I'm simply saying that there is a way to be sane. I'm saying that you can get rid of all this insanity created by the past in you. Just by being a simple witness of your thought processes.

It is simply sitting silently, witnessing the thoughts, passing before you. Just witnessing, not interfering not even judging, because the moment you judge you have lost the pure witness. The moment you say this is good, this is bad, you have already jumped onto the thought process.

It takes a little time to create a gap between the witness and the mind. Once the gap is there, you are in for a great surprise, that you are not the mind, that you are the witness, a watcher.

And this process of watching is the very alchemy of real religion. Because as you become more and more deeply rooted in witnessing, thoughts start disappearing. You are, but the mind is utterly empty.

Thats the moment of enlightenment. That is the moment that you become for the first time an unconditioned, sane, really free human being. Osho

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Quotes About Enlightenment (635 quotes)

Enlightenment is man's emergence from his self-imposed immaturity. (...) Sapere aude! Have courage to use your own understanding! That is the motto of Enlightenment. Originalin German: Aufklrung ist der Ausgang des Menschen aus seiner selbst verschuldeten Unmndigkeit. [] Sapere aude! Habe Mut, dich deines eigenen Verstandes zu bedienen! ist also der Wahlspruch der Aufklrung. Immanuel Kant, Answering the Question: What is Enlightenment?[1]

The Enlightenment or The Age of Enlightenment (an approximation of the German Aufklrung) was an era in the 17th to 18th century that occurred following the Renaissance, and describes the period when Western philosophy switched to advocating reason as a primary source of authority. Its impact on Western thought, and indeed Western civilization in the long term, can hardly be overstated, although some people sort of missed out on this period. It marks a time when philosophers across Europe as well as in the North American colonies presented a fundamental challenge to many long-held beliefs and traditional dogmas, resulting in significant societal upheaval, most notably the American and French Revolutions.

Enlightenment philosophy is an umbrella term for many divergent schools of thought, and being philosophers, those who adhered to it loved nothing better than to quibble with each other. It is nevertheless possible to make out some general features of this broader trend: at the center of Enlightenment thought is the human capacity for critical reasoning, an ability which philosophers of the time considered to have so far been underutilized and rendered impotent by unquestioning adherence to tradition and superstition, as well as deliberate suppression at the hands of traditional elites.[2] This leads directly to the fundamental importance of freethought as well as the ability to voice one's opinions freely in the public square, without having to fear repercussions from those in power. An important goal of the Enlightenment was to offer opportunities for education to the broader populace, so they might be empowered to engage in free and public debates as well.

Historian Johnathan Israel differentiates between two forms of Enlightnment thought:

Enlightenment philosophers, most notably John Locke, developed the modern form of the notion that all human beings possess certain universal and unalienable rights that are independent of the society in which they live. Drawing on the work of Thomas Hobbes and his concept of the social contract, Locke argued that humans have a natural right to life, liberty, and the ownership of property.[4] Spinoza identified the concept of right with power or capability to do something, and saw this as a fundamental aspect of citizenship and believed that outcomes were better when reason played a larger role in political decision-making.[5]

While the establishment of a sovereign government is in the rational interest of the would-be subjects, it can only be legitimate if it serves to uphold and defend these rights, and is therefore constrained by them. In the USA, this sentiment was echoed in the Declaration of Independence and codified in the subsequent constitutional Bill of Rights, as far as US citizens are concerned. The French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of 1789 takes a more explicitly universalist approach.[6]

The aforementioned notion of natural human rights, most importantly liberty, that exists independently from the state has sweeping implications for the legitimacy of any government. Both Locke and Thomas Paine argued that revolution is permissible if a government does not respect the fundamental rights of its citizens.[7] This served to justify both the American and French revolutions and subsequent successful (at least in the US) attempts to establish orders based on the explicit consent and participation of the governed, an important precedent in the development of modern democracy. It should be noted that Enlightenment thinkers were not unanimously in favour of this development; notably, Immanuel Kant rejected any right to a revolt against even a dictatorial government and praised the "enlightened absolutism" of his native Prussia. Other influential philosophers of the time supplied additional underpinnings of modern liberal democracy: Jean-Jacques Rousseau put forward the notion of popular sovereignty and reaffirmed a republican model of the state,[8] while Montesquieu developed the doctrine of the separation of powers as a safeguard against tyranny.[9] Montesquieu's analysis was that each of the differing types of governments democracy, monarchy, and despotism had strengths but were subject to specific weaknesses, and that the best way to remedy the weaknesses with each type was to combine elements of each into a republican form of government, with checks and balances among the different branches.

