About me


I am a highly logical person, and I am a skeptic.  I believe in the ideal of doubt.  I believe in questioning everything.  And I think that asking a question is often more important than getting an answer.  The act of questioning implies that one is engaged, and not passively participating in life.  Joseph Campbell said (I’m paraphrasing here) that a dog may go through life without asking difficult existential questions.  That is the dog’s nature.  But if a human goes through life without questioning, then he or she is living a dog’s life, not a human’s life.

I was raised Protestant Christian, but only attended church occasionally as a child.  I rejected Christianity as a teenager partially because of the hypocrisy I witnessed, but also because I found serious philosophical objections with the teachings, the primary example being dualism.  And as a logical person, I have serious issues with accepting anything based on faith, tradition, or authority.

I believe that as beings capable of rational thought, we are morally obligated to use logic when trying to understand ourselves and the world around us.  I've identified as agnostic most of my life, and I have a deep passion for science and the scientific method.  That said, I recognize that the scientific community faces the same problems of dogmatism, traditionalism, and indoctrination as religious communities do.  Some years ago, I began to practice Buddhism.  Although it is an important part of my life, my views are not ultimately defined by it.

I value compassion and non-judgment.  These principles are taught by all major world religions, and they also align perfectly with an atheistic Humanist worldview.  I believe that what I can do to make the world a better place is to make myself a better person.  By leading a life of integrity and practicing kindness in my daily life, I hope to have a positive influence on those around me  And if I am lucky, that positive influence will create ripples and propagate into the larger world.

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