Inspirational Beliefs of a Young Idealist is a wide-ranging selection of beliefs inspired by the appreciation of this life as we have come to understand it through science, philosophy, and literature. The beliefs constitute one young man's response to the lives we find ourselves in, where a pervasive amount of human behavior falls far short of our finest hopes and possibilities.
When the beliefs started to come to me, I was in my 20s and was initially surprised by them. But the more I considered them, the sounder they seemed. In time, I decided I had entered a new room in the mansion of the mind, and I vowed to light it up and see what was there. The initial draft was completed by my early 30s, but I continued to make edits and additions over the years.
I have found confirmation of the validity and relevance of my beliefs in the writings of leading Enlightenment and humanist authors, past and present. I would especially like to acknowledge Bertrand Russell, who provided my initial informed overview of human thought and continued throughout his life to stand for an intelligent and a fulfilling view of human life. I would like to note a particularly relevant quotation from his book, The Principles of Social Reconstruction: "New thought will be required ... the world has need of a philosophy, or a religion, which will promote life.... through the spectacle of death, I acquired a new love for what is living."
I would also like to acknowledge a number of other authors whose works are in the tradition of the Enlightenment and Humanism, particularly the contemporary ones dedicated to describing, not only what we cannot believe, while we maintain respect for human knowledge, but also what we can credibly believe. Since some of my thoughts may be in disagreement with theirs, I have decided it's more appropriate not to include their names.
My primary purpose is the hope that people who are seeking beliefs in agreement with modern knowledge will find my beliefs helpful, not to persuade those who hold other beliefs deeply.
