This year, because of our new venue, I got some extra practice trying to explain what Secular Solstice is to people. And I realized that, while it seems obvious to me, I’m not actually great at putting it into words. We don’t talk about it much, even though folks in the rationality community have been celebrating it for years.
Here’s the TL;DR, what I wrote to advertise the event this year:
Secular Solstice is a celebration of human progress in a cold universe. Celebrating Solstice helps us affirm our shared beliefs – that the universe doesn’t care about us – and our shared values – that truth matters, that it’s worth working to make tomorrow brighter. And if you disagree with some or all of that, great: honoring disagreement is important to us, too.
[pause]
My first memories about Secular Solstice were not at an actual Solstice event at all, but at an East Coast rationalist megameetup in New York City in early 2012. Wikipedia tells me that the first-ever Solstice was a gathering at Ray Arnold’s house in 2011, but the first official event was in 2013, two years later. In between those two events, Ray took the songs he was working on for this new Secular Solstice holiday he was creating, and he brought them to the megameetup, and we all sang them together. A kind of playtesting, if you will.
He explained to us what he was trying to do: to make a holiday that resembled his family holiday celebrations, but actually reflected his deep values and up-to-date beliefs. A more accurate holiday was necessarily more depressing, because there are some depressing truths to confront in this world: We humans are out here alone. Nihil supernum. Only nothingness above. Yet, it’s worth looking down, too. We’re alone with ourselves, but that’s not actually the same thing as alone. We have each other. And through the long dark of winter, we can help each other. We can make the world better.
That all made sense intellectually. But it came together in a very special way when I first heard Ray sing the song that has been a centerpiece of Solstice ever since: “Brighter than Today.” You’ll hear it later on in the program, and hopefully you’ll sing along.
I wanted to talk about our history a bit, because, short as it is, it’s easy to forget. Since 2013, people have been celebrating Secular Solstice in more and more cities; these days, the Bay Area celebration is the largest, followed by New York, but there are also celebrations in Seattle, Boston, here in the Washington, DC area, and elsewhere too.
It’s worth thinking about that. We’re here together, not only with the people in this room, but with many others throughout this country and the world, who share these things with us.
“There is light in the world, and it is us.”
[pause]
So, what is the focus for Solstice in 2022?
This year in the rationality and effective altruism communities, there’s been a lot of talk about the whole… near-term extinction of humanity… thing.
So, regardless of what you think of that specific issue, for our theme for Solstice this year, I wanted to focus on really hard situations. Times when we’re being pushed, or pushing ourselves, to our limits, and we think: is it even possible for me to get through this? Should I even keep trying?
Often, there are no easy answers. Sometimes the only choice is giving up. Other times, giving up would be such a great loss that you’d rather keep going even if it breaks you.
During the program, we’ll be singing songs and talking about situations where it’s not clear whether to hold on, or let go. I hope that grappling with this together, tonight, will help you grapple with those situations in your own life, whatever you might choose in the end.
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