In today’s world, 33% of the entire human population experiences loneliness[i]. Indeed, loneliness is a modern-day epidemic, which negatively affects our happiness and mental health, and also prevents people from contributing positively to other people’s lives and happiness.
Natural Humanists believe that human beings have a totally infinite capacity for love, that they can love, deeply and meaningfully, a large number of people in their lives, separately or at the same time, and that love has the potential to cause all concerned significant happiness and fulfilment. They share the Dalai Lama’s belief that, “Cultivating a close, warm-hearted feeling for others…is the ultimate source of success in life.”
They believe that, compared to traditional monogamy, polyamory is a significantly more ‘romantic’ life choice, as it involves a belief that love is one of the most important things in life, and that sharing it, widely, adds to the beauty of the world, and allows relationships to be controlled by love, rather than by laws, or society’s expectations, conventions or rules.
A true polyamorous Natural Humanist, knows beyond doubt, that there are already thousands, if not millions of people in the world whom, although they’ve never met them yet, they could very easily love very deeply, some of whom they may be sexually attracted to, and some of whom they won’t, but all of whom they’d love to share their time, their affection and possibly their naked body with, whether or not this involves any form of sex.
They gain a feeling of true joy from this knowledge, and remain open to connecting with all human beings, as a way of discovering who these people are, as they know it’s only by exploring beneath the surface, and seeing beyond the superficial, that we have the opportunity to see just how loveable a person is. To quote the band Hozier, Natural Humanists aren’t ashamed to “fall in love just…a little bit, every day with someone new”.
They share the belief of Anne Frank, who was murdered, together with her family by the Nazis, that we should all look at the beauty that’s around us and be happy, in other words, that we should notice all of nature’s beauty, including other human being’s physical beauty, the beauty of their personalities and the beauty of love itself, and that we should share and celebrate all of these things widely and freely.
Natural Humanists shun superficial relationships and believe that all people in romantic or sexual relationships, and all people in friendships, should always see and treat each other as their equals, and always with respect, kindness and platonic or romantic love and affection. They try to connect with all human beings on a deeper level, and may choose to generously share kindness, love and physical affection, with as many of them as they wish.
All Natural Humanists try to keep their hearts and minds wide open, throughout their lives, and believe that all human beings should try to remain receptive to genuine affection, from everybody who has affectionate feelings for them, and to never close their minds to the possibility of feeling love for them too in return, even if they’re not the ‘usual type’ of person that they’re physically or emotionally attracted to.
They believe that, just like with emotional pain,[ii] love demands to be felt. They therefore believe that no human being should ever resist their strong natural need to love deeply and widely and, instead, should always acknowledge, communicate and celebrate all forms of love freely.
They aim to make every relationship, throughout their entire life, as deeply loving, affectionate and physically intimate as both of them are completely comfortable with and to always be open to extending their circle of polyamorous partners and loving friends at any time.
They acknowledge that, if they’re polyamorous, no two human beings ever have to ‘tick all of each other’s boxes’, as long as a connection between them has the potential to bring some form of happiness to both of their lives, and as long as they respect each other’s boundaries, and always treat each other with kindness and respect.
They believe, strongly, in complete openness and honesty in all types of relationships, and believe it’s always very important, at an early stage, and throughout any friendship or relationship, to ascertain, and always fully respect, the level and types of affection and intimacy that the other person is comfortable with, or is ideally seeking, and to monitor any changes in this, as they both get to know, respect and connect with each other on a deeper level.
They believe that superficial relationships prevent both people from meeting their true needs, involve treating the other person as if they’re unimportant or valueless, and don’t allow people to truly be themselves, and to be valued for exactly who they are, so are a waste of their time and their life, and prevent them from focussing their attention and emotional and physical energy, on hugely more meaningful and beneficial activities and relationships.
Natural Humanists believe in setting no limits at all to the type and number of relationships that they have, believing in sharing love, physical affection, nudity and sensual or sexual pleasure with as many people as they wish, but always based on kindness and respect, and always with the full knowledge of the other people they’re in relationships with.
They believe that solitary pleasure is selfish, but they don’t deny themselves any pleasure or try to resist any temptation in life, if it can be shared lovingly with other people, and ideally with as many people as possible. In fact, they believe that the more opportunities for shared pleasure they can create during their life, the better, as this will significantly increase the amount of love and happiness in the world.
They avoid basing their decisions to initiate, or not initiate, new friendships or relationships, on stereotyped views of people of a particular age, gender, race, sexuality or social or cultural background, and consider everybody to be potentially loveable, or capable of bringing them happiness, or in some way expanding their mind or adding to their life.
They may choose to agree to meet all or most people who ever express an interest in them, even if this is only once or twice, so that they can both more accurately, and less superficially, assess their compatibility. They try to never consider any other human being to be ‘not good enough’ for them to share some of their time, kindness and affection with.
They recognise that polyamory is, arguably, a positive evolutionary development, in that it increases the opportunities to have sex and increase the human population, and therefore maximises the opportunities for evolutionary advancement, while also potentially maximising happiness, love, physical affection and sensual and sexual pleasure in the world, while hugely reducing loneliness.
Some evolutionary psychologists believe that girls’ and women’s ability to have multiple orgasms, may be due to the fact that humans are naturally ‘programmed’ to have multiple partners, not to be monogamous[iii].
Human beings are ‘primates’ and other female primates, like macaques and chimpanzees, who have sex with multiple partners, have orgasms, but, female Gibbons, who are generally monogamous, don’t seem to have orgasms at all[iv], so, in theory, multiple orgasms ‘reward’ girls and women for having sex with numerous people, thereby increasing the chances that they’ll become pregnant, and increasing the chances that they’ll produce offspring with new genetic variations, which could be beneficial for human evolution.
It’s also been suggested, that the shape of the tip (or ‘glans’) of a boy’s or man’s penis, allows one male partner’s penis to ‘pull’ another partner’s semen away from a female’s egg during sexual intercourse, increasing the chances that his own sperm will successfully fertilise that egg, which humans would only have evolved the ability to do, if our ancestors were originally polyamorous or ‘polygamous’.
Natural Humanists value the fact that, if humans choose to share physical affection, nudity or sexual intimacy with any, or all, of the people that they love, then all of these people can benefit from the joy that this can bring, rather than just two people benefitting, as in a traditional monogamous relationship.
Despite our infinite capacity for love, and the fact that love can bring true happiness to people’s lives, most human beings traditionally share their love with just one life partner, for the whole of their adult lives, and, in a different and possibly significantly diluted form, with family members and a small group of close friends.
