathing one morning, no death rattle and no distress. I miss her very much.
I don't believe that these arguments are particularly strong. I want to start off by saying that at the time of writing this, I can't seem to find Ms Shrier having qualifications on medical topics, psychiatry, or mental health in general. She starts off talking about the "truly mentally ill"- with more extreme cases in schizophrenia, major depressive disorder, etc. This seems to be in contrast with people who society apparently call "anxious" and "depressed", but she points out they don't quite have major depressive disorder. She says they are the "bummed out worried teens" who "can't be motivated to seek out a job" and constantly relying on their parents to do anything. This is a harmful and simplistic understanding. First of all, those who are diagnosed with depression and anxiety who may not have the major iteration of those mental health issues still suffer from them. Taking the view that these people are just lazy and not resilient (as she paints them) only compounds their problems, as they are not taken seriously and given appropriate treatment. She describes them as "overtreated and overmedicated". She talks about "vast expansions and worst results" and compares it to more physical medical problems such as "death in childbirth". The issue with this argument is that childbirth can be treated by developing medical cures, and that so long as more diseases don't pop up, childbirth death rates will go down. Whilst mental health can be treated with medicine too, the things that can induce and exacerbate mental health issues are commonplace in the west (therefore in the US). Diseases (which affect childbirth mortality) are being wiped out, whereas social media (which tends to bring about more mental health issues) is on the rise. The two things are incomparable, and she is lying. There is more treatment in mental health, because there needs to be, to combat the growing amount of mental health issues. The 1 in 6 diagnosis augmentation figure comes from a greater awareness and perception of mental health issues. I also don't know where she gets her smartphones comment from. She says "when you talk to a teenager" and then says what they would say. Are teenagers really like this? This seems more like something that you would see in tiktok wherein a person refers to themselves as being traumatised, and has decided to conflate this with the general teenage demographic. In my experience (and this is purely anecdotal) no-one has used that language when describing themselves. She says the mental health intervention is "convincing them that they are unwell and making them sadder and sicker and more fearful" but yet again fails to factor in the other environmental issues such as greater awareness around diagnoses, less social stigma surrounding talking about mental health, and of course social media. Anyway, that's my two cents so far. I don't want to comment on the whole video because that would take ages.
Method 1 of mind uploading is not flawed it still works theoretically. Due to both you and your "copy" would exist simultaneously which means you will still suffer from the hazards of aging and painful death as your copy lives on becoming two seperate people having different stories after the upload. Such a problem can be resloved by killing yourself after the uploading process is completed which no one wants to do manually. I tell you your body kills itself all the time in order to survive... It is flawed to claim you are not a copy. Understand you are already a copy. All of the cells in your body have died and copied themselves into a new cell before death routinely in order to keep "you" alive as a copy. The issue is seamless transitioning and avoiding manuel sucide on a whole basis. when we are biologically duplicated, our body does it in batches within the same body, without needing to completely upload the whole body to a seperate one, thus commiting instant sucide of the current machine so you can continue to live as a copy in another, which most people would be scared to undergo. If we were to copy the human body pattern of duplication to alivated the fear of becoming a copy by instant death, and to elimate two of copys living at once. It would be similar to create microscopic artificial brain parts that were compatible with the human brain parts, and swapped out in batches to still maintain one body, to avoid living as two seperate ones, then over time the full biological brain can be completely replaced with a synthetic one. The synthetic brain can now be removed from the human body instead of disposing of it and installed in an android body. The artficial brain consequently will be compatible with a biological brain thus when uploading is achieved downloading back into a human body should be possible. Which is important understanding the biological bodies or wetware is proven to have sentience.
The part of you that is capable of living for other doesn’t choose to do so: it´s its nature The part of you that isn’t can’t and that’s all there is to it : but these two aspects of life can live in unity during the lifetime of the physiology to the extreme benefit of the latter
There is NO 'AI', it is superstition and Illiteracy, Intelligence can Never be artificial. A book is ALSO programmed Consciousness, Frozen Memory. Become alive, when reading. So, You're Lost in Speculations and wish-thinking, Life is Eternal, Consciousness is Eternal, The Soul, is the Temporary expression, of I', and Consciousness, they are both Eternal, but Consciousness is the Ability, of Motion, change, development, experiences and Life-Performance, so, our Soul is in constant change and development. Souls can Only incarnate in bodies equal to their type of Being, developing-Standard, or Level. 100% organic. Far, far back in Past, our bodies as We know today, began as machines, and Devices, but they must be developed Fully Organic, before any Soul would be able to incarnate. So, this is NEW, un-known in Science, and the Few who knows, is Not able to give a realistic perspective, of this remarkable Very Large developing-perspective. Well, all this Knowledge exist at a Higher Level, but it's far to Early to waste to much time at this specific subject. So, machines Never become conscious, and Intelligence can Never be artificial.
The host is not oriented either to authentically discuss let slone experience the sacred. Just stating the obvious: without some method of reversing the analytical processes, as in meditation, contemplation or prayer, one cannot absorb into Unity the many different parts. And just your overall vibration makes it obvious you are not in that moment suitable to discuss the thing you are discussing! That's why Iain at one point said Sorry to discuss the sacred in such a glib way! Anyway, I'm mean. Now meditate in reverse the analytical processes of the left brain, and return to unity and sense! Peace
This is exactly how I watched my Mom pass. Days before, as the family sat and watched an old football game, talking and reminiscing, my mother just watched my daughter, who sat next to her, with the most incredible look of love in her eyes. I will never forget that moment. The last day was exactly as this film describes. She was unconscious, shallow breathing, the "death rattle", the family all gathered around her. Two daughters, my husband, and her three grandchildren. We watched her take her last breath and she was at peace. I hope my last moments will be spent with my family. I will never regret being there for her. When she was younger, she was frightened of dying. As she grew older, she no longer feared it, but she never discussed it. That was okay. My job was to make sure she went out with love and peace around her. I accomplished that. This is a beautiful film.
Can you do a grieving for beginners PLEASE I have recently lost a family member but still not informed by remaining family members this feels like I too am dead
I think this is one of the best videos which RU-vid showed me.. Thank you so much Kathryn Mannix. I am so proud to be a colleague of yours. Lots of love from Turkey
That is beautiful. Thank you! I lost both my parents in a short time period, and in painful ways. Dying from cancer is not as soft and gentle as described in the video, but I found it comforting anyway.