While the scientific revolution predates the Age of Enlightenment, this period saw significant advances in the circulation and availiability of scientific knowledge, mostly due to the rapid proliferation of books and newspapers among an increasingly literate populace.[10] Debate societies, book clubs and coffehouses sprang up in the cities, exposing broader social strata to the newest ideas and bringing the academic ideals of open debate into the public sphere. In their role as salonnires, women began to participate and play an important part in these debates, although only a small number of them had this opportunity. The first edition of the Encyclopdia Britannica was published in 1768 and became an instant hit despite its severely constrained editability. First attempts were made to apply the scientific method to the study of patterns in human behaviour, most notably by Adam Smith, generally considered to be the father of economics.

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Age of Enlightenment - RationalWiki

Background The Enlightenment developed as an extension of the Scientific Revolution. During the Scientific Revolution, Europeans discarded traditional beliefs and began using reason to explain the world around them. While the Scientific Revolution focused on the physical world, the Enlightenment attempted to explain the purpose of government, and describe the best form of it. The most influential Enlightenment thinkers were Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Voltaire, Baron de Montesquieu, and Jean Jacques Rousseau.

Enlightenment Thinkers

Later Developments During the Enlightenment, political philosophers, especially in France and England, proposed alternatives to monarchy as a form of government. The French philosophes, as they were known, suggested mankind needed government, but not an absolute monarchy like that of Louis XIV under which they lived.

Where the political philosophers disagreed, was on what kind of government was the best. Some said monarchy was best, while others claimed it was democracy. A few claimed that a monarchy with democratic elements would work best. Still others, believed that economics played a major role in what kind of government people chose.

In the end, the philosophes could not agree upon the merits of any single form of government. It was from those discussions that the American Founding Fathers derived many of their ideas about equality, freedom and the sanctity of life.

Impact Enlightenment ideas helped to stimulate people's sense of individualism, and the basic belief in equal rights. This in turn led to the Glorious Revolution is Britain, the American Revolution, the French Revolution, and the Latin American Revolutions. Some of these revolutions resulted in government based upon the ideas of the Enlightenment. On the other hand, several failed revolutions resulted in even stricter government control of everyday life.

Elsewhere, a few monarchs retained absolute control of their countries while also enacting reform based on Enlightenment ideas. These monarchs are called Enlightened Despots. In Austria, Maria Teresa and her son Joseph II both introduced reforms based on Enlightenment ideas. They reduced the tax load on the peasants, provided free education, and ended censorship in their empire. In Russia, Catherine the Great introduced similar reforms. She enacted laws for religious toleration and free education, and also sought the advice of nobles and peasants in the running of government. However, these reforms seldom outlived the monarchs who had enacted them.

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[Regents Prep Global History] Political Systems: Enlightenment

THE PHILOSOPHIES OF ENLIGHTENMENT

The period of Enlightenment refers to the European culture of the 18th century. The People of Enlightenment believed the almightiness of human knowledge and defied the tradition and the pre-established thoughts of the past. this is the period in which the humans became overconfident in the human Reason an rationality. Philosophers and Scientists committed the fallacy of argumentum ad ignorantiam. Anything which cannot be understood by rational knowledge and the current status of sciences was defied as meaningless or superstitious. Philosophy became very popular among the intellectuals and people read philosophical opera. However, the general concerns were about the practical use of our knowledge. In other words, The Two Fundamental Characteristics of the Philosophy of Enlightenment are: 1) faith in the European Reason and human rationality to reject the tradition and the pre-established institutions and thoughts; 2) Search for the practical, useful knowledge as the power to control nature.

John Locke is considered generally as the founder of Enlightenment movement in philosophy. However, in England, both characteristics of Enlightenment, namely the defiance of the tradition and the search for the knowledge as the practical, useful power to control nature, were not so emphatically visible due to the nationality and the social conditions in England. So it is generally agreed that the philosophy of Enlightenment will be divided into a) the Philosophy of Enlightenment in England, that in France and Germany. Therefore, a) is normally called as the British Empiricism and it s development. Distinguished from this, we consider the Philosophy of Enlightenment and its movement with the emphasis of the phases in France and Germany.

