HUMANIST PILGRIMAGES TO INTERESTING PLACES

About this event

NSW HUMANISTS MEETUP's talk and discussion this Sunday 9th August 2026 3-5PM at Humanist House in Chippendale will share thoughts on the idea of 'Humanist Pilgrimage' and suitable sites to visit around the world. Many have been visited personally by the speaker Murray Love. We'll explain each site's link to Humanism and the contribution of persons involved. We'll look at sites and relics related to heroes of humanism like Bruno, Galileo, Darwin, Shelley, Russell, Hitchens, Socrates, Shakespeare, Sartre and others. We'll take a closer look at a maze under construction, dedicated to remembering poor women hanged as witches in a Scottish village and exploring the ethical issues the case arouses. To get the idea, we'll start with a quick look at pilgrimages in religious cultures like Buddhism, Islam Christianity, Judaism or Paganism - ancient medieval and modern. Some ancient pilgrimage treks have even appealed to freethinkers as satisfying in themselves, rich in history, natual beauty and time to think and smell the countryside. We'll look at special evocative places - Antarctica, Volcanoes, Mountains, Deserts. And Animal encounters - Pandas, Whales, Mammoths. Some sites might be special little places that have caught the eye of humanists around the world. Sections of the Berlin Wall, Doctor Who phoneboxes, Freethought libraries and busts of secular luminaries, etc. Also curious products of human creation in museums around the world. We'll share ideas, experiences and questions, exploring Humanism along the way. Participants will have their own stories of special feelings cetain places have aroused and other encounters they have had that aroused special feelings. We don't need religion to find meaning and inspiration in human achievements and awesome nature. Some go many miles to find an eclipse, some are building a special clock in a mountain to be a site for 10,000 years, and sometimes amazing things just happen wherever you are. Humanists value reason but enjoy the full range of emotions, and delight in travel and encounters with relics that bring insight and remembrance and the lives of past heroes and their enduring inspiring ideas. Please come and enjoy a special day for travelers, those who plan to travel, and those who travel in their imagination to evocative places. NSW Humanist Meetup is sponsored by the Humanist Society of NSW. The views of invited speakers are not necessarily held by the HSNSW. The HSNSW encourages honest, open conversations held in a respectful manner.