Monogamy involves having just one romantic or sexual partner at a time, but Natural Humanists believein polyamory, which isalso known as ethical or consensual non-monogamy, which involves having romantic or sexual relationships with more than one partner at the same time, where everyone concerned is aware of, and meaningfully consents to practice, this non-monogamy.
In the UK, 19% of adults already openly identify as polyamorous, or non-monogamous, and polyamory is becoming increasingly popular[v], but many may lack the confidence or opportunity to have a relationship or sex with more than one person at the same time, wasting their potential to increase the amount of love and happiness in the world. In Africa, however, from where our human ancestors migrated, having more than one partner is a lot more common, particularly in West and Central Africa[vi],[vii].
Natural Humanists believe that polyamory is more morally responsible than monogamy, if only because it significantly increases the amount of love in the world, increases the amount of physical affection and sexual pleasure in people’s lives, increases the kindness, respect and feeling of being wanted and valued that people can experience, massively increases the chances that everybody who wants to have love, affection and sex in their lives can do, and because it reduces the existence of superficial relationships, which deny meaningful connection between human beings, superficial relationships which are required by, and are enforced by society, due to their belief that having multiple loving partners is somehow immoral.
They acknowledge that the ideal romantic life partner, may or may not also be the ideal co-parent, or the ideal sexual partner, and that it’s much more responsible to have more than one partner, to allow all concerned to meet all of their own and each other’s needs as fully as possible, rather than accepting the ‘one size fits all’ solution of monogamous relationships.
All Natural Humanists are polyamorous to some extent, so believe in sharing platonic or romantic love with multiple people and, consequently, they don’t feel the need to only ever choose the ‘best’ partner, and are, instead, open to having people in their polyamorous circle that they love for all sorts of different reasons.
They might love some people in their polyamorous circle for their kindness, compassion, fun-loving personality or intelligence, regardless of their gender, age, or sexuality, but might love others for their physical beauty, sexual attractiveness or sexual skill, and they might be open to sharing some degree of consensual love, affection, nudity and sensual or sexual pleasure with any or all of them, once, occasionally or frequently, without feeling ‘bound’ or constricted at all by what other people might consider ‘appropriate’ or ‘acceptable’, and regardless of how each of them ‘rates’ on superficial scales of attractiveness, or traditional scales of ‘compatibility’, and regardless of whether each one ‘ticks all of their boxes’ for an ‘ideal’ partner.
All Natural Humanists commit to never have any relationship, or share any nudity or sex, if this is illegal or likely to cause harm, but they believe that all laws should be amended, to allow all relationships, affection, nudity and shared sensual or sexual experiences, which are fully and meaningfully consensual, or are enthusiastically agreed to by those involved, and can be safely and legally enabled by a professional chaperone.
They also believe that we all have a duty to help each other to gradually improve our social, relationship and sexual skills, not only so that we can benefit from these improved skills ourselves, but also to allow the other person, and all of their other current and future friends and partners, to benefit from them as well.
Natural Humanists don’t believe that only people with strong romantic or sexual skills ‘deserve’ to share friendships, affection, relationships or sex with them, and acknowledge that we all have to start somewhere, and can all only become better versions of ourselves, if we both give and receive caring and constructive feedback, and show a willingness to change and improve, and to help other people that we care about to do the same.
Natural Humanists take love as their ‘default position’, when connecting with any other human being for the first time. They assume that somebody is loveable, and treat them lovingly, unless they discover that, for some reason, they’re not ready to receive their love at that point in their life.
They believe that they themselves, and every other human being on Earth, deserves acceptance, admiration and love for exactly who they truly are, and they don’t feel the need to compete for other’s attention or affection, believing that, to some degree, all of us should always be open to loving everybody who loves us, unless they demonstrate a lack of respect for and kindness towards us (or others), or seek to dominate our time and attention, or control our relationships with other people, or show an unwillingness to address toxic behaviours, which we’ve made them aware of, in a caring, supportive and non-judgmental way.
Natural Humanists recognise how much joy it brings to human beings, to share relationships, love, affection, nudity and intimacy with other people, and so they choose to completely ignore conventional morals and societal rules regarding love and sex. Instead, they open their minds to allowing other people (and possibly even everybody) to share this joy with them, as an act of kindness, and in recognition of our common human needs, and our huge capacity to increase happiness, if we choose not to be insular and selfish.
Natural Humanists acknowledge that some human beings are popular, or are considered to be physically attractive, but that some are not, and that those who are, will have their choice of the ‘best’ and most attractive partners, whereas those who’re not, may experience little or no love, affection or pleasurable intimacy, possibly for most, or even all of their lives.
Consequently, as an act of kindness, some polyamorous Natural Humanists may agree to ‘team up’ with a friend of a compatible sexuality, who is kind and loving, but is considered less physically attractive, or is less popular for some other reason, such as age or disability, and will agree that they will only share nudity and sexual experiences with partners who are happy to affectionately and respectfully share similar experiences with their friend as well, or at least full body erotic massage, either at the same time, or separately, in private, and either once or frequently.
Undoubtedly, Artificial Intelligence could allow people to find someone to team-up with in this way and could even match people so that every human being, statistically, has precisely the same access to pleasurable intimacy and human connection, at least once per week or month, allowing equality and hugely increasing happiness, while also allowing everybody’s latent abilities to love and to share pleasure to develop and to be fully utilised, for everybody’s benefit.
Natural Humanists acknowledge that any human being can give sensual or sexual pleasure and orgasms to any other human being, even if they’re not sexually attracted to each other, or even of ‘compatible’ sexualities, and that this is perfectly acceptable if both are happy to share such experiences, as a ‘one off’, or occasionally, or even on a regular basis, for example if neither of them have a romantic partner, but still want to enjoy sexual pleasure, and want this to ideally be with somebody they trust and care about, for example a friend, or even a family member who is capable of safely and legally consenting, and of legally taking part in these activities.
Each Natural Humanist is different, and always makes their own decisions, with some choosing to have just one life partner, plus one, two, or a very large number of additional polyamorous partners, with whom they both, as a couple, or separately, share love, affection and nudity. Some may choose to also have sex with one, many, or all of these partners, separately, or only ever together with their life partner, but others may choose not to have sexual contact at all, or may only share mutual or solo masturbation, or full body massages, or washing of each other’s bodies, or other specific naked activities or intimate acts.
During their lifetime, an individual Natural Humanist might practice different types of polyamory, at different stages of their life, or they may prefer, and only ever practice one.
