Meet Eric Seldner

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Despite an active mental life of liberal free thought, Eric has an outwardly very conservative lifestyle. He got married early to Annie, and bought a house in the suburbs not far from where he grew up. They waited a few years to have children, James,15, and Jessica,12, and is very involved in family and community. He has worked for the same company for 24 years. Eric is a man of modest appetites.

 

Eric's first enthusiasm was mathematics, then later science, history, and philosophy. Academics came easy, but the social side of school was difficult until high school. There Eric put together a record that got him into Cornell University, which he looks back on fondly. He chose to become an Engineer, not only because he liked math, but because the profession is very egalitarian, and measured by technical ability rather than by who you know or how well you can charm other people. He is still working as an Engineer, even though his intellectual interests have moved on to philosophy and history. Eric plans to continue on his current course until his daughter goes off to College, then all bets are off.

 

Eric is a news junkie, focused on world events, scientific developments, and national politics, following politics as other people follow sports. Eric loved PBS documentaries as a child. His most admired people are the science popularizers he learned from as a kid; Carl Sagan, Jacob Bronowski, Isaac Asimov, Davis Suzuki, and David Attenborough.

 

Eric has been a non-believer since his earliest memories. He has never been tempted by religion, but has always been fascinated by why other people are. He has spent lots of time thinking about religion as an outsider, and so Humanism is a natural interest for Eric. He was looking for a community without too much unity when he was introduced to Ron Steelman who had similar aims. Red Bank Humanists today is pretty close to what he had in mind.