1. The relation of Descartes to the philosophy of Enlightenment In France and in England, all the philosophical thoughts from the middle of 17th century through the 18th century were under Descartes's influences. Fontenelle (1657-1757) The admirer of Descartes' physics and his radical rationalism threatened the Christianity and the established Church. Fontenelle's philosophy did not accept the Cartesian spiritualism and overemphasized the positive elements of the Cartesian philosophy. Thus, Fontenelle merely criticized the Ancient oracles as superstition, but this was immediately applied to the miracles of Christianity. Bayle (1647-1706) Starting with the Cartesian rationalism, Bayle considered that to believe in Christianity means to abandon Reason and the human rationality and to surrender to the miraculous phenomena. The opposition between philosophy (rationalism) and religion set up by Bayle created an anti-religious movement against Christianity as well as prepared for the development of the 18th Century philosophy. The Enlightenment Movement in France is a synthesis of the Cartesian philosophy of the mechanistic understanding of nature and the British Empiricism. In the 17th century, British philosophers such as Bacon, Hobbes and Locke came to France and were strongly influenced by the French Philosophies. In the 18th century, the French philosophers visited England and were strongly influenced by the British Empiricism and advocated empiricism rather than idealism in France upon their return. 2. The influences of British Empiricism on the French Philosophies The most conspicuous example of the philosophers who were influenced by the British Empiricism was Voltaire.

Voltaire (1694-1778) Voltaire was a French man of thought who was most strongly influenced by British Empiricism and attacked the philosophers of Continental Rationalism. Voltaire was the author of Candid, which made fun of Leibniz' optimism. Voltaire attempted to refute Descartes' metaphysics on the basis of Locke's Empiricism and attacked Descartes' physics, employing Newton's mechanics. Voltaire mocked Descartes' innate ideas by referring to Locke's theory of the empirical origin of ideas which refuted the innate idea. Following Locke, Voltaire, too, considered man's desire to pursue one's happiness as inborn. Voltaire further maintained that while Descartes created a novel about the human spirit, Locke wrote the history of the human spirit. Voltaire praised Locke in how he was able to explain the origin and the process of the development of human spirit. Voltaire accused of Descartes in the following points: 1. Descartes by reducing physics to geometry denied the absoluteness of motion and argued for its relativity (i.e. motion is no other than the change of place, in other words, a portion of matter changes its place in relation to the portion of the other matter which is immediately touched to the former) 2. Descartes did not recognize gravitation (=the weight as the unique quality) by reducing matter to extension 3. Descartes by failing in recognizing the universal gravitation had to explain by the celestial vortex the motions of the celestial bodies. Thus Descartes explained the motion of solar planets by a heliocentric vortex. In that sense he did not disagree with Copernicus. In contrast, Newton proposed the universal gravitation by which he explains all the motions of celestial bodies. Voltaire became Newton's follower in physics and astronomy. Against the universal gravitation being a hidden(occult) power, Voltaire argued that the cosmic turbulence (vortex) is more a hidden power than gravitation because the law is verified and the phenomena are explained. In his letter in 1728 Voltaire writes, "When a French went to London, he discovers a lot of things different. So are there a big difference in philosophy. When he was in Paris, the universe is full of something like turbulent ether, upon his arrival in London he discovers that the same space is empty." Following the fashion of his time, Voltaire considers a systematic approach less valuable than a fragmental expression of insights. Voltaire was successful in making philosophy more popularized (journalistic). Voltaire discussed on may topics such as on God, freedom, immortality of soul. Voltaire holds that it is the true religion that one loves God and loves others like one's own siblings and that less dogmas it has, the better and true it becomes. Thus Voltaire fought against the traditional established Christianity. On the other hand, he criticized d'Hollbach's La Systeme de la nature, and attacked Pascal's Christianity. Influenced by British Deism, Voltaire maintained that religion must be a moral, rationalistic natural religion. He did not support the cosmological and teleological argument and yet considered the moral argument for the existence of God to be most useful. Voltaire maintained that without God morality is not possible, therefore God must exist. "If God did not exist, we must invent God!" Voltaire considers that it is not possible to theoretically demonstrate the immortality of soul and yet without the immortality of soul, morality is also not possible.(VERY KANTIAN) Voltaire contends that the basis of metaphysics consists in morality and that the obscurity and incompleteness of metaphysics will be clarified by morality. In his early period, Voltaire held the freedom of will, but abandoned it in his later years as meaningless and recognized only the freedom of action. According to Voltaire, freedom is when one can do what one wants to do. Whether or not what one wants is free, the answer is not, but what wants to desire is to necessarily desire. Otherwise, we desire to do something without reason or cause, that is impossible.Thus Voltaire proposed the psychological determinism. Regarding the problem of evil, he was optimistic, but after Lisbon's earthquakes Voltaire abandoned optimism. In relation to politics and society, Voltaire insisted freedom of reason, freedom of consciousness and particularly the freedom of research which contributed the further development of the contemporary european culture. Voltaire was the representative of the 18th century Enlightenment Spirit and enormously influenced the intellectuals of the days, according to Thomas Carlyle. Du Bois-Reymond said, "The reason why we do not consider Voltaire as a very important Enlightenment philosopher is because we unconsciously and implicitly have been a Voltaire ourselves. What Voltaire had fought and won such as culture, freedom of spirit, the dignity of humanity and justice have become some of the essential elements of our natural everyday life today." Voltaire was highly treated by Friedrich the Great at Prussian Sansoun Palace as an important guest. There are two poems of Voltaire; Le mondaine Defense du mondain ou l'apologie du luxe He loved gambling! Lettres sure les Anglais or Lettres philosophiques(1734) Elements de la philosophie de Newton Dictionnaire philosophique La philosophie ignorant Candid

