Hi again, everyone. Just out of curiosity, raise your hands: how many people have been to a Solstice before?
(pause)
And how many have not?
(pause)
Welcome to the new folks. And re-welcome to folks who have been here before. As an introduction for the new people, and a reminder to everyone else, I’m going to talk a bit about the history of Solstice and why we celebrate it the way we do.
My own 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. 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. Basically, he was testing them out on us.
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 really came together 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.”
For Solstice in 2023, the theme we chose to focus on is “Failed Experiments.” We care about the truth and the process by which we get there. Part of that process is necessarily going to involve costs. Things we tried that just didn’t work out. Those failures are unavoidable– you can’t learn without failure. And they have real costs, too– in dollars, in lives, in the opportunity cost of time spent on them. Even if we think those costs are worth it, it’s important to acknowledge them, remember them, and try to make them as small as we reasonably can.
This next section of Solstice is focused on music about human endeavor. Struggling hard even in the face of failure, and trying again when that struggle isn’t enough. Later on in the program, we’ll talk more about specific ways we’ve failed: failed attempts at flight before the Wright Brothers, the replication crisis in psychology, and the costs of progress. It will get a little dark. Then, as is traditional, we’ll end on a more hopeful note: despite the costs, failed experiments are often something we learn from, and can help us make things better for the future.
I hope this Solstice inspires you to take note of what you’ve learned from failure, and gives you a moment to grieve for those losses. And yet, I also hope you’ll remember that even after losses large and small – in spite of being broken, or because of being broken – you can make progress and move forward.
edit