Picardian Humanism.

     I am not one to advocate identity as a concern to which we should devote much attention, and I see relatively little concern with it in texts before the last two hundred years, at least so far as cultural and ethnic identity are concerned.  Far greater was the concern with the nature of truth and goodness, or of God.  "Who am I?" was far less a concern, and was, I believe, largely subordinated to the concern with those larger, and I suppose worthier, concerns.  (Tangentially, I suppose "Who am I?" is a subsidiary question, seeing as it presupposed "I am."  I take comfort in that at least.  I am.  What matters it who I am, so long as I know the way to be good and right?)  I am wary of labels and group identities.  Let us interpret by the criterion of our reason, all the while recognizing that no one possesses absolute or infallible Reason.  Let us strive to find what is right and good, and recognize the right and good by their marker–beauty.
     But I will apply one label to myself proudly.  I will make it my project henceforward to elaborate this train of thought with references to the man himself as I rewatch TNG.  Sooner or later, though, the schools must recognize this as a potent and well-formed system of belief, articulated over seven years by the archrepresentative of the human race, that compassionate intellectual, that tried and true paragon of humanity, Captain Jean-Luc Picard.  In his honor, I shall call my own meager strivings at systematic belief "Picardian Humanism" (copyright 2016 Marshall C. Buchanan).  Let's see if I can add quotations and episode references later. Picardian humanism, in brief, though, is surely the belief in the fundamental, universal value of human life and betterment, and elaborated by the good captain of three centuries hence.