Natural Humanists acknowledge the simple fact of life that, ‘to err is human’ [i]. They recognise that literally every human being makes mistakes, which can sometimes have very severe consequences, both for themselves and for others, and which may lead to deep regret, possibly for a lifetime.
Consequently, they try to never judge anybody negatively, because of any of the mistakes they’ve made in their lives, however serious the consequences might have been.
They believe strongly in compassion, sharing the Dalai Lama’s belief that true compassion towards other people, should never change, even if they behave negatively towards us, or hurt us, or hurt other people, or cause harm.
They believe, passionately, that nobody should ever judge any other human being, no matter how much others may choose to do so, until they’ve ‘walked a mile in that person’s shoes’.
Very importantly, they believe that, given the right set of circumstances and the right type of upbringing and life experiences, every human being is capable of the very worst types of human wrong-doing, but is also capable of the very best, and that all human beings, given the right nurturing and support, have the capacity for infinite love and kindness.
They acknowledge that some wrong-doing, is due to a natural human-drive to be competitive, and to act impulsively, which is part of our natural survival instinct, and causes us to focus on meeting our own strong human needs, rather than carefully considering the needs and rights of others, and all of the ways our choices and actions might negatively affect them.
They acknowledge that some wrong-doing, is due to an attempt to meet strong human needs, or to satisfy strong human instinctive drives and impulses, including anger, fear, hatred, hunger, or sexual desire, or is due to loneliness, or the strong human need for love and human connection, all of which are at the core of our humanity, and all of which can sometimes be intense, and dominate both our thinking and our behaviour.
Sometimes, we do things that cause harm, because we lack any knowledge or understanding that our life choices have the ability to cause such harm, and sometimes we do so because we’re deeply unhappy, so will do anything to try to increase the quality of our lives, even temporarily, and will try to ignore, or minimise, any potential negative consequences for other people, for other living things, or for the planet.
Natural Humanists avoid ever considering other people to be inferior to themselves, or to other people, because of the mistakes they’ve made, and avoid ever considering anybody to be incapable of positive change, or of learning from their mistakes.
They completely reject the idea that some people are ‘evil’, or beyond hope, and recognise that, given the right support, guidance, appreciation and opportunities, every human being is capable of making a hugely positive contribution to the world, and of being loved and valued for who they are.
Natural Humanists actively seek to crush any negative feelings towards any other human being, or towards any other group of the population, and it goes directly against their strongly held beliefs to ever degrade, humiliate or abuse another person. They believe that, without exception, every human being deserves acceptance, compassion and kindness and that every human being needs love.
They seek to fully understand the reasons for other people’s choices and seek to support them to become a better version of themselves, to learn from all of their past mistakes, and to feel fully respected and valued for any attempts they make to avoid future wrong-doing, and to live a positive and meaningful life.
They try to always ‘let bygones be bygones’, to always see people as they are now, rather than as how they were in the past, and to always avoid holding grudges.
They accept that, as soon as somebody has understood and acknowledged any harm that they’ve caused, and has shown a commitment both to avoid any future harm or wrong-doing, and to live a positive and meaningful life, their past should then always remain firmly in the past, and should never negatively affect the way that people view or interact with them in the present, or in the future.
They believe strongly that nobody should ever demonise or dehumanise anybody because of who they are, or what they’ve done, but instead should always seek to forgive, encourage, support, nurture, include and show love, kindness and offer acceptance and hope to everybody.
They believe no wrong-doing should ever be seen in isolation, so should always be seen in the context of all the positive things a person has done in their life, all the positive things they’re currently doing, and all the positive things they’re planning to do in the future.
They believe that nobody should ever be viewed superficially and that all human beings are whole and complex individuals, so should always be seen and valued as such.
Very importantly, Natural Humanists consider all human beings to be part of one global family, and believe, strongly, that ‘if one person fails, we all fail’. In other words, if we, as a society and global human community, find a way of satisfying every human need and genetic drive of every human being safely, throughout their life, including their need for love and appreciation, then they should never want, or have any need to do wrong, unless they have a mental health problem, or a significant intellectual impairment, in which case such wrong-doing is completely outside of their control, and they should never be harshly judged for it.
Natural Behaviour
Natural Humanists believe that society has a very strong moral duty to research, implement and carefully monitor, every conceivable way, of safely enabling every human being to satisfy every one of their needs and drives, as fully as possible, rather than just punishing people for the consequences of them being unable to legally and safely do so.
They believe that every human being’s wrong-doing should be considered evidence only of humans’ natural fallibility, and that, rather than criticising, punishing and abusing wrong-doers, they should be understood, supported and educated, to ensure that they don’t repeat their errors, or ever want to do so, and that they should be actively enabled to live a highly-positive and meaningful life instead.
