Unlike existing freethought groups, Naturalistic Humanist communities will address a wide range of needs, and unlike traditional faith based and supernaturally oriented communities, they will empower participants and support the fullest expression of their human potential.
Without resorting to tactics that are inculcative, coercive, or inconsistent with its values, the essential components of Naturalistic Humanism can be conveyed in ways which meet a variety of participant’s non-intellectual needs. Connecting with people by meeting their non-intellectual needs can include sharing feelings through communication, sensitivity, and encounter-based exercises. Also included can be activities involving meditation, creativity, voice, breath work, music, and fun.
Naturalistic Humanist communities can establish two types of small groups — Naturalistic Support Groups and Experimental Zone Meetings.
Naturalistic Support groups, will provide peer support for adopting the naturalistic model and bringing the experimental mindset into our lives. The groups will increase metawareness — the understanding that, rather than having an ability to act contrary to cause, the way that we and others behave are the result of our determinants, as is true for everything that surrounds us. The meetings will also help participants recognize our natural inclination to cooperate, care, participate and contribute.
The Experimental Zone meetings will meet weekly and carry out several types of experimental activities — one involving meditation, another focused on interpersonal communication, an experiment in group creativity, a science experiment, and finally, an experimental activity just for fun. The groups will demonstrate how the experimental dynamic that lies at the heart of the scientific method can be applied to our lives. The meetings will be joyful and inspiring, setting an experimental tone for the week to follow, and will be an excellent entry point for becoming acquainted with the Naturalistic Humanist community.
An experimental mindset facilitates our becoming better at critical thinking, being playful, flexible, creative, more comfortable exploring the unknown, and open to sharing more of our knowledge and experiences. Once we become accustomed to experimental activities and the surprising results they produce, we will naturally desire more. The experimental culture of Naturalistic Humanist communities will facilitate our epic journey of becoming an increasingly experimental society.
Naturalistic Support groups and Experimental Zone meetings can be adapted for children. When introduced sufficiently early, Naturalistic Humanism can help children avoid becoming misanthropic, judgmental, and blaming themselves and others. Naturalistic Support groups for children would focus on developing emotional intelligence. Experimental Zone meetings for children will offer a variety of age-appropriate experiments to help children apply their natural curiosity and develop their experimental mindset.
In addition to Naturalistic Support groups and Experimental Zone meetings Naturalistic Humanist communities will offer support for major lifecycle events such as births, attainment of adulthood, marriage, becoming a parent, divorce, and death. Naturalistic Humanist communities will probably experiment with a variety of approaches to acknowledge or celebrate such events. Including components of Naturalistic Support in these events will lead to new and innovative developments.
Naturalistic Humanist communities will be a welcoming place to people with a wide variety of needs. Specialized Naturalistic Support groups could apply the Naturalistic Model to concerns such as child raising, alcohol or substance dependency, grief and bereavement, family, workplace and career, physical or mental illness, life transitions, senior-hood and senescence, crime or other anti-social behavior, and joblessness.
To a Naturalistic Humanist how we think about the human experience is the naturalism that matters the most. If someone resonates with the naturalistic model of human behavior, where they stand with regard to belief in a god or the existence of an afterlife is relatively unimportant. Naturalistic Humanism will welcome all allies.