I once heard Tony Robbins say that “if your life is worth living, then it’s worth recording.”
So one day, I woke up and realized that the world I was living in wasn’t the world I thought it was. I began to question why we do the things we do and use these ideas and beliefs as fuel to drive our lives. Is life’s purpose to find your true self and connect with the world? Is life a platform only to survive? Is a cause or mission necessary to one’s purpose? Is purpose beyond procreation and human sustainability even necessary?
On that same day, I realized that the stories we all seem to be taught as children, are full of fable and fiction, and we are expected to behave using this as a guide. So I became an ordained minister and put on my heavy deep diving gear and ventured deep into the abyss of knowledge. When I surfaced, I had lost friends, made bitter enemies, and loved ones turned their backs on me; all because I spent time and uncovered fact from fiction.
Do beliefs, ideas, thoughts, experiences, and perspectives transcend our physical existence or are they just the byproduct of our nature? Will we continue to create and invent ideas that keep us fighting over what we think the “afterlife” or “spirit world” is? Can we turn our current paradigm into a more universal and connective one? Can we appreciate and respect each other as humans, and demonstrate that our thinking capacity can be manipulated for a positive experience, or do we continue to pretend we are not animals because some ancient book we like tells us otherwise? All the while exhibiting behavior like the animals we pretend we’re not. And so with each day, we are given an opportunity to help create with those around us, a new, positive, and productive experience.
That experience is one of seeking the best possible outcome for everyone involved – for the 8 billion and growing humans on the planet. And this would most likely be labeled Secular Humanism, so let’s define what that is…
Secular Humanism is not a religion, nor is it a belief system that is unmalleable. It is an ongoing journey to learn, live, create, and experience based on demonstrable evidence that we can all have at our fingertips, to live in a world that embraces human reason, secular ethics, and philosophical naturalism while specifically rejecting religious dogma, supernaturalism, and superstition as the basis of morality and decision making.
We may realize this at some point in our lives, yet remembering that we are interdependent and “co-creating” with each and every person we see, meet, speak with, and exist alongside for the purpose of human well-being is the only thing that will get us there. Religion has poisoned our minds and hearts and has pitted one group of people over another for silly guesses of what we don’t know but think we do.
When you look upon others as an important positive aspect of your life experience, they come out of the shadows and reveal the beauty of our human connection. We begin to realize that a difference of opinion and a collision of ideas is good for humanity. Coupled with the best science and existing evidence provides, maybe we can create a world that our children will be proud of.
So, join us as we explore the deepest thoughts and ideas that make us who we are. That’s what Living A Non Fiction Life is all about. Embracing inclusivity. All with the hopes and our own dreams that we find a place where we can celebrate life without the judgment of whether it’s familiar, but a less arduous, beautiful opportunity to create who we really are: A physical manifestation of pure love in connection with everything and every one whom your eyes can see, your ears can hear, your nose can smell, your tongue can taste, your skin can touch, and your heart can beat.
Let’s level the playing field and suggest all of our ideas be subject to the same standards of evidence we use for everything else. Lif is truly better with evidence.
~ Rev. J. Blaine, ordained minister, philosopher, seeker of truth, and champion for humanity
Live A Non Fiction Life! 