Human Heartedness and the crisis of modernity

Humanists Australia is hosting a series of online talks exploring the human hearted approach to life. The first talk describes some of the social and economic problems that are generated by modernity, and explores some human-hearted solutions.

About Human heartedness: The core idea of human heartedness is that love, compassion and sympathy come from our inherent social potential, our human heart, not from an external source such as God, the nation, or pure reason. As a general term it can refer to any outlook which supports cultivating and building on our human pro-social capacities—such as our potential for compassion, love and friendship —as the key to developing meaning and fulfillment in life, and to building community. Thinkers as diverse as Mencius, David Hume and Charles Darwin have expressed human hearted ideas in the past. Contemporary research in neuroscience, psychology and evolutionary studies has confirmed that we are a social species for whom positive social connections are a crucial part of a fulfilling life.

Talk details:

Modernity has swept aside traditional values and replaced them with a world of unprecedented material wealth and political freedoms. It has also brought economic inequality, hyper competitive individualism, and a social system in which many people feel socially isolated - struggling to find meaning and community.
This existential emptiness of modernity is a major problem in its own right, contributing both to the phenomenon of rising rates of mental health issues as societies modernize, and the continuing phenomenon of people achieving higher incomes, yet remaining unhappy and unfulfilled, and seeking solutions for the emptiness of life. Solutions that can range from new age thought to celebrity worship.
But the existential emptiness of modernity also opens the door for ideologies from outside modernity: ideologies like hyper nationalism, revived religion, fascism and strong man worship, to step in and offer a highly risky trade off as a solution: These ideologies offer a sense of community and meaning to people in return for rejecting modernity’s program. In this way modernity’s existential emptiness generates a perpetual crisis and risk of warfare and oppression.
A more human hearted modernity can see us building systems based on realizing the best of our human social potential, rather than on hyper competitive individualism, and thereby focussing on opportunities for building community and fulfilling lives for all. Human heartedness is a secular evidence based approach which is confirmed by science. It is part of modernity, and can be part of the solution to many of modernity’s problems

Speaker:
Dr. Lyndon Storey is a long time humanist activist and a former President of the Council of Australian Humanist Societies. He has been at various times, a voluntary Humanist Hospital Chaplain and a voluntary Humanist University Chaplain.

Cost:
This event is free. Your donation to help keep these events going is greatly appreciated. Please make your donation here