The “daily devotional” is something I have waited years to see secularized. In a sense, it already has been in the form of daily quotation calendars, of which I’ve owned more than a few across many broad topics.
But they are not quite the same thing, really. A devotional is very specific category of book, one that can be reused from year to year, and often has a set format to each entry that includes a quote from scripture, a commentary on the quote, and a short prayer for the day based on it. This format is effective and has remained mostly unchanged for centuries.
Personally, I never owned a Christian devotional, although I have owned pagan and new-age ones. As I’ve used them, I tried to strip out the supernaturalism from the entries, which in some cases was easier than in others. I found the Ernest Holmes daily devotional pretty innocuous, despite the regular references to God and the great universe and other new-age spiritualism. I could, at least, peel some motivation out of the entries. But, as most skeptics/non-deists know, that continual fight to secularize a spiritual text gets very, very old.
Since no one was writing what I wanted, which was an entirely secular “devotional” that hewed to the traditional format without falling back on superstitious or religious concepts, I decided to make one.
Of course, it is not actually a devotional, as it is not oriented towards professing devotion and faith towards a god, goddess, or gods. It is designed to inspire and motivate, and with that in mind, I decided to call it “A Skeptic’s Inspirational” as a bow towards tradition. I am pretty sure there is no such category of book called “a daily inspirational” but that is what this is.
The quotes I used are from a wide variety of people, including those I disagree with politically/philosophically as well as religious leaders such as the Dali Lama and Mother Theresa. Everyone will find a quote from both someone they admire and someone they hate. However, the quotes I have chosen do not engage with religious topics, and there is not a single reference to God or other supernatural forces in any of them. Also, some quotes are from fictional stories, and may or may not reflect the thoughts of the author who wrote them.
The commentary is all mine. I do not think I am the best choice to make this kind of commentary, but since no one else was available, it fell to me. I am certainly not the wisest person, nor the smartest, but I tried to make the commentary applicable and useful.
The affirmations take the place of daily prayer. They are positive statements that can be read aloud or not, and are meant to reinforce the lesson/teaching for the day. Once again, they are all my own creation, so take it all with grain of salt. I tried to make them strong and self-affirming in a way similar to the techniques of learned optimism.
There are terms used here such as “good,” “bad,” “evil,” and “sacred” that have long, varied history of meanings threaded through philosophy and theology, often co-opted for use to prove or justify supernatural claims about gods/goddesses. They are used here as secular terms relating to emotions or psychological states. For instance, while “good” can be read as referring to moral righteousness (as it is so often used in religion), in this inspirational it simply implies a something that is of benefit to others in a concrete way or promotes positive/empowering reactions. When in doubt, assume a secular, non-religious interpretation because this inspirational is meant to benefit you, not as a scholarly investigation into the personal beliefs of the people thus quoted.
As an atheist and a skeptic, I believe that this life is the only one we get, and so I feel it is incumbent on us as individuals to strive to make not only our own lives better, but to help others along their own paths. We are all in this together, after all! This is my contribution to that effort, and I hope you find this book a useful tool in dealing with the trials and triumphs in this mortal life.
~ KimBoo York