One type of polyamory is ‘hierarchical polyamory’ [viii], where people have just one (or more) ‘primary’ partners, who they may choose to live with, have children with and may even be ‘married’ to, or have had a Natural Humanist ‘Loving Union’ ceremony with, with any such ‘primary’ partners taking priority over any person, or people, who are ‘secondary’ partners. This may, for example, involve a loving, committed couple being each other’s primary partner, but with one or both of them having one or more additional secondary partners with whom they share love, affection and/or sex from time to time, separate from, or sometimes or always together with, their primary partner.
Natural Humanists believe that all such partners should fully consent to all of each other’s partners and relationships, and any sex between them, and must also consent to, themselves, being classed as ‘primary’ or ‘secondary’ partners, as, to Natural Humanists, all humans have equal value.
Another type of polyamory is ‘non-hierarchical polyamory’ [ix], where every partner and every relationship may be unique and function differently, but is considered to be of equal value. This sometimes involves ‘polyfidelity’ [x], where all partners in that polyamorous relationship have agreed that they’re not open to starting new relationships, and instead wish to be faithful to each other, in which case they may have formed a ‘Triad’ (or a ‘Throuple’)[xi], where three people are all in a romantic or sexual relationship together, or a ‘Quad’ [xii], where four people are in such a relationship, with every person in that triad or quad being in a relationship with everybody else, or they may be a ‘Vee’ [xiii], where one person has two equal consensual romantic or sexual partners, but these two partners are not, themselves, in a romantic or sexual relationship with each other.
Another type of polyamory is ‘Mono-polyamory’ [xiv], where a polyamorous person forms a relationship with somebody who is monogamous, with the polyamorous person having more than one partner, but their monogamous partner having, and wanting to have, only one partner, with whom they have a romantic relationship and/or sex.
Natural Humanists believe it’s even more important than normal for any such monogamous partner to fully consent to such a relationship, and believe that such a partner may experience jealousy, or feel under-valued, and so this type of relationship should only be entered into with great caution. They believe that this monogamous partner’s wishes and preferences should always be sought, including when considering starting a new relationship with any new polyamorous partner, and that they should always be made to feel genuinely valued, and should be having all of their needs for love, affection, respect and sex met fully.
One type of polyamory that Natural Humanists choose not to practise is ‘solo-polyamory’ [xv] where, regardless of whether somebody is single or in a casual or committed relationship, and regardless of whether they live alone or with a partner or partners, the main focus of their major life decisions is themselves, rather than their partners and their relationships. Natural Humanists consider such relationships to be selfish, to be based on arrogance, and to involve not giving partners the respect that all human beings deserve, while missing an extremely important opportunity to make other human beings feel loved, valued and respected.
Some Natural Humanists might be open to sharing their partner fully, with one, two, three, or an unlimited number of people or couples, with both taking part in mutual polyamorous loving, affectionate and sexual relationships or experiences with the same people, together, as a couple, at the same time, or they may have agreed, in advance, to them each sharing such experiences separately, and at different times, with the same members of their shared consensual polyamorous circle.
For others, with some partners, they may choose not to share any sexual contact with each other at all, but might happily allow those partners to see them naked, or bathing, or masturbating or having sex, and some other couples might happily allow another couple, that they care about and respect, to make love to each other, or to masturbate, in the same room as them, but with no physical contact between the two couples, just because it’s fun, exciting and helps to bond them over a shared experience, even if they’re not sexually attracted to that couple, but genuinely care about them, and enjoy making them happy, and sharing fun and liberating experiences together.
Some other Natural Humanists may choose not to have a life partner at all, and may choose, instead, to share love, affection, nudity and/or sex with a large number of people who they care about and respect, either separately, or together, throughout their lives.
What is crucial to Natural Humanists, however, is that all polyamorous relationships are based on openness and honesty (no secrets and no lies, ever) and are based on mutual respect, affection and on making each other, not just themselves, happy. They’re against all forms of deliberate abuse and coercive control, and any behaviour which degrades another person.
Natural Humanists believe that all human beings have value, so they prefer to avoid any superficial sexual relationships, which degrade, or fail to value, or meet the emotional or sexual needs, of one or more of those involved. They believe that all sexual and romantic partners should be treated as an equal, and with kindness, decency, affection and respect.
They discourage each other from taking part in sexual encounters that are purely for short-term superficial physical pleasure, preferring sex to lead to meaningful friendships or loving relationships, and they believe that all sexual experiences should cause physical and/or emotional pleasure for all involved, as well as providing a fun and pleasurable way to build meaningful and mutually beneficial relationships with one another.
To Natural Humanists, being polyamorous affects all relationships in their life. They’re always driven to increase the openness, honesty, and trust, in all friendships and relationships, and they try to connect with all human beings on a deeper level, and to generously share kindness, love, physical affection, emotional intimacy, happiness, fun and pleasure, including, when appropriate, sensual or sexual pleasure, with as many people they respect and care about as possible.
They ask themselves, with each person in their life, “how can I make this person happier, feel more valued, respected and celebrated for exactly who they are as an individual, feel more loved and wanted, feel special, and share true happiness, love and fun with them”.
They go directly against the norm, in that they start every type of friendship and relationship with the intention of making it as open, honest, strong, deep, loving, affectionate and physically intimate as possible, whenever this is appropriate, and they only hold back from any of these things, if there is a good reason to do so.
Not deeply connecting with each of the people in their life is often the exception, not the rule. They try to avoid putting up barriers and try to let everybody into their heart and into their lives. As naturists, they may happily share consensual nudity with everybody they know, regardless of whether they’re sexually or romantically attracted to them, and regardless of their sexuality and gender.
Natural Humanists reject the tradition amongst heterosexuals, of the male asking the female on a date, and of females avoiding ever doing the same to males. They believe that, instead, whenever it’s safe to do so, all human beings, of all genders, ages and sexualities, should always let every other human being to whom they have any type of platonic, romantic or sexual attraction, know exactly how they feel, as soon as they first start to have these feelings for them, even if they haven’t met before.
They do not believe that somebody has to be part of their existing social circle, or know people that they know, to be ‘worthy’ of sharing their time, or getting to know them, or, potentially, forming relationships, or sharing mutually consensual intimacy with them. They believe that everybody has this right, if both of them are comfortable with this, and both of them are respectful of each other’s wishes, preferences, needs and personal limits and boundaries.
