When I come to Bethel, ME in August I want to:
1-have seafood alfredo and a Sunday River Pale Ale at the Sunday River Brew Pub
2-go for a hike on the AT with my friend Brad Chafin
3-See my friend Linda Howe
4-go for a long run at sea level
Everybodyis just waiting to hear from the one
Who can give them the answers
And lead them back to that place in the warmth of the sun
Where sweet childhood still dances
Whoill come along
And hold out that strong and gentle fatheris hand?
Long ago I heard someone say something ibout everyman
Waiting here for everyman–
Make it on your own if you think you can
If you see somewhere to go I understand
Iim not trying to tell you that Iive seen the plan
Turn and walk away if you think I am–
But donit think too badly of one whois left holding sand
Heis just another dreamer, dreaming ibout everyman
A primary concern with fulfillment, growth, and creativity for both the individual and humankind in general.
A constant search for objective truth, with the understanding that new knowledge and experience constantly alter our imperfect perception of it.
A concern for this life and a commitment to making it meaningful through better understanding of ourselves, our history, our intellectual and artistic achievements, and the outlooks of those who differ from us.
A search for viable individual, social and political principles of ethical conduct, judging them on their ability to enhance human well-being and individual responsibility.
A conviction that with reason, an open marketplace of ideas, good will, and tolerance, progress can be made in building a better world for ourselves and our children.
Critics often try to classify secular humanism as a religion. Yet secular humanism lacks essential characteristics of a religion, including belief in a deity and an accompanying transcendent order.
Secular humanism, then, is a philosophy and world view which centers upon human concerns and employs rational and scientific methods to address the wide range of issues important to us all. While secular humanism is at odds with faith-based religious systems on many issues, it is dedicated to the fulfillment of the individual and humankind in general.
To accomplish this end, secular humanism encourages a commitment to a set of principles which promote the development of tolerance and compassion and an understanding of the methods of science, critical analysis, and philosophical reflection.
It’s official: I’m registered for the Steamboat Springs Triathlon August 28, 2005.
I bought my bike today; it was the last thing I needed to begin training.
163 days until the event.
It’s the birthday of fiction and nature writer Rick Bass, born in Fort Worth, Texas (1958). He studied geology in college and started working for an oil company in Mississippi, prospecting for oil. He wrote a book about his experiences called Oil Notes (1988).
Bass and his girlfriend eventually decided that they wanted to get away from civilization, so he quit his job and they packed all their possessions into a pickup truck and drove to Montana. He said, “[We were looking for] a place of ultimate wildness, with the first yardstick of privacy: a place where you could walk around naked if you wanted to.”
They wound up in the Yaak Valley, and he published a memoir of his first winter there called Winter: Notes from Montana (1991). He wrote, “I can picture getting so addicted to this valley, so dependent on it for my peace, that I become hostage to it.”
He’s gone on to write many books of fiction and non-fiction. His most recent novel is The Hermit’s Story (2002).
“I used to think truth was eternal, that once I knew, once I saw, it would be with me forever, a constant by which everything else could be measured. I know now that this isn’t so, that most truths are inherently unretainable, that we have to work hard all our lives to remember the most basic things. Society is no help. It tells us again and again that we can most be ourselves by acting and looking like someone else, only to leave our original faces behind to turn into ghost that will inevitable resent and haunt us”
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