Open in app

Sign In

Write

Sign In

David Breeden
David Breeden

516 Followers

Home

About

Published in

Humanism Now

·Pinned

Moral and Spiritual Government

The twentieth century Pragmatist philosopher John Dewey wrote: Democracy is a form of government only because it is a form of moral and spiritual association. “Moral and spiritual association.” Dewey saw democracy as a moral argument, or, perhaps better phrasing, a moral and spiritual discourse. According to Dewey, were democracy…

Humanism

2 min read

Moral and Spiritual Government
Moral and Spiritual Government
Humanism

2 min read


Sep 14

SYMBOLS: We Use Them, They Use Us

Several philosophers have said it, but the truth is painful: The worship of a symbol is idolatry but . . . it’s symbol all the way down. That “it’s symbols all the way down” is and has always been the human condition as we have wrestled to understand and describe…

Humanism

2 min read

SYMBOLS: We Use Them, They Use Us
SYMBOLS: We Use Them, They Use Us
Humanism

2 min read


Published in

Humanism Now

·Aug 18

Religious Naturalism: It to I: part two

(Exploring I/Thou, I/It, and I & I) Philosopher Martin Buber’s famous distinction between the I/Thou and I/It relationships has long been a cornerstone of liberal theological thought. Briefly, Martin Buber postulated that we human beings enter into two sorts of relationships, I/It and I/Thou relationships. For Buber, the I/It relationship…

Humanism

2 min read

Religious Naturalism: It to I: part two
Religious Naturalism: It to I: part two
Humanism

2 min read


Published in

Humanism Now

·Aug 10

Religious Naturalism: It to I: part one

If the burned-over summer of 2023 has taught us anything, surely it is that we human beings need to start loving the earth more. Or else. As a Humanist, I blame the monotheisms for forging the destructive I/It thinking that is damaging the planet and threatening our species. However unfair…

Humanism

2 min read

Religious Naturalism: It to I: part one
Religious Naturalism: It to I: part one
Humanism

2 min read


Published in

Humanism Now

·Jul 26

Humanism in Seven Points

People matter more than ideas. People have many ways of knowing, many ways of discovering and expressing what it means to be human. All ways matter. Art is universal. Science, mathematics, and scholarship are universal human expressions testable and provable in all human cultures. …

Humanism

1 min read

Humanism in Seven Points
Humanism in Seven Points
Humanism

1 min read


Published in

Humanism Now

·Jul 7

A Poetics of Freethought

What is a Poetics? Poetics is perhaps a precious and academic-sounding word, but I think it well expresses the concept that we are creating our lives from moment to moment, and that it is possible to create an aesthetic life from moment to moment. As the philosopher Epictetus put it…

Freethinkr

3 min read

A Poetics of Freethought
A Poetics of Freethought
Freethinkr

3 min read


Published in

Humanism Now

·Jun 28

R. W. Emerson and Cancel Culture

Let’s face it, in such questions as race, class, and gender, Emerson wrote some really mean and dumb things. Should he be cancelled? Well, to be factual, Emerson already cancelled himself. In his 1836 essay Nature — often credited with beginning the transcendentalist movement — Emerson wrote, Why should not…

Transcendentalism

2 min read

R. W. Emerson and Cancel Culture
R. W. Emerson and Cancel Culture
Transcendentalism

2 min read


Published in

Humanism Now

·Jun 8

Panaceas, Utopias, and Humanism

Humanism stays relevant despite a pedigree that goes back millennia because as a world view it places emphasis on human values, human agency, and human experience here, now. …

Humanism

2 min read

Panaceas, Utopias, and Humanism
Panaceas, Utopias, and Humanism
Humanism

2 min read


Published in

Humanism Now

·May 29

Marcus Aurelius on Stress and Anger

Sure, you want to explode. But remember this: Despite your explosion, people will still do as they always have. Here is the most important thing: Do not stress. After all, everything is going according to the way of the web of existence, the laws of nature. In a very short time, you will be nobody and nowhere, just like Hadrian and Augustus. Fix your eyes steadily on what it is you are doing. Remember: It is your duty to be a virtuous person acting in accordance with nature. Do that without fail and speak justly, as you understand justice. Speak justly with temperance and modesty and without hypocrisy. (Meditations, 8.4–8.5)

Stoicism

1 min read

Marcus Aurelius on Stress and Anger
Marcus Aurelius on Stress and Anger
Stoicism

1 min read


Published in

Humanism Now

·May 8

Marcus Aurelius from Meditations

4. 24: If you want tranquility, focus. Isn’t it best to focus on what it takes to be a decent social animal? Such actions bring not only…

Stoicism

1 min read

Marcus Aurelius from Meditations
Marcus Aurelius from Meditations
Stoicism

1 min read

David Breeden

David Breeden

516 Followers

Poet, Senior Minister at First Unitarian Society of Minneapolis, a Humanist congregation. Amazon author's page amazon.com/author/davidbreeden

Following
  • Spyder Darling

    Spyder Darling

  • The Good Men Project

    The Good Men Project

  • Joe Duncan

    Joe Duncan

  • Gregory Sadler

    Gregory Sadler

  • John J. Dunphy

    John J. Dunphy

See all (852)

Help

Status

Writers

Blog

Careers

Privacy

Terms

About

Text to speech

Teams