Natural Humanists believe that we should all actively try to create a world in which, with the help of technology, every human being on Earth knows about hundreds or thousands of people who genuinely like them, or are romantically or sexually attracted to them, or would be happy to spend time with them, or share leisure activities, hugs, or even a communal home, so that nobody is ever lonely, and everybody can ‘spread the love’ and connect with people who care about them and want them in their life, including those who are happy to share hugs, or kisses or nudity, or various types of sensual or sexual pleasure.
They believe that, without exception, every human being, as well as using such a system to find out about who’s attracted to them, should also use it to inform every single person that they have the slightest attraction to, about how they feel, so that everybody’s feelings are fully out in the open and everybody knows that they’re wanted, respected, valued and loved. They believe that, in comparison, the monogamous tradition of only being honest about our feelings to just one person, and of males doing the ‘chasing’ and females waiting to be ‘chased’ are toxic, disproportionately benefit the most physically attractive and popular people, and prevent every human being from feeling wanted, and from utilising their natural capacity to love widely and deeply.
They share the Dalai Lama’s belief that, “great love and great achievements involve great risk”, and believe that we should all tell everybody, that we like or love, exactly how we feel about them, even if we’ve never met them before, and even if we feel that they won’t feel the same about us, so that everybody who is potentially ‘compatible’ can have the opportunity to meet, and increase their loving polyamorous circle, with everybody happily and non-judgmentally receiving these messages, no matter who they’re from.
Natural Humanists fully accept that all human beings have the right to have deep feelings of love or sexual attraction to any other human being, regardless of whether these feelings are mutual, and they avoid ever criticising anybody for having such feelings for them, or for telling them about their feelings, even if the attraction isn’t mutual.
They believe in always being open to sharing meaningful friendships, or mutually-consensual romantic relationships, and, if they’re comfortable with it, physical affection, natural nudity or some form of sensual pleasure or sex, with anybody who makes them aware of their own interest in them, even if that person is not of a ‘compatible’ sexuality, or is not of the age, background, or physical appearance that they’re usually attracted to, as they believe in always keeping an open mind and ‘heart’, and considering every other human being to be their equal, and never considering that some human beings do, and some human beings don’t, ‘deserve’ to be with them.
Natural Humanists value all loving relationships and all loving commitments made between human beings, but they do not value traditional monogamous marriage, which, historically, is about actual ownership of both women and children by men, which is enforced by law, and is about control by the State and/or the church or other religious organisations, and also by brides and grooms themselves, of their romantic and sexual freedom, and is also about a financial contract, rather than being exclusively about celebrating the love and unique individual personal commitment between two or more people.
Natural Humanists acknowledge that marriage was, and in some countries still is, about ownership of a spouse, “to the exclusion of all others”, and goes against Natural Humanist beliefs in freedom, equality and polyamory.
Until 1870, in the UK, all of a woman’s existing wealth and possessions, and any money she would ever earn, became exclusively her husband’s property when they married[xvi] and, until 1889, a wife, herself, also became her husband’s physical property, as did any children they ever had together[xvii] and, in the UK and many other countries, laws gave married men the right to control, physically beat and sexually assault both their wives and their children, who were all considered to be their physical ‘property’.
They acknowledge that, even today, marriage is about the control of people’s morality and romantic and sexual freedom, by both each other and by the State, and that marriage allows the State to infantilise adults, deciding who they can and can’t marry, and what types of relationships it considers to be moral or acceptable, and preventing polyamorous marriage, as well as continuing the traditional belief that having children outside of marriage, or as part of a polyamorous family or community, is immoral.
They acknowledge that this infantilisation extends to restricting if and when a marriage can end, with divorce having been illegal until 1996 in Ireland[xviii], a country where, disgracefully, the rape of a woman by his wife was legal until 1990.[xix]
Natural Humanists acknowledge that marriage gives the State immoral power and control over the private lives, behaviour, morality and freedom of citizens and, in many countries, the State prevents all marriages that are not between a man and a woman, all consensual marriages between family members, all marriage by divorced people, any marriage to somebody who already has a spouse, which prevents formal loving union of polyamorous people, and all marriage to people under 18, which is well above the age at which they’re legally considered to be able to fully consent to sex.
They acknowledge that marriage is a form of state-promoted control of one person by another person, with each denying the other the moral right to love, have sex with, or have children with anybody else, ever again.
They acknowledge that the State has historically coercively controlled the population, including by giving financial incentives to those who conform to society’s norms, such as tax-breaks for married couples[xx], but denying these to anybody whose sexuality or relationships the State didn’t approve of, including people who were the ‘wrong’ age, gender or sexuality.
They acknowledge that, historically, marriage has reinforced the duty of brides to be virgins, the duty of couples to ‘consummate’ their marriage, by having sexual intercourse[xxi], and the duty of women to meet their husband’s sexual needs, throughout their lives. They acknowledge that, even today, worldwide, this is still a requirement in some cultures, something which has been linked to despicable ‘honour killings’ of women, who were suspected, but not proved, to have not been virgins when they consummated their marriage[xxii]. According to Amnesty International, sex outside marriage is still punishable by death in some parts of the world[xxiii] and, in Yemen, it’s even illegal for a wife to go out of the house without her husband’s permission[xxiv].
Natural Humanists acknowledge that, historically, the legal requirement, or societal expectation, to ‘consummate’ a marriage, and for a wife to always meet her husband’s sexual needs, before contraception and abortion became widely available, meant that many women were required to endure unwanted pregnancies[xxv], and to become mothers, often to large numbers of children, against their will, for example 10 or more children was not uncommon in the UK until 100 years ago.
They acknowledge that marriage has traditionally reinforced the social obligation of wives to be child-carers and ‘housewives’, and to prioritise their husband’s job and career over their own[xxvi], and that, even today, wives do more of the childcare, housework and cooking, and also earn less money than their husbands, which can make them dependent on their husband, and even cause them to remain in a marriage to ensure their continued financial security.
They believe that, in many cases, marriage is a well-intentioned lie, in that people promise to be romantically and sexually faithful to their spouse, for life, but a significant proportion end up having secret extra-marital affairs, and they also promise to be married for life, but, in recent decades, divorce rates almost reached 50% of all marriages in some countries[xxvii].
To Natural Humanists, traditional marriage involves an unhealthy materialistic need to ‘own’ another person, and to prevent anybody else from ‘sharing’ them, and is based on capitalist attitudes and behaviours, including people placing a ‘value’ on both themselves and their prospective partners and only allowing romantic or sexual ‘transactions’ with people of matching or higher ‘value’.