Natural Humanists recognise the significance of the fable of ‘The Scorpion and the Frog’ [ii], which reads:
One hot day, a scorpion reached the shore of a river. He desperately wanted to be able to reach the other side, but, as he couldn’t swim, he asked a frog if she’d safely carry him across the water on her back.
The frog had been brought up to always fear scorpions, so was very reluctant to do as he asked, but the scorpion promised there was absolutely no chance that he’d sting her, not least because, if he did, they’d both drown. Reassured by this, after a lot of thought, the frog, very nervously, agreed.
Halfway across the river, the scorpion did indeed sting the frog, and, as she struggled to take her last breath, she asked the scorpion, ‘Why did you choose to sting me, knowing what the consequences would be?’, to which the scorpion replied, “Because it’s in my nature”.
Natural Humanists believe that all human beings have potentially harmful behaviours ‘hard-wired’ into them by their genes, and other behaviours that are central to who they are, because of their upbringing and life experiences, so nobody should ever be surprised when somebody acts in a harmful or negative way, that is absolutely ‘in their nature’, due to their natural human instincts, particularly when these instinctive drives are at their strongest, for example during times of intense emotional or sexual arousal.
Natural Humanists acknowledge all human beings’ humanity and seek not to judge any one of them for their past wrong-doing. Instead, they always try to make every human being feel respected, valued and loved, and try to encourage and enable all human beings to live their lives in the most positive and meaningful ways possible, while causing as little suffering or harm as possible, to other human beings, to other living things, and to the planet and its environment.
Natural Humanists believe in supporting everybody who is trying to ‘better themselves’ and believe in celebrating both their efforts and their achievements in doing so. They believe that they, personally, and society as a whole, have a strong moral duty to assist all human beings to make such positive changes to their lives, to discourage each other’s negative traits, to praise and celebrate each other’s positive traits and achievements and to genuinely value people for who they are.
Natural Humanists consider all other human beings to be their ‘brothers and sisters’, who should always be treated with kindness, understanding and respect, and always as their equals. Some Natural Humanists may choose to call other people ‘brother, ‘sister’, ‘bro’, or ‘sis’ to their face, not out of habit, but as a sign of love, oneship and acceptance, and to always great them with a smile, and a life-affirming hug.
Punishing Natural Behaviours
Natural Humanists are against all forms of deliberate abuse, harmful control, removal of important human rights and any form of degrading treatment or inaccurate and harmful ‘labelling’ of any human being, whatever the reason. An example of society and the State deliberately choosing to immorally abuse and harm wrong-doers is imprisonment.
Worldwide, there are hugely more men in prison than women, and hugely more boys in school ‘detentions’ than girls, because it’s absolutely ‘in the nature’ of boys and men to exhibit ‘toxic behaviours’, including aggression, violence and, importantly, risk-taking behaviour, as well as for them to be driven to seek out, and to have sex, all of which were vital in humans’ evolutionary history, were essential to our survival and the continuation of the human species, and allowed humans to evolve into the highly intelligent and compassionate species that they are today.
An individual person’s willingness, or drive, to take part in risky behaviours, which could cause harm, or lead to severe punishment, is significantly determined by their genes, genes that are involved in regulating neurotransmitters, particularly those that influence dopamine receptors in the brain[iii].
In other words, society deliberately punishes male human beings for being masculine, even though this is what nature ‘intended’ them to be. However, at the same time as doing this, society also constantly ‘grooms’ most men and boys to be ‘macho’, ‘butch’, determined and competitive and tolerates much of their natural toxic behaviour, believing that ‘boys will be boys’, and that not nurturing these toxic traits will make them into ‘less of a man’, will harm their opportunities and successes in life, and will lead to claims that they’re ‘sissy’ and ‘inadequate’, or believing that this will lead to them being less attractive to the opposite, or to the same, sex when it comes to relationships, which in most cases is unquestionably true.
Because of all of these things, many men and boys, both due to ‘nature’ and to ‘nurture’, become ‘toxic’ to other males, to females, and to society as a whole, as well as to other species of wildlife and to the planet. Society then punishes men and boys for the ‘monsters’ that society itself has made them into, and has rewarded them for being, by imposing such immoral and abusive punishments as imprisonment, which includes denial of family contact, removal of the right to vote and to travel and, for many prison-leavers, poverty and homelessness.
It’s because of male human beings’ natural and instinctive tendency to exhibit ‘toxic’ behaviours, that Natural Humanists believe it’s even more essential, that all members of society, and the State itself, constantly encourage, support and nurture boys and men to be ‘non-toxic’, and constantly reward and celebrate both their efforts to do so, and any positive achievements they make.
They believe that the State itself has a strong moral duty to research and implement every possible strategy for enabling boys and men (and all human beings) to meet every one of their natural drives and needs as fully and as safely as possible, without causing harm.