Montesquieu (1689-1755) Montesquieu went to England and was also influenced by John Locke. He was deeply impressed by Locke's three division of the government. His main work is L'esprit des lois (1748) Recognizing the peculiarity and uniqueness of each nation, Montesquieu attempted to explain the legal system of the each nation from the geographic conditions and the social conditions of the given nation. In stead of seeking the foundation of the legal system of a certain nation in the rational, universal principles, Montesquieu tried to find the causes of the legal system of a given nation in the particular climates, the nature of soil, the largeness of the land, the living conditions of the people, religion, passions of the people, the degree of wealth and poverty, population and the historical conditions such as customs. He emphasized the uniqueness and the accidental nature of the legal system of a given nation.

The differences of the systems of government are due to the peculiarity of the given nation. the republic = the subject has the right to govern all the subjects = democracy a portion of the subjects = aristocracy the monarchy = the government by one ruler based on the constitution the constitutional monarchy the despotism = the government by one ruler by his will

There are the basic passions which motivate each of these forms of government

the republic = virtue the monarchy = honour

And the size of a country will affect the nature of the government. etc.

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One of the problems in explaining enlightenment is that we have to use words. Words are only symbols and dont give the real understanding. The letters of a word are merely a code that the mind translates into meaning. Words only have meaning if you already have an experiential knowledge of what the words mean. If you were blind could you understand color through just words? Can you describe music to someone using only words? Can you describe the emotion of love only using the symbols of words? Words are only effective at communicating experience if the experience is already known. You know color, music, and emotion because you have perceived them directly. Enlightenment is not an experience that one already has a reference for and so a word description is not likely to be meaningful enough to convey an understanding.

Through years of schooling we are taught to believe that if we can describe something accurately with words then we know it. This is a very limited kind of knowing. Its like reading someones experience of surfing and assuming you know what it is like. Or reading the flight manual for an airplane and assuming you know how to fly because you know what is in the book.

The best we can do in explaining enlightenment in everyday language is to accurately give words to the experience. Perhaps for some the description will inspire their imagination and give them the desire to experience it themselves. This is just like a good flying story that inspires others to reach for the sky.

If youve ever had an epiphany you have had a little awakening. In that moment of realization your mind stopped thinking and you knew and felt beyond an intellectual logic. You perceived something directly in a way that transcended word descriptions. It is the kind of knowing that makes you look at the world, or yourself in a brand new way. Those little awakening experiences are moments when our previous assumptions or belief paradigms burst. My high school science teacher would say the light went on. Enlightenment is the big light bulb. It is the direct perception of knowing the nature of the world in one great continuous epiphany.

