Many of the ideas of humanism I agree with a lot. In fact, I believe man has accomplished many great things throughout history. Many things from Greek and Roman philosophy, science, and art. Inventions that have bettered our lives. Men like Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Leonardo Da Vinci, George Washington, Thomas Edison, the Wright Brothers, and on and on. There have been many accomplishments, achievments, and "wins" among humanity that we, as humans, can be proud of.
The internet, especially, has made sharing information quite easy. Tools such as search engines, chat rooms, blogs, online resource databases, even translation tools like Babelfish, have made sharing information across the globe possible, if not downright simple.
Pico Della Mirandola even wonderfully stated in "Oration on the Dignity of Man": "Imagine! The great generosity of God! The happiness of man! To man it is allowed to be whatever he chooses to be!" We are agents unto ourselves. We are free to choose our path. As is stated in the Book of Mormon by Lehi in 2 Nephi 2:27 "Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself." Man truly is great!
But, we must be aware, that if we are not careful, we may slip into Secular Humanism. When we drift into secular humanism, we begin to take God, the “Supreme Architect” as Mirandola called Him, out of the picture. In reality, what makes man great is his potential: as spirit children of God, we are endowed with divine potential. When we focus too much on what man has accomplished, we lose the true knowledge of who we really are. Humanism, in itself, is good, as long as we remember that all gifts and inventions we have received come from God through inspiration and bestowments of knowledge.
I couldn't agree more with your post. Man is inherently weak so that everyone has value to someone here on this earth. The words written on a stone carving in Scotland come to mind: "WHAT E’ER THOU ART, ACT WELL THY PART." When people start to think of themselves as great or without weakness, pride settles in and distorts the harmony around us.
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