THE COURAGE TO BECOME

Paul Kurtz

(During the Second International Rationalist Conference, on 18 January 2000, Paul Kurtz received the International Rationalist Award - 2000 in appreciation of his outstanding contribution for liberation of human mind and freedom from religion. Accepting the Award, Paul Kurtz delivered the following speech.)

Thank you very much.

It is with great gratitude that I accept the International Rationalist Award -2000 given by the Indian Rationalist Association on behalf of the world rationalist movement. I shall cherish the award very much!

We use all those terms: rationalism, atheism, secularism, skepticism, freethought, humanism and we share common goals. But they all mean different things. And they focus on different parts of this great agenda that we have presented. The rationalist /humanist movement is very new, fifty years, perhaps a hundred years. Given the long history and traditions of religions and "isms", the newest kid. And we have a long way to go. But I am very optimistic about the future. I think the present growth of orthodoxy and fundamentalism is only a dying gas in one sense because the planet is being transformed. Education and literacy is now open to more and more people than ever before. Science is only four centuries old and one cannot damn or block freethought, free inquiry, and the quest for knowledge. It will take time, but yet the pace changes enormous in vast sectors of the globe. So I think in the long run and even in the immediate run that the human prospect is very good. And better than it has ever been before. Now, it is true that we are critics of the godmen, of the gods of the myths, of the "isms" - whether it is the secular-isms of the twentieth century, or the authoritarian theological-isms of history. It is true, we have them, and we are the leading critics.

We are surprised that there are not more critics of these obvious claims, I mean for example faith healing. The Catholic church only claims 64 healings, miracles. But over 100 million people have been to Lourdes. It is like winning a lottery – probabilities and chances. But there have been studies before and after the cases at Lourdes. And there is no clear case of an extra supernatural healing. And I think someone has to point that out. Scientists have been investigating faithhealing. This is the possibility of facts. Many illnesses are psychosomatic. But no non-natural. We are concerned with natural causes, natural events. We want to explain how and why things happen by using reason, science and evidence. And a miracle is only a substitute for our ignorance. When you don’t know the cause you would be driven to some divine source. You are misled by some fraudulent practitioners of the religion. And so we are the critics. We do not think there is evidence for god, so we are atheists. We do not think there is sufficient evidence for the existence of the soul, and so we suspend judgement. And that is well and good, and some one has to do that and we must do that. I think we have a role to play around the cutting edge of the New World that is dawning and rationalism and criticism is vital for human growth and development.

But there is another aspect that has not been emphasized sufficiently and I am sure rationalists and humanists believe deeply in this. And what I am referring here is not the negative but the positive reaches of rationalism and humanism. And in the last analysis that is the most important thing we can do. We can demonstrate that it is possible to live the good life here and now. What is the meaning of life? people ask. And our answer is: Life has no meaning in one sense. But it is full of meaning in another. Life is an opportunity, and it is pregnant with meanings. But the life that you live depends upon your choice. So, life is an opportunity. Every person's life is like a work of art. Monsieur Pecker is an artist and he is drawing in his hotelroom in the evenings. But that is life itself. You have the color and the tone and the shape of the form. It is true, you can be in poverty, you can be in a restricted, limited, authoritarian, repressive society. And this is why the humanists have said that another central virtue is not simply reason, yes it is all reason in unity with emotion as James Herrick has pointed out, but there is a second virtue and that may even be more basic. And that is courage. I emphasize courage! I think it is on the point to say that in India today, because so many religions talk about passivity and obedience and suffering and spiritual release, whereas the humanist says, since you have only one life to live, live it fully. There is a power in embracing humanism intellectually and emotionally. It is the power of humanism to release you from fear and trembling, from hesitation and indecision. I have used in a recent book I have written the term "the courage to become". Paul Tillich, the atheist Protestant theologian has talked about "the courage to be". But that is not a human adventure. We are not here to be, but to become, whatever we choose to be - inspite of all the forces against it. It seems to me that is the key humanist message today. That is why our "patron saint" is Prometheus, this mythological figure. We know it is a myth, we don’t accept it as true. And you read the great poem of Aeschylus so that men and women did not huddle in caves in fear and trembling. They entered forth to create a world of culture and of society. We are creative. We can create and it is for courage to do so. It is for courage to become what we want for each individual. Now obviously we live in a society and many societies are unjust, unfair, unequal, limiting freedom. And so we have an obligation, we have compassion for fellow human beings. And we want to work together to create a genuine community. What is the purpose of a community? So that we can achieve a significant, creative, joyful life. It is not escape from this life. It is the realization of the fullness of life. I have used the term "exuberance". I have been accused of optimism. But life is so bountiful with potentialities and enjoying sex, eroticism, the p leasures of living in itself is the good. What is the meaning of life is life itself. And that I think is the positive message of humanism that we want to take forth.

Why are we so angry at these repressive mythological religions that censure truth and define as wicked the things we find worthwhile. Why? Because they are the enemies of life, they are the enemies of men and women. So let us then recognize, the purpose of reason is not reason itself, the purpose of reason is to enable us to live a full life. And that message has not been sufficiently appreciated. Rationalist-humanism has a message for the future, for the 21st century and beyond. I think it is a liberating, ethical, scientific, and philosophical eupraxophy, namely, the power of living a full life is within the reach of every individual working with others, and that is the message that we should take forward.

Again thank you very much for the Award. I am feeling very very appreciated.