The Divine Comedy When you have the spiritual awakening of enlightenment it is like seeing the funniest joke ever played. It appears that you are at a costume party and everyone is role playing the character they dressed up as. Except their costume is the personality made up of all their beliefs about what they are, should be, shouldnt be, should do, and shouldnt do. Their personality mask is a big set of agreements about themselves. The most hysterical part is that behind the mask is actually a being of infinite consciousness that is wearing the personality.

The Infinite Consciousness is so powerful that their intent to play the personality role at the party of life keeps them in the role for years, sometimes even a whole life time. In this way they have completely thrown themselves into the role of their costumed personality. They are acting in a silly personality of pretend and are ignoring the consciousness and power of their Divine make up.

Seeing something all knowing and powerful pretending to be a human personality is a phenomenal performance of folly. One of the particularly funny aspects is how seriously the personality believes everything when another part of their consciousness knows it is just made up.

I went to see a hypnotist once. During one of the sessions he took a group of people and hypnotized them into believing they were in the first day of kindergarten. I was rolling off my chair laughing at adults really believing and acting like they were children. In another session he had a man acting like a chicken. You know these people are capable adults just temporarily believing they are something they are not. It is belly aching funny to watch. The difference with people in the world is that they hypnotized themselves by believing their thoughts or someone else's suggestion.

Seeing with Enlightened Eyes is Funny My explanation with words certainly isnt that funny but direct perception is. Thats because you cant explain what is funny. What makes us laugh is not logical. Its like a Far Side cartoon that rocks you with laughter. When you try to explain it with words the direct perception is lost in the symbols. Humor cant be explained with the logic of words. The symbols of words start engaging the mind and analytical thinking takes over. When the analytical program of the personality is engaged our opportunity for direct perception is lost to the mind.

When we are laughing at something funny our internal dialogue is generally turned off. We are not analyzing or being logical with our thinking mind. We directly perceive and we know something is funny. We may not be able to explain what is funny, but we know by direct experience. Having a quiet mind allows a person to perceive directly and is an attribute of an enlightened state.

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My personal growth continues in the Indigenous Shamanic ways of both the Lakota and Shipibo traditions.And yet, with all my varied life-training, the deck of playing cards is the most accurate and helpful spiritual tool I have ever found.

Most people dont know that the ordinarydeck of playing cardsis actually the Ancient Book of Life, hidden in plain sight all these years. Its not to play poker. Its to play the game of life. Its based purely on mathematics. And in it, we can read our lifes purpose.

I founded The Center of Spiritual Nutrition because I want to offer people a juicier life. In my opinion, what we most lack is the right nourishment for our lives. Like a flower needs sunlight and water to grow, we need spiritual nutrition to be happy.

It used to be that we got our spiritual nutrition from our religion. For most of us, however, thats not true anymore.

And while we may know what it looks like to be physically malnourished, what does it look like to be spiritually malnourished?What are the symptoms? Perhaps they are the very things we see routinely in our world: stress, anxiety, fear, loneliness, self-doubt, self-judgment, sleeplessness, confusion, hopelessness, cynicism, and self-medication I believe these are symptoms of spiritual malnutrition.

But, what if there was a spiritual toolkit that could give us all the spiritual nutrition we need? And, what if that spiritual toolkit has been hiding in plain sight all these years?

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Spiritual Life Coach Alexander Dunlop

A constant intriguing factor in the imagery of the Great Buddha is the group of three curving conch-like lines on his neck. In the varied world of Buddhist art this is one common characteristic that shines across all aesthetic traditions. Like other Buddhist motifs, it too is soaked in rich spiritual symbolism. It is said to represent Buddha's deep and resonant voice, through which he introduced his followers to the path of dharma.

The association of the conch shell with Buddha's melodious voice, sweet with the tenor of his uplifting message, has both an archetypal simplicity and universal appeal. It is a hard-hitting symbol which associates a primordial object (deemed sacred in all ancient traditions) with the actual physical body of the Buddha. Indeed, though much of Buddhist philosophy is esoteric, when it comes to aesthetics, Buddhist art is justly famous for giving a physical, easily recognizable representation to abstract philosophical truths.