They object to vows in traditional Christian marriage ceremonies like, to be ‘true only to him/her’ and that their relationship should be ‘to the exclusion of all others’, both of which go directly against Natural Humanist beliefs.
Natural Humanists are supportive of anybody who has any type of loving relationship and any type of sex, as long as these are always mutually pleasurable and meaningfully consented to by both (or all) people concerned, who have a clear understanding of what is involved and of all of the alternatives that are available to them. They’re against any form of marriage, that denies any human being, the absolute freedom to love, share physical affection and sex, develop romantic relationships and have babies with anybody, and with as many people as they wish, without negative judgement.
Natural Humanists recognise that marriage didn’t exist at all, for 99.5% of our own human species’ history, and, in the UK, didn’t exist until about 500AD, when the main religion in the UK was paganism[xxviii]. Even right up to 1140, the main reason for marriage was money and security. Then, in 1543, King Henry VIII required his son Edward VI to marry Mary, Queen of Scots, who was just 7 months old at the time[xxix], and, in 1549, Thomas Cranmer, a former Archbishop of Canterbury, wrote the Church of England’s first wedding vows, which are very similar to those used today[xxx] and, from that point, marriage gradually changed from being about a contract to provide security, wealth and power, to being about mutual love[xxxi].
All marriages had to take place in the Church of England, until, in 1836, non-religious marriage was legalised in register offices[xxxii]. At that time, anybody could marry a girl if she was at least 12 years old, or a boy if he was at least 14 years old, if their parents consented[xxxiii], and consummation of the marriage (sexual intercourse) was both legal and expected, from the day of the marriage onwards[xxxiv], until 1929, when the law changed to prevent the marriage of those under 16[xxxv]. It wasn’t then until 2005, that ‘civil partnerships’ between same-sex couples were legalised[xxxvi] and then, from 2014, same-sex couples could have State marriages in England and Wales[xxxvii],[xxxviii].
Today, in the UK, according to the Office of National Statistics, 42% of marriages end in divorce, usually within the first 10 years of marriage, but the risk of divorce is even higher if one person has been divorced before, and is higher still, if both have previously been divorced[xxxix].
Some couples, some people in polyamorous relationships and even some entire polyamorous circles or Natural Humanist communities, may choose to have Natural Humanist ‘Loving Union’ ceremonies and celebrations. Natural Humanists believe that these ceremonies should celebrate the love between those concerned, their commitment to each other, which is personal, and in no way prescribed or controlled by the State, or any religious organisation, and their commitment to celebrate the person or people concerned, and to support their romantic and sexual needs, and their life goals, including, where appropriate, their wish to be polyamorous, either always together with that person, or those people, in shared relationships, shared sexual experiences and possibly shared co-parenting of any future or current children, or, if they both (or all) prefer it, then with some or all of these relationships being separate from that particular relationship, and with all, some or none of these relationships including loving sex.
Natural Humanists believe that all such ceremonies should involve a commitment to always treat each other with equality, respect, kindness, tolerance and understanding, to always try to be fully open and honest with each other, and to support each other to live a life that’s, as much as possible, in line with their shared Natural Humanist beliefs, and that they should be jointly committed to share these beliefs with any children they raise.
Some Natural Humanists may choose to have children with one or more of their life partners and/or with other polyamorous partners that they do or do not live with, whereas others may choose not to have children at all.
Some Natural Humanists who are particularly ‘broody’ and therefore have a very strong drive to become parents, may choose a small, or even a large group of people who they love and respect, who love children, but prefer not to add to the already excessive world population, to actively and lovingly co-parent any children they conceive naturally, as one large ‘family’.
Some Natural Humanists may choose to live in a dedicated Natural Humanist Community, consisting only of their own polyamorous partners, or in a Natural Humanist Community, shared with some people who are not their polyamorous partners, but either way, they may choose to share parenting of all or some of their children with other (or all) members of that community, as one ‘extended family’.
Natural Humanists acknowledge that one of the most joyous experiences in life, is being able to witness our own children’s smiles, laughter, hugs and kisses, and watching each of them grow, develop, become independent and form their own unique personality and individuality. They acknowledge that shared or community parenting, allows numerous people to share these joyous experiences, every day, throughout that person’s childhood, and allows large amounts of people to fill that child’s life with love, affection and kindness, and to nurture, support and protect them, and make them feel loved, valued, and an important part of a community.
Whatever decision they make on parenting, Natural Humanists believe that all children should be brought up as Natural Humanists, until they reach an age where they’re capable of making up their own mind about what they do and do not believe.
They also believe in teaching all children about the basics of other religions and guiding philosophies, as well as about atheism and agnosticism, both to prevent ignorance of, and prejudice towards other faiths and lifestyles, and to allow children to come to their own conclusions about their own beliefs as they mature, with no pressure put on them to remain Natural Humanists at all.
They share the Dalai Lama’s belief that, “We can live without religion…but we can’t survive without human affection” and they try to ensure that their children feel deeply loved, valued and respected throughout their lives.
They believe it’s perfectly acceptable for children to be brought-up to share their parents’ beliefs, but feel that grooming any child to believe that every one of their own thoughts, feelings and actions are being ‘watched’ and ‘judged’, by a non-existent supernatural, omnipotent being, who will potentially punish them, possibly after death, as a result of the things that they think, do, or don’t do, is a completely unacceptable form of life-changing child abuse, which is likely to affect the whole of that child’s life, even if there is no intention to abuse or to do harm.
They recognise that such a groomed child, even if they cease to believe that such a being exists later in their life, is likely to still occasionally try to prey to, or to ‘come to a deal’ with such a non-existent being, in times of extreme stress in their life, for example, when a loved one is severely unwell, because of fear that that being might indeed exist and that they, themselves will be ‘responsible’ for anything that happens to their loved one if they don’t prey, or that prayer somehow has the ability to change the natural course of events, which Natural Humanists are certain it does not.
Love, Care and Intimacy
Natural Humanists believe that sex is in no way a ‘human need’, but instead is a powerful genetic drive, which, in our species’ history, has been essential to ensure the continuation of our human species, and has enabled us to evolve into the hugely intelligent, compassionate, knowledgeable creatures that we are today. However, they believe that now, we live in a hugely over-populated world, which has no need at all for prolific human breeding, and so Natural Humanists believe that we should all share much more love and have much more loving, affectionate and orgasmic sex, but that we, as a species, should hugely cut down on the conception!
