Choice
Choice is a concept associated with freedom. Choice of religion, choice of occupation, choice of medical procedure. However, choice is too often seen as a concept dissociated from responsibility. Every adult choice should entail assuming commensurate responsibility for its consequences. Choice without responsibility is a whim or an impulse.
America's litigious culture is all about choices taken without commensurate understanding or commitment to responsibility for the results. A home buyer commits to a mortgage he cannot afford and blames the lender. A wealthy patient insists on radical plastic surgery and blames the surgeon for the unsatisfactory result, despite being told the possible consequences and limitations of the procedure. A person smokes for years and blames the cigarette maker for his cancer.
For some, freedom means freedom from responsibility. Freedom to choose, however, should only be encouraged by a society as long as individual choices are socially responsible from a scientific perspective. This is common sense.
Personal choices within a single life are healthy when they are accompanied by commitment and responsibility. Part of becoming an adult is taking responsibility for choices. Unfortunately, many young people in a prosperous society have a hard time making the transition from carefree child to responsible chooser. ""It's all good." is often a slogan for the indiscriminate and uncommitted.
Developing a personal practice is a process of making ongoing choices, day by day, with a sense of responsibility and mindful care. A humanist practice, I believe, entails making responsible choices which put humanist values into action in the moments of each day. Living in mindfulness is a choice in itself. It comes with its own responsibilities if it is to be genuine.
I often think of living a personal practice in terms of jazz. The consistency of my practice is the melody. The creative and spontaneous choices are the riffs, which relate to the melody but are not rigidly prescribed by dogma or absolutes. The resulting music is my life, for which I am ultimately responsible. I that music is pleasing to my own ear, then I am succeeding at living my values. If not, I need to work harder at it.
America's litigious culture is all about choices taken without commensurate understanding or commitment to responsibility for the results. A home buyer commits to a mortgage he cannot afford and blames the lender. A wealthy patient insists on radical plastic surgery and blames the surgeon for the unsatisfactory result, despite being told the possible consequences and limitations of the procedure. A person smokes for years and blames the cigarette maker for his cancer.
For some, freedom means freedom from responsibility. Freedom to choose, however, should only be encouraged by a society as long as individual choices are socially responsible from a scientific perspective. This is common sense. Personal choices within a single life are healthy when they are accompanied by commitment and responsibility. Part of becoming an adult is taking responsibility for choices. Unfortunately, many young people in a prosperous society have a hard time making the transition from carefree child to responsible chooser. ""It's all good." is often a slogan for the indiscriminate and uncommitted.
Developing a personal practice is a process of making ongoing choices, day by day, with a sense of responsibility and mindful care. A humanist practice, I believe, entails making responsible choices which put humanist values into action in the moments of each day. Living in mindfulness is a choice in itself. It comes with its own responsibilities if it is to be genuine.
I often think of living a personal practice in terms of jazz. The consistency of my practice is the melody. The creative and spontaneous choices are the riffs, which relate to the melody but are not rigidly prescribed by dogma or absolutes. The resulting music is my life, for which I am ultimately responsible. I that music is pleasing to my own ear, then I am succeeding at living my values. If not, I need to work harder at it.
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