Buddhism has evolved over the centuries a complex, yet discernable scheme of symbolism which has found adequate expression in Buddhist art. Undoubtedly, the most popular of such symbols is the group of eight, known in Sanskrit as 'Ashtamangala,' ashta meaning eight and mangala meaning auspicious. Each of these symbols is also individually associated with the physical form of the Buddha.

These eight auspicious symbols of Buddhism (Tib. bkra shis rtags brgyad) are:

1). A Conch Shell

2). A Lotus

3). A Wheel

4). A Parasol (Umbrella)

5). An Endless Knot

6). A Pair of Golden Fishes

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Daoist meditation Chinese Literal meaning Dao school deep thinking

Daoist meditation refers to the traditional meditative practices associated with the Chinese philosophy and religion of Daoism, including concentration, mindfulness, contemplation, and visualization. Techniques of Daoist meditation are historically interrelated with Buddhist meditation, for instance, 6th-century Daoists developed guan "observation" insight meditation from Tiantai Buddhist anapanasati "mindfulness of breath" practices.

Traditional Chinese medicine and Chinese martial arts have adapted certain Daoist meditative techniques. Some examples are Daoyin "guide and pull" breathing exercises, Neidan "internal alchemy" techniques, Neigong "internal skill" practices, Qigong breathing exercises, Zhan zhuang "standing like a post", and Taijiquan "great ultimate fist" techniques.

The Chinese language has several keywords for Daoist meditation practices, some of which are difficult to translate accurately into English.

Livia Kohn (2008a:118) distinguishes three basic types of Daoist meditation: "concentrative", "insight", and "visualization".

Ding literally means "decide; settle; stabilize; definite; firm; solid" and early scholars such as Xuanzang used it to translate Sanskrit samadhi "deep meditative contemplation" in Chinese Buddhist texts. In this sense, Kohn (2008c:358) renders ding as "intent contemplation" or "perfect absorption." The Zuowanglun has a section called Taiding "intense concentration"

Guan basically means "look at (carefully); watch; observe; view; scrutinize" (and names the Yijing Hexagram 20 Guan "Viewing"). Guan became the Daoist technical term for "monastery; abbey", exemplified by Louguan "Tiered Abbey" temple, designating "Observation Tower", which was a major Daoist center from the 5th through 7th centuries (see Louguantai). Kohn (2008d:452) says the word guan, "intimates the role of Taoist sacred sites as places of contact with celestial beings and observation of the stars." Tang Dynasty (618907) Daoist masters developed guan "observation" meditation from Tiantai Buddhist zhiguan "cessation and insight" meditation, corresponding to amatha-vipayan the two basic types of Buddhist meditation are samatha "calm abiding; stabilizing meditation" and vipassan "clear observation; analysis". Kohn (2008d:453) explains, "The two words indicate the two basic forms of Buddhist meditation: zhi is a concentrative exercise that achieves one-pointedness of mind or" cessation" of all thoughts and mental activities, while guan is a practice of open acceptance of sensory data, interpreted according to Buddhist doctrine as a form of "insight" or wisdom." Guan meditators would seek to merge individual consciousness into emptiness and attain unity with the Dao.

Cun usually means "exist; be present; live; survive; remain", but has a sense of "to cause to exist; to make present" in the Daoist meditation technique, which both the Shangqing School and Lingbao Schools popularized.

It thus means that the meditator, by an act of conscious concentration and focused intention, causes certain energies to be present in certain parts of the body or makes specific deities or scriptures appear before his or her mental eye. For this reason, the word is most commonly rendered "to visualize" or, as a noun, "visualization." Since, however, the basic meaning of cun is not just to see or be aware of but to be actually present, the translation "to actualize" or" actualization" may at times be correct if somewhat alien to the Western reader. (Kohn 2008b:287)

Within the above three types of Daoist meditation, some important practices are:

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Daoist meditation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://whatistranshumanism.org

Transhumanism is a way of thinking about the future that is based on the premise that the human species in its current form does not represent the end of our development but rather a comparatively early phase.

Transhumanism is a loosely defined movement that has developed gradually over the past two decades.

Transhumanism is a class of philosophies of life that seek the continuation and acceleration of the evolution of intelligent life beyond its currently human form and human limitations by means of science and technology, guided by life-promoting principles and values.

