Human Values

The 21st century promises to be a time of scientific and technological growth at a level never before experienced in human history. This growth will either trigger chaos, disruption, war, starvation and disease or will introduce a period of humanistic cooperation, development, progress, and peace. What emerges will depend upon which values are embraced, taught, encouraged, and legislated. The value choices, which must be deliberately chosen and not left to chance, must be secular, global, and familial. The accepted values must be embraced, taught, encouraged, and supported internationally, nationally, locally, and personally. What is proposed here represents some of the value choices, the ethical building blocks, that will enable a world of peace and harmony to come into existence--a world in which human diversity is respected and tolerated and, at the same time, a world in which each individual will be enabled and encouraged to maximize his or her potential, without discrimination and in an atmosphere of freedom. What is required to bring about this idealized world is a democratic, pluralistic society which recognizes the human rights of each individual and in which no man or woman or class of men or women shall be demeaned and treated as mere slaves existing only to fulfill the desires of those who would be their masters; a world in which no man or woman or class of men or women shall be used as tools for the lusts of others, or for the ambitions of others, or for the greed of others, a world in which the life of every man and woman and child shall be recognized and esteemed as a unique and ultimate statement of the evolutionary process and therefore of inestimable value. To achieve and make real this concept of a world of peace for the 21st century the following humanistic values provide the basic essentials.

The values must be of the people, for the people, and by the people. They must embrace common moral decencies such as altruism, integrity, freedom, justice, honesty, truthfulness, responsibility, compassion, and must reflect the normative standards human beings discover and develop through living together. Value development must draw upon reason, science, the arts, and must express concern for justice and fairness and concern for the physical and mental well-being of every human being in an effort to maximize individual freedom without limiting the freedom of others.

As the first generation in human history to have viewed our planet from outer space, we have been made conscious of the uniqueness of this fragment of cosmic matter which we call "earth" that circles a rather small star (our sun) in an immense universe. So far as we know at this moment, we humans are the only intelligent, rational beings existing anywhere in the cosmos. Statistical estimates suggest that elsewhere planets circling stars may have produced other intelligent life forms, but at this moment we know nothing of these other life forms, despite the claims of those who say they have encountered extra-terrestrial beings. To the best of our knowledge, we are utterly alone in the universe and we are bound together by our habitation on this planet. Our value system must extend beyond national, ethnic, religious, territorial, and racial boundaries. Only a global ethic, a global humanistic value system that embraces the entire world will suffice for the 21st century.

Because humanistic values are pluralistic, a spirit of tolerance is primary. However, tolerance does not signify the ignoring of patterns of behavior that violate or infringe upon the rights and freedoms of others. Tolerance marks the recognition of the wide variety of human expression and patterns of living; it does not mean closing the eyes to injustice, cruelty, or the dehumanization of persons.

Humanistic global family values must be concerned with providing each member of the human family with the means to become involved in meaningful work, employment or efforts designed to promote the well-being of the entire human family.

A meaning-filled life is more than mere existence; it involves purpose, direction, and a sense of belonging. Humanistic family values embrace individual rights to autonomy, dignity, free choice, liberty, fraternity, the pursuit of happiness, and security. Our human family has devised a multitude of different ways to accomplish these goals through law, education, role modeling, as well as through words, acts, and symbols of encouragement and support. Each positive effort must be appreciated and inherent differences tolerated. To establish such values and the ethical standards that protect all human beings for the 21st century we must be prepared to learn from the past, evaluate the present, and project the highest and best that we know into our aspirations for the future. We must examine our values on the basis of international, national, and personal commitments.

What we do now is important. We must, each one of us, pledge ourselves to action in helping to move humankind towards a way of living where the humanistic family ethic overlays the nationalistic, linguistic, religious, and ethnic differences that separate us. We work toward the time when the world will be at peace and human energy will be focused on the needs and well-being of all members of a single family, a time when we will enjoy and celebrate our unique differences while exalting the importance of our human similarities, a time when we will acknowledge the basic human needs that unite us including our mutual concerns for the futures of our children, our grandchildren and our great-grandchildren who constitute the future.

(Source: Gerald A. Larue - humanismtoday.org)