This is because, today, there are roughly 2000 times more people on Earth than there were 12,000 years ago, when the entire world’s population was around 4 million, less than half the current population of London![xl] Even as recently as 1800, when many people were expected to die in their 20s, the world’s population was only about 1 billion, but this increased to 4 billion by 1974, and has now more than doubled again, to 8.2 billion, which is almost 7.5% of all the human beings that have ever existed on Earth[xli], and, today, average life expectancy has shot up to 73 years old, or even much higher in some areas!
Natural Humanists recognise that, as well as fuelling a population explosion, our strong instinctive drive to have sex, can lead us to form relationships with people who are less than ideal for us, and are less than ideal as co-parents to any children, and, very often, it can instinctively drive both girls and women to form relationships, and create new families, with men with toxic human traits, that are not only unnecessary in today’s world, but are inappropriate and even toxic, like aggression, arrogance and vanity, which can go on to ‘infect’ their offspring.
In contrast to this not always beneficial genetic drive to have sex, which our bodies ‘reward’ us for taking part in with pleasurable orgasms and sensual pleasure, Natural Humanists believe that love and affection are very strong and important human needs, that all of us have a strong need to satisfy, in order to be truly happy and fulfilled.
They believe that, in the context of loving friendships or relationships, sex is a truly wonderful way of sharing love, kindness, affection and emotional and physical pleasure. They believe it can help to build and strengthen the mutually beneficial bond between two or more people and that gentle, affectionate sex is always moral and decent, if those involved are capable of meaningful and informed consent, for example, if they’re not intoxicated, or if they can be safely and legally enabled to take part, with support from a highly knowledgeable and skilled, fully trained and registered chaperone, who knows the person well.
Some Natural Humanists, because of their belief in polyamory, or in naturism, or both, may choose to share sexual or non-sexual nudity with everybody who ever wishes them to, believing that refusing somebody’s request to share mutual nudity is a sign of arrogance, and of believing themselves to be superior to that person, and to that person not being ‘good enough’ to see them naked.
Others may choose to only share nudity with people they trust, respect and feel safe and comfortable with, regardless of whether they’re romantically or sexually attracted to them, and may also happily bath or shower with other people, or wash each other’s bodies, as a caring act of kindness, as a way of totally eliminating unnecessary barriers between each other, as the ultimate sign of openness and honesty, and as a sign of each other’s true equality, as well as for the sensual pleasure of human touch.
Natural Humanists recognise that, for a parent, bathing their baby is one of the most caring, protective, loving, and bonding experiences that they can share with them, and some Natural Humanists feel that human beings of all ages can also gain huge emotional benefits from carefully and lovingly washing each other’s whole bodies, regardless of any sexual attraction to each other, regardless of each other’s sexuality, and regardless of whether they’re each other’s friend or romantic or sexual partner.
They recognise that this can help to strongly bond them emotionally, can help them to nurture deeply caring feelings for each other, and to develop a deeper connection to each other’s true selves, while also totally abolishing all unnecessary and restrictive barriers between them, that might prevent them from having the closest and most mutually beneficial friendship or relationship.
Historically, the Ancient Greeks used to bathe naked in communal baths and showers, inside large communal gymnasiums, and indeed, the Greek word ‘gymnos’ actually means naked[xlii]. The Ancient Romans also had public baths, where people bathed naked together while socialising[xliii], and, in Japan, people bathed together in public bathhouses from the 1200s, and in communal steam baths from the end of the 1500s, where men and woman would bathe naked together, right up to the 1800s or even 1900s, and where people would sometimes be assisted to wash their hair and their backs[xliv].
There was also communal bathing in Mediterranean countries, and in places like Constantinople (Istanbul), Paris and Naples, but many European bathhouses eventually closed down, partly due to the Protestant Church’s immoral prohibition of nudity[xlv]. In the 1800s, the Ottoman Empire had large public bathhouses, and also modern public bathhouses started to open throughout Britain from 1829, which had lots of individual bath-tubs in one large communal room[xlvi].
To many Natural Humanists, occasional, frequent, or even daily, shared or communal bathing or showering, and in some cases consensual washing of all or part of each other’s bodies, is a powerful way of caring for other human beings, of demonstrating kindness, absolute openness, equality, and acceptance, of shunning materialism and enforced modesty, of demolishing barriers between human beings, and of celebrating the ‘oneness’ of humanity, and the beauty and variety of nature, and is also a way of connecting with each other’s true, natural selves, while enjoying the sensual pleasure of touching, and being touched, either just with one or more romantic or sexual partners, or with friends, family members, other Natural Humanists, or even consenting strangers.
For some, this is a way of demonstrating that no one person ‘owns’ our bodies, or has the exclusive right to see or touch us naked, such as a partner, and that these rights can be extended to anybody, or to everybody who consents, and is capable of consenting, or being safely enabled to take part, and is also a way of demonstrating that each person cares deeply about the other’s welfare, including their health and cleanliness, and about their happiness, including their sensual, but not necessarily sexual, pleasure, and of not keeping any secrets from each other, like hiding stretch marks or ‘love handles’.
They consider providing such intimate personal care to be an act of deep love and kindness, which they believe that all human beings deserve, regardless of whether it’s from a romantic or sexual partner, a friend or member of that person’s community, or even a consenting stranger. They believe that loving kindness should be their ‘default’ behaviour towards all human beings.
They also believe in complete openness and honesty, in all friendships and relationships, and in always ensuring that everybody they like, everybody they admire, everybody they love, and everybody that they’re sexually attracted to, knows about their feelings for them, from the very moment they first start to have these feelings.
They’re open to friendships with people who are sexually attracted to them, and possibly to shared nudity, even if they themselves aren’t sexually attracted to the other person, but do love them, value them and respect them as a friend, and even if they have ‘incompatible’ sexualities, for example a lesbian woman with a straight woman, but believe in setting clear ground-rules for such friendships, including about any shared affection or nudity.
They may choose to have a friend with such an ‘incompatible’ sexuality, or a friend that they’re not sexually attracted to, within their polyamorous circle, even if any romantic love or sexual attraction is only one-way, if they believe that doing so will make the other person happy, or any of the other people in their polyamorous circle happy, as an act of kindness, and may agree to share nudity or intimacy in a variety of specific, pre-agreed, mutually consensual ways.
For some Natural Humanists, the priority is creating as much happiness, fun and pleasure as possible, and liberating themselves, and each other, from society’s rules and conventions. For example, more than two people may choose to share affectionate sex together, even if all of them don’t ‘fit into’ each other’s sexuality.