Humanity+ formally defines it based on Max Mores original definition as follows:

Transhumanism can be viewed as an extension of humanism, from which it is partially derived. Humanists believe that humans matter, that individuals matter. We might not be perfect, but we can make things better by promoting rational thinking, freedom, tolerance, democracy, and concern for our fellow human beings. Transhumanists agree with this but also emphasize what we have the potential to become. Just as we use rational means to improve the human condition and the external world, we can also use such means to improve ourselves, the human organism. In doing so, we are not limited to traditional humanistic methods, such as education and cultural development. We can also use technological means that will eventually enable us to move beyond what some would think of as human.

The Transhumanist FAQ was developed in 1998 and authored into a formal FAQ in 1999 through the inspirational work of transhumanists, including Alexander Chislenko, Max More, Anders Sandberg, Natasha Vita-More, James Hughes, and Nick Bostrom. Several people contributed to the definition of transhumanism, which was originated by Max More. Greg Burch, David Pearce, Kathryn Aegis, and Anders Sandberg kindly offered extensive editorial comments. The presentation in the cryonics section was, and still is, directly inspired by an article by Ralph Merkle. Ideas, criticisms, questions, phrases, and sentences to the original version were contributed by (in alphabetical order): Kathryn Aegis, Alex (intech@intsar.com), Brent Allsop, Brian Atkins, Scott Badger, Doug Bailey, Harmony Baldwin, Damien Broderick, Greg Burch, David Cary, John K Clark, Dan Clemensen, Damon Davis, Jeff Dee, Jean-Michel Delhotel, Dylan Evans, EvMick@aol.com, Daniel Fabulich, Frank Forman, Robin Hanson, Andrew Hennessey, Tony Hollick, Joe Jenkins, William John, Michelle Jones, Arjen Kamphius, Henri Kluytmans, Eugene Leitl, Michael Lorrey, mark@unicorn.com, Peter C. McCluskey, Erik Moeller, J. R. Molloy, Max More, Bryan Moss, Harvey Newstrom, Michael Nielsen, John S. Novak III, Dalibor van den Otter, David Pearce, pilgrim@cyberdude.com, Thom Quinn, Anders Sandberg, Wesley R. Schwein, Shakehip@aol.com, Allen Smith, Geoff Smith, Randy Smith, Dennis Stevens, Derek Strong, Remi Sussan, Natasha Vita-More, Michael Wiik, Eliezer Yudkowsky, and zebo@pro-ns.net

Over the years, this FAQ has been updated to provide a substantial account of transhumanism. Extropy Institute (ExI) was a source of information for the first version of the Transhumanist FAQ, version 1.0 in the 1990s. WTA adopted the FAQ in 2001 and Nick Bostrom and James Hughes continued to work on it, with the contributions of close to hundred people from ExI and WTA, including Aleph and Transcedo and the UK Transhumanist Association. New material has been added and many old sections have been substantially reworked. In the preparation of version 2.0, the following people have been especially helpful: Eliezer Yudkowsky, who provided editorial assistance with comments on particular issues of substance; Dale Carrico who proofread the first half of the text; and Michael LaTorra who did the same for the second half; and Reason who then went over the whole document again, as did Frank Forman, and Sarah Banks Forman. Useful comments of either substance or form have also been contributed by (in alphabetical order): Michael Anissimov, Samantha Atkins, Milan Cirkovic, Jos Luis Cordeiro, George Dvorsky, James Hughes, G.E. Jordan, Vasso Kambourelli, Michael LaTorra, Eugen Leitl, Juan Meridalva, Harvey Newstrom, Emlyn OReagan, Christine Peterson, Giulio Prisco, Reason, Rafal Smigrodzki, Simon Smith, Mike Treder, and Mark Walker. Many others have over the years offered questions or reflections that have in some way helped shape this document, and even though it is not possible to name you all, your contributions are warmly appreciated.

The Transhumanist FAQ 3.0, as revised by the continued efforts of many transhumanists, will continue to be updated and modified as we develop new knowledge and better ways of accounting for old knowledge which directly and indirectly relate to transhumanism. Our goal is to provide a reliable source of information about transhumanism.

Thank you to all who have contributed in the past and to those who offer new insights to this FAQ!

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What is Transhumanism?