A precis of the talk given by Denis Cobell at the Bromley Humanist Group meeting in June, along with a recollection of Don Langdown by his grandson Pete.
A word about my title: coming from a Christian family I was familiar with many scripture texts. In St Paul’s epistle to the Hebrews (13:8), he wrote: “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today & forever”. I cannot make any assertion on the final word, but in taking a brief look at the past, then the present, it may be useful to look at prospects for the future. Einstein is quoted: “learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The most important thing is to not stop questioning”. Einstein is included in various volumes on the humanist approach to life.
Definitions must come first. Humanism has various interpretations. It is historically associated with the Renaissance, but today’s usage came in the latter part of the 20th century. However, ask a group of people who ascribe to the humanist philosophy, and you are likely to get as many different definitions as people you ask! In Nicolas Walter’s 1997 booklet on ‘the word’ humanism he reminded readers of Lewis Carroll’s ‘Through the Looking Glass & What Alice found there’ (1871) where Humpty Dumpty had said: “when I use a word it means just what I choose it to mean – neither more nor less”. I once suggested that you could say we are all born ‘humanists’: that is until parentage or place of birth assigns us to a religion.
But I must start with one view, which I think is fairly inclusive. ‘The Freethinker’ paper, published until 2014 on paper until it went online, invited readers to post their views of ‘humanism on a postcard’ – thereby limiting anything too long-winded. Our previous President of this Bromley Group, Barbara Smoker, included these words: “HUMANISM is based on the conviction that human experience is the sole source of man’s knowledge and of his standards of desirability and morality. So the humanist way of reaching conclusions and deciding on practical action is the ‘scientific method’ – that is, study of all the available facts rather than reliance on preconceived ideas.”
Today, humanism is experienced by many people through the ceremonies it provides for rites of passage: namings, weddings & funerals. There are ‘humanists’ in hospitals & prisons providing a role similar to that of chaplains. Humanism is on the syllabus of many schools. Groups, such as this in Bromley, provide fellowship of a like-minded community and interest for those seeking information.
In paying tribute to the late Don Langdown, formerly a great stalwart of this Group, we are looking to the future as indicated in the words previously written about him in our obituary post here and the memory from his grandson Pete (see below).
You can read Pete’s memories and reflections here:
Pete also included a poem Don wrote: “…as you may know Grandad was a keen writer and I found this in amongst some papers. It could have easily got lost but I kept it and framed it and is on my wall. I thought is was a beautiful sentiment and summed up again a lot of the sentiments of what it means to be a humanist.”