Despite many girls’ and women’s natural attraction to toxic ‘alpha males’, Natural Humanists try to always make friends and partners accountable for every toxic behaviour they exhibit and try to avoid ever ‘rewarding’ this toxic behaviour, for example with attention, affection or sex. They prefer, as much as possible, to only share these things with people who already live a life free from aggression, arrogance, insensitivity, selfishness and unkindness, or who show a genuine commitment to doing so.
Natural Humanists acknowledge that, as human beings, one of our greatest freedoms is over how we choose to react to things. We can either react to wrong-doing with anger, aggression, violence, hatred and contempt, or we can accept that no life choice or mistake is ever ‘unnatural’, and that the only moral reaction to wrong-doing is to understand, accept, and forgive, and to support and enable that person to ensure that their actions are never repeated. They believe that a person’s past should never poison our view of them in the present, and that we should always be fully open to supporting, nurturing and loving them in the future.
They believe strongly that, ‘to err is human’,[iv] but so is to understand, tolerate and forgive, and that nothing is more natural and more human than the ability and willingness to love.
Over 50 years ago, psychologists proved that not drawing attention to somebody’s negative behaviour, and, instead, rewarding positive behaviours, is far more effective at both reducing negative, and increasing positive behaviour, than harsh punishment of wrong-doing.
Despite this evidence, and despite the fact that this knowledge now successfully guides many schoolteachers, parents and childcare workers, these facts have not filtered through to the State’s chosen methods of implementing ‘consequences’ for adult wrong-doing, which are nearly always abusive, degrading, deny men, and boys, basic human rights and freedoms, and potentially cause long-term harm to the ‘wrong-doer’, and to their whole family.
Natural Humanists do not believe in the use of prison as a punishment, unless somebody breaks the law and chooses to accept prison as the ‘consequence’ of their crime, rather than choosing a less abusive and more worthwhile and beneficial consequence of their negative actions.
They believe that imprisonment involves the State and society deliberately, in ‘cold blood’, abusing, degrading and causing often permanent or long-term harm to wrong-doers and, even worse, causing significant harm to their families, who are completely innocent of any crimes.
They acknowledge that 60% of UK prisoners have children, whom the State deliberately and harmfully separate from one of their parents, or possibly their only parent, while they’re in prison. They acknowledge that, in some cases, this makes it necessary for any children to go into ‘care’, for the whole of their parent’s prison sentence, destroying these children’s family and home life, denying them love, affection and stability, and denying them the right to feel that they ‘belong’ and have roots, as well as putting them at risk of a wide range of social and mental health problems as a result.
Natural Humanists believe strongly that ‘two wrongs never make a right’, and that prison, and all other State abuses of its citizens, are hugely immoral, and should be replaced, permanently, with meaningful and worthwhile, if extremely lengthy, community sentences, with necessary supervision, including by Artificial Intelligence, G.P.S. and curfews, combined with mental health support, addiction support and psychological programmes which have been proven, unlike many existing Offending Behaviour Programmes in prisons, to prevent reoffending, or ideally one-to-one support, to facilitate meaningful personal change.
Natural Humanists believe that any person who has broken any decent, moral law, should have to make a very significant positive contribution to the world, for example, by having to do many years of highly beneficial voluntary work or charity fundraising without pay, but with all of their basic needs met, for example, for a very simple bedsit, simple food, clothing and essential toiletries and possessions, which are already provided to prisoners in most jails, and permanently wearing a GPS tag monitored by Artificial Intelligence, but with their family, who have not offended, so shouldn’t be punished at all, retaining full rights to visit and contact them.
Such community sentences can make a huge and highly positive difference to the person themselves, and to the world in general, for example, voluntary work, or charity fundraising or environmental improvement work, which can help to redress the balance of past wrong-doing.
Natural Humanists acknowledge that these more positive ‘punishments’ are far more likely to deter somebody who has broken the law, and caused harm, from ever doing so again, and to make them feel that their lives have meaning, possibly for the first time in their lives, and that living a meaningful life is something to aspire to. They therefore believe that, to continue to use prison as a punishment, when it’s been proven to be both harmful, and ineffective at preventing reoffending, is both moronic and inhumane.
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References
[i] Pope, Alexander. ‘An Essay on Criticism’ (Poem)
[ii] Wikipedia contributors. “The Scorpion and the Frog.” 19 May 2025. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 2 Jun. 2025. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Scorpion_and_the_Frog
[iii] Strawbridge, R.J, Ward, J, Lyall, L.M. et al. “Genetics of self-reported risk-taking behaviour, trans-ethnic consistency and relevance to brain gene expression”. Transl Psychiatry 8 (2018):178. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-018-0236-1. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41398-018-0236-1. Cited on: https://blog.lifedna.com/dna-blog/genes-and-gambles-deciphering-the-genetics-of-risk-taking/
[iv] Pope, Alexander. ‘An Essay on Criticism’ (Poem)