The Dali Lama's Epiphany About Religion

The Dali Lama said today:

“All the world’s major religions, with their emphasis on love, compassion, patience, tolerance, and forgiveness can and do promote inner values. But the reality of the world today is that grounding ethics in religion is no longer adequate. This is why I am increasingly convinced that the time has come to find a way of thinking about spirituality and ethics beyond religion altogether.” - Dali Lama  9/10/2012 https://www.facebook.com/DalaiLama/posts/10151052842097616

I’m not going to speak on the first half of this statement, only the last; “This is why I am increasingly convinced that the time has come to find a way of thinking about spirituality and ethics beyond religion altogether”. 

This is not a new thought. There have been people saying this, in certain ways or another, for a very long time. People like David Hume, John Locke, Jeremy Bentham, Einstein, Galileo, Da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson and Hypatia to name a few. Hypatia was killed by a group of christians for what she thought.

“Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better than not to think at all.” - Hypatia

“Fables should be taught as fables, myths as myths, and miracles as poetic fantasies. To teach superstitions as truths is a most terrible thing. The child mind accepts and believes them, and only through great pain and perhaps tragedy can he be in after years relieved of them.” - Hypatia

Today we have the likes of Neil Degrasse Tyson, Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, Bill Nye, American Humanist Association, there are freethought organizations, Atheist groups, 99.9999% of the world's scientists saying things like this and then the late Christopher Hitchens and Madalyn Murray O'Hair, but the Dali Lama says it and a hundred thousand people piss themselves with excitement.

“The lifestance of Humanism—guided by reason, inspired by compassion, and informed by experience—encourages us to live life well and fully. It evolved through the ages and continues to develop through the efforts of thoughtful people who recognize that values and ideals, however carefully wrought, are subject to change as our knowledge and understandings advance.” http://www.americanhumanist.org/Humanism/Humanist_Manifesto_III

Don’t get me wrong. I’m glad this idea is possibly reaching people. I’m glad that what he said may have caused some minds to open and think.

“Life is an unfoldment, and the further we travel the more truth we can comprehend. To understand the things that are at our door is the best preparation for understanding those that lie beyond.” - Hypatia

“All formal dogmatic religions are fallacious and must never be accepted by self-respecting persons as final.” -Hypatia 

We’d be happy to welcome you, Dali Lama. This is not an exclusive club. Truly, the more the merrier. We’re not even a club. We are a group of people that have set our morals higher than any morals set forth by any sky captain. We are a group of people, Humanists, Atheists, Secularists, Skeptics and anyone that lives their lives doing good without the promise of reward or fear of punishment for their behavior. Self accountability.