Labels

At a recent gathering of Humanists, I heard a presenter say, "Of course, Walt Whitman wasn't a Humanist." Whitman's poetry had been quoted by a Humanist in a project the speaker has been coordinating. This was a reminder to me. I was reminded of the reason I consistently refer to myself as humanist, with a small "h".

Walt Whitman may not have been a Humanist in the current philosophical jargon, but he was a humanist giant of his age. His words have always been an inspiration to my own humanist practice and my whole being. Like his English counterpart, Edward Carpenter, Whitman lived in pre-scientific, pre-technological world. Their respective mysticism was contemporary metaphor for what we now bluntly call Humanism, in my opinion. Applying "Humanist" as a label might come with more caution in circles of people trying to be humanist.

My own practice, based in mindfulness, is to avoid labels as much as possible. Exclusion is the enemy of love and peace. Labels exclude as much as they include. Offering harbor to some by erecting a label wall, rejects others whose minds may be open to your ideas.