An example of this could be a straight man, a lesbian woman, a bisexual man and a bisexual woman, all having sex at the same time. Each of them may choose to only perform sexual acts with the partner or partners who are compatible with their own sexuality, but they may still happily have sex in front of those who are sexually ‘incompatible’ with them (and allow those people to do the same in front of them).
They may all be happy for the others to have sex with their ‘compatible’ partner whenever this fits in with that partner’s sexuality, for example the lesbian woman allowing her bisexual female partner to have sex with the straight man in front of her, and they may all be happy to masturbate in front of each other, and possibly even to perform certain specific intimate acts with people they’re not compatible with, as an act of kindness, or for their mutual pleasure, or for the pleasure of their own partner, for example a lesbian woman allowing a straight man to massage both her and her bisexual female partner’s breasts while the two women take turns to give each other oral sex, so that all concerned experience additional pleasure as a result. The important thing here is that they recognise each other’s humanity, human needs and desires and care about each other’s pleasure and happiness, and that they don’t allow society’s unwritten rules to ever interfere with this.
Natural Humanists believe that there are a wide variety of fun alternatives to sex, that can be shared with a person’s own polyamorous group, or any group of friends, or any other individual person, or any group of people who are happy to take part, of any age, if the law allows, as an act of kindness to a person or people they’re not sexually or romantically attracted to, or as a way of building and strengthening a relationship with people they are attracted to, all while sharing fun and affection, strengthening any friendships and maximising mutual pleasure.
A small selection of these fun activities includes:
- Being a naked servant to each other (and possibly also to each other’s friends or family members) for an hour or two, or for a day, or regularly being another person’s ‘hands’ for a while, including dressing and undressing them whenever necessary.
- Blind-folding one person at a time, before placing their hands on a part of somebody else’s body, for example their genitals, and allowing them to touch, squeeze, cup, tickle, massage, or even kiss or lick that body part, without them knowing who they are touching, which of course requires careful obtaining of advance consent and pre-set limits.
- Blowing air over each part of someone’s body, with the mouth or a small fan.
- Eating a meal off each other’s naked bodies, as long as it’s not too hot.
- Going for naked walks, or naked wild-swims together.
- Hosing someone with water, while naked outside.
- Intimate ‘cupping’, which involves covering the other person’s breasts or genitals or buttocks with your own hands and leaving them there for as long as you’re both comfortable with this, cupping that part of their body in a loving and protective way, and demonstrating to each other that you’re happy to share your body with another person, even if you’re not ready for sex, or even if you’re not sexually attracted to the other person, but they are to you, and you like them and want to make them happy.
- Kissing all or just some parts of somebody’s body while fully clothed or in underwear, swimwear or pyjamas, or while naked or topless.
- Licking any type of vegan ice-cream, yogurt, treacle, or any other edible food off naked parts of a person’s body.
- Masturbating in the same bed or same room as somebody else (with their meaningful consent), either fully visible to them, or with them only seeing your face, or only seeing your non-sexual body parts (with other parts hidden by clothing, a sheet, furniture or bath-bubbles), while they’re either watching (or not) and are either masturbating themselves as well (or are not), and possibly with you sharing and talking through your sexual fantasy while you’re masturbating, and possibly with you both masturbating while one of you describes a shared fantasy, bit by bit (possibly while sitting or lying back-to-back, with your backs touching, while you both masturbate, or one or both of you masturbating while one or both of you are (consensually) blind-folded.
- Masturbating, or having sex with another person, in front of another person or people.
- Moisturising, or applying sun lotion, to each other’s bodies.
- Naked dancing, totally regardless of any skill, either together, or in front of each other.
- Naked games, such as strip poker, and strip card or board games, naked group ‘Twister’, or ‘Doctors and Nurses’.
- Naked sunbathing together.
- Naked wild swimming, with any nudity only occurring beneath the water, or out of the water as well.
- One or both people agreeing to be kissed on every part of their body, either while naked, or in underwear, or when fully clothed, even if they have no wish to share any other intimate acts with that person, possibly ever, but are perfectly happy to be kissed like this, possibly just as an act of kindness to that person.
- One or both people being partly or fully naked for an agreed amount of time, whether it’s just for a few seconds, or for minutes or hours.
- Openly discussing each other’s past sexual fantasies, ultimate sexual fantasy, earliest and other past sexual experiences, and even sexual fantasies about a person or people you’re with at the time, even if they’re not attracted to you, but do love or care about you, and find such openness exciting and liberating, even if neither of you ever plan to do what you’re fantasising about, and possibly even suggesting to another person the specifics of a sexual fantasy you’d be happy for that person to have about you, even if you’re not sexually attracted to them, but know that they are to you, and even have no intention of ever putting it into practice in real life, or coming up with a shared or group fantasy, for some or all of you to masturbate over together, at the time, or later, in private, before then feeding back experiences of this later on.
- Partly-clothed or naked massage, including or not including the private parts, possibly with any massage of the breasts, buttocks and genitals not being to the point of orgasm, unless this is consented to in advance, or occurs unintentionally.
- Playing ‘truth or dare’.
- ‘Rewarding’ a particular person, or any person, whenever you’re together, for doing any of the things you’ve agreed in advance that you’d like them to do for you, possibly with a kiss, nudity or consensual touching, each lasting a pre-agreed length of time, or rewarding these things with a particular sexual act, for example if they cook you a meal, give you a massage, or are particularly supportive or kind, or they do anything else that’s important to you.
- Sharing anonymised legal naked photos of yourself with others, possibly with the face and/or some or all of the private parts fully or partly censored by photo-editing software, as an act of kindness.
- Sharing baths or showers, or washing in front of each other in the bath or shower, or washing all or parts of the other person’s, or each other’s body, or just allowing them to wash yours.
- Sharing naked hugs, while standing, while lying on top of each other, while spooning, or while one’s legs are wrapped around the other person’s waist, while seated or standing, where one or both people can be either fully or partly naked.
- Sharing naked saunas, naked yoga, and naked sports, or naked games, like ‘tig’, possibly agreeing, in advance to kiss, or be kissed, on the lips, or elsewhere on the body, or to touch or be touched on a particular part of the body, by anybody who ‘tigs’ you, or to remove an item of clothing after each ‘tig’, or after anybody scores a goal, wins a point or wins a round in any game you’re all playing.
- Simulating various pre-agreed sexual acts, while one or both people are fully or partly clothed, or one person is fully naked.
