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"Why do you even get out of bed in the morning?"

This was the question asked of me by a man during a conversation about personal beliefs a number of years ago.  The gentleman I was talking with at the time was a devout, fundamentalist Christian who was also an activist in the Republican Party.  He also held dear to his heart the belief that "liberalism was a mental defect and those who perpetuated such a philosophy were sick."  I am not making this up--I have met such a person!

During the course of our conversation this man realized that not only was I a confirmed liberal (and a proud one at that) but that I did not hold a belief in God like the Christians, Jews, Muslims or Buddhist.  He seemed to be so shocked about my comfort level of disbelief in a supreme being that he raised his voice in an almost aggressive manner and said:  "If I didn't believe in God there would be nothing to live for.  I might as well go out and rob a liquor store and shoot the clerk just for the fun of it."

This statement speaks more about that individual's personal pathology than about living a good and honest life just for the sake of doing so.  If I had to live the good life because some big guy with a big stick up in heaven told me to, that wouldn't be much of a life worth living.  I would probably commit suicide if that were the case.  I have always and will continue to live the good life because it is the moral and ethical thing to do, and the advancement of the positive aspects of world civilization depends upon it.  This is what I would refer to as my higher calling.

Now back to the question of "Why do you even get out of bed in the morning?"  There are many reasons extraordinary and mundane that keep me going day after day, even when it seems like the entire world is coming apart at the seams.  The one extraordinary reason that gets me out of bed each and every morning is the hope of putting into practice during my day one of the higher humanist ethical principles like respecting others, doing no harm, self improvement, helping those in need, etc.  It is the same way of looking at life as did the character played by Jimmy Stewart in the classic film "Its A Wonderful LIfe."  Every word and action has som rippling effect on your personal world as well as the world at large for good or bad.  So if you have a chance to make the world just a little better--why not?

There are many mundane reasons also that get me out of bed each morning; it's a new day--anything can happen--that's very exciting; discovery of a new book to be read; having a new culinary experience; walking through my neighborhood and discovering new things and meeting new people; sitting on the porch after a thunder shower and smelling the damp sweetness around me; watching how happy my dog Clifford gets while waiting for his breakfast; anticipating the stories my wife will bring home from her work that day; and the discovery of colorful birds, insects and butterflies in my garden that I haven't seen before.

These are the things that get me out of bed every morning and no matter how ugly, nasty or brutish the world becomes, these will always be important enough to me to keep on going, to live life to its fullest and maybe, along the way, discover an extraordinary moment in time.

Look around today and you find many people without a clear vision of life.  They are easy to spot, whether on a commuter train, at the shopping mall, the local watering hole, or just walking down the street.  Most of these people might believe with all their heart that they have a vision for themselves, but if you press them on the issue what they really have is someone else's vision, be it a minister, politician, best friend, or whatever fashionable ideology that's making the circuit today.

In the summer of 1994 I was one of these people.  But certain things happened that year in my small and safe world which forced me to wake-up and smell the coffee.  I spent the next two years re-evaluating my entire life and questioning absolutely everything I was taught and believed to be true.  Some ideas were thrown out with the mental garbage while others were kept, but refined or adjusted.  By the end of this emotionally anguished and turbulent two year period I felt clean inside and like a new man.

I was feeling so much like a clean and re-furbished human being that I decided to sit down and start writing a personal vision statement for myself, less I forget the process I had just gone through, and not fall into a future trap of becoming a true believer all over again.  Writing this statement, after many false starts, took me almost a year to complete.  I always have this vision statement close at hand to remind me of what I was before, and re-read whenever I feel troubled about some great moral issue I see on the television newscast or read in a magazine or book.

A personal manifesto or vision to live one's life by is not necessarily a finished product that has already been implemented in one's life.  It is generally an idealistic goal to achieve, something to strive for, something to make one's daily life worth living, something to give hope, and something to base one's dreams upon.  It is something that needs to be sought after on a daily basis and sometimes has to be won and re-won each and every moment of the day.  After this being said my personal manifesto is as follows:

My personal philosophy of life is a system of convictions and practices offering a pragmatic skepticism as a method of inquiry, evolutionary Darwinism as a cosmic world view, naturalistic morality as a life ethic, and democratic pluralism as a social polity.  It is an integrative approach to living life to the fullest, leading to happiness, peace of mind, and a feeling of oneness with nature.

One of the greatest lessons I've learned in life is that a person needs a vision, something larger than themselves, or else they become like a rudderless boat on the stormy seas.  If one is to live life with any sense of meaningfulness, honor, and integrity, they must not only have the courage to be, but the courage to become in spite of it all.

And so my vision is this:  to live life as an unceasing meditation on a vision that is both personal and social.  The personal aspect is this:  devotion to the principle of universal respect, caring for what is noble, for what is beautiful, for what is gentle; to allow moments of insight to give wisdom at more mundane times.

The social aspect is this:  to constantly visualize and sustain in my imagination the society that needs to be created.  A society where we grow freely and in cooperation with the planet's ecosystem with reverant respect.  A society where the values of democractic pluralism, separation of church & state, and the right to privacy are held in highest esteem by all.  A society where people have access to the five necessities of life, which are, good healthy food, fair and just work, warm and safe housing, affordable health care, and time for an avocation.

My primary position on social action is one of total activism, an unswerving commitment to complete self and world transformation.  These things I ardently believe, and the world, despite all of its horrors, leaves me unshaken.

Everyone needs a book or collection of inspirational writings and one or more philosophical-intellectual-ethical role-models to reinforce their hopes and dreams for a better life and better world.The Christians have the Bible and their savior jesus Christ, the Muslims have the Koran and their prophet Muhammed, the Buddhists have the Buddhist Canonical Works and the many hero's that dominate that literature, and the Jews have the Talmud and their hero Moses.  My own collection of inspirational writings include Ernesto Cardenal's epic poetic masterpiece Cosmic Canticle and the Humanist Manifesto 2000.  My intellectual hero's are Bertrand Russell, John Dewey, Sidney Hook, Corliss Lamont, and Paul Kurtz.  My philosophical role-models are Socrates, Aristotle and Epictetus.

I have found that there is a downside to re-evaluating one's life, writing their own vision statement and attemting to live by it.  Many cherished and safe ideas and opinions I had prior to 1994 had to be dismissed.  And this dismissal came with a huge price of losing two good and dear friends.  In their minds I had sunken into a black and bottomless hole of unforgivable heresay, and they might have feared a sort of philosophical contagion by keeping in close proximity to me.  Another downside is the inability to accept without reservation membership in a political party or religious organization, however benign they appear.  The solution for me has been to cut all member ties with organizations in general.

I wouldn't advise anyone to go through the re-evaluation process I did unless they were willing to give up their moral, emotional and psychological safety net for a long time.There is nothing more horrible than waking up one morning and finding your glass completely empty, and then trying to figure out what to put back into it.  But if you survive the ordeal, without committing suicide, becoming a drug addict or mentally unbalanced, the consequences are indeed profoundly sweet.  You become a new human being, possibly a prototype.