- Sitting next to, opposite, or between the legs of another person in a bath or hot tub while naked, or, if there are more than 2 people in a bathroom or hot-tub, everyone consenting to take turns to wash pre-agreed parts of each other’s bodies.
- Sitting with another person, or in a group, and writing the names of body parts on pieces of paper and then, with prior approval before the game begins, picking one of these pieces of paper at random from a bag or dish, before then touching, gently squeezing, or stroking, the named part of the other person’s body, while either naked, topless, or fully clothed, for 5 seconds, or a minute or more, and/or allowing the other person to touch that part of your own body, with the touch being outside or inside clothing or while naked and involving some, lots or no movement of the fingers while touching, with each person choosing to either only be touched, or only to touch, or both, or if there are more than 2 people, touching that named part of all of their bodies, in turn.
- Stimulating each other’s bodies by rubbing an ice-cube or a discarded feather over all or parts of their body, after first running the ice-cube under warm water to prevent it from being too cold.
- Taking moulds of each other’s genitals and creating models of them or creating life-like dildos of someone’s penis and then using it later to masturbate ourselves or another person with, possibly without touching their body at all.
- Topless or naked body painting.
- Trimming, shaving or waxing each other’s pubic and body hair.
- Using ‘non-contact’ remote control male or female sex toys to cause sexual arousal or orgasm.
Natural Humanists recognise that all of these activities should only ever be carried out if legal, require the setting of strict rules, in advance, and that nobody with a restricted ability to meaningfully consent should ever take part, including those under the influence of alcohol or drugs, unless they can do so safely, with the support, guidance and supervision of a suitably trained and experienced chaperone, who knows them well and, even then, only if this is legal. They also believe that care must always be taken to ensure privacy, and that nothing that’s said or done is photographed, recorded or videoed.
All of these things are totally a matter of personal choice, and Natural Humanists believe that no human being should ever feel under the slightest pressure to ever share nudity, or any sexual experience with anybody, and that no Natural Humanist should ever try to exert such pressure on anybody else, ever.
In the future, the naturalhumanism.co.uk website plans to help people to find one or more loving polyamorous partners or loving friends, via their website, who share their Natural Humanist values and beliefs, and who have provided proof that they’re above the age of consent.
They believe that every human being, whether they’re a child or an adult, should have a safe way of finding out about every human being, of every age, race, gender or sexuality who has any interest in having them as a friend, a romantic partner, or sharing naturist activities or sexual experiences with them, but should have the freedom to only contact those of these people whom they themselves have some sort of interest or attraction to, so that they can keep their mind open to forming meaningful connections with all sorts of people, but never have any pressure to respond to any interest in them.
They also plan to help individual members, or even whole polyamorous groups, to find close friends, with whom they can share certain specific fun or meaningful experiences, which they already take part in, but would be no less fun, and could even be more fun, if they were shared with one or more additional people, because Natural Humanists believe in trying to increase the overall level of happiness in the world.
They acknowledge that many people in the world feel alone and unloved, whereas, at the same time, many popular people take attention and affection very much for granted, and have no understanding of, and can’t imagine, what it’s like to be a ‘nobody’, or to be totally invisible to other human beings, and possibly to have nobody in the world who values or cares about them, or even knows them at all.
They believe very strongly that such loneliness and isolation should never be experienced by anybody who is, themselves, kind, thoughtful and respectful of other people and their boundaries, and that it should also never be the case that any human being only has friends or superficial acquaintances, but has no idea that there are people out there who are sexually attracted to them, or who find them beautiful, or who admire, or care about them, or have loving feelings for them, or would dearly love to be able to share genuine affection, kindness, fun, pleasure and deeply meaningful experiences with them, and to make them feel truly valued, respected and loved, very deeply, for exactly who they are.
They believe it’s morally wrong to deny anybody the right to know that somebody loves, cares about, admires or is sexually attracted to them, whether or not these natural feelings are reciprocated, and, consequently, they encourage all Natural Humanists to always make every person that they have any type of attraction to, aware of their attraction, from the moment they first experience it, whether it’s an admiration of that person’s intellect, emotional energy, personality, beliefs, behaviour, talents or achievements, an admiration of their physical beauty, or a sexual attraction to them.
They see this as a very important way of putting into action the Natural Humanist belief in openness and honesty (no secrets, no lies, ever), and the belief that no girl, boy, woman or man should ever be ‘left behind’, and that we should all care about all human beings’ welfare and happiness, and their ability to make hugely meaningful and mutually beneficial human connections.
Natural Humanists believe that human beings openly and honestly sharing their feelings for each other, opens the door to us all forming deep, meaningful, pleasurable and emotionally-fulfilling friendships or relationships, and fun, affectionate friendships, with as many people as we wish, to the benefit of us all, both individually and collectively as a society, and they therefore discourage any Natural Humanist from ever reacting aggressively or critically to anybody who makes them aware of such an attraction, as they believe strongly that we’re all equal, that we all have a right to be attracted to anybody, and that no human being is ‘not good enough’ to have the right to admire, to love or to be attracted to us, or to have the right to imagine, or to wish for, a deeper connection with us, even if these feelings are not reciprocated.
To Natural Humanists, a ‘polyamorous circle’ is a group of polyamorous Natural Humanists who are all connected through their current romantic and/or sexual partners. It may be that they’re all current or past sexual or romantic partners, or that they’re all open to developing romantic or sexual relationships with, or sharing sexual experiences with, each other in the future. Some, or all of them may live together, all or some of the time, and either every one of them is open to sexual and/or romantic experiences with everybody else in that circle, or each member of the circle would only consider sex and relationships with certain people in that circle, but they’re fully open to others in that circle sharing love and sex with whomever they choose, whenever they choose.
Natural Humanists in polyamorous circles may value all other members of the circle and seek to love them all, even if only on a platonic level. If they’re naturists, they may happily share social nudity with all members of the circle, and they may also be happy for all other members of the circle to see them naked while bathing or showering, or even while having sex, if all parties consent to this. Each polyamorous circle is different and will set their own ground rules.
Some polyamorous circles may choose to raise each of their children together, as one community or ‘extended family’, and some members of the circle may choose to have children by more than one member of that circle, or to adopt or foster children together.
In short, polyamory is at the very core of Natural Humanists’ philosophy, as is spreading love as widely as possible, throughout their lives, and actively avoiding, and discouraging others from ever spreading hate, or knowingly causing harm, or unhappiness to anybody else, ever.
They believe strongly that love is the answer…now what’s the question?
Click here to read the next Chapter!
References
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