Life Stance

A life stance or lifestance is a person's relation with what he or she accepts as of ultimate importance, the commitments and presuppositions of this, and the theory and practice of working it out in living.

The term encompasses both religions and alternatives to religion, without discrimination between them. The term was introduced out of a concern that the lack of non-discriminatory terminology could contribute to a failure to protect the rights of those with a life stance not corresponding to a traditional religion. In particular, the term "non-believer" has sometimes been used to refer to those not associated with traditional religions, misleadingly conveying a lack of convictions equal in depth to those of religious adherents.

A religion is (typically) a theistic life stance, involving acceptance of a Divine Being. Humanism is an example of a non-theistic, secular life stance, and the term lifestance is widely used by Humanists. Traditional religions such as Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism are also life stances that are largely non-theistic.

A life stance differs from a worldview or a belief system in that the term life stance or lifestance emphasizes a focus on what is of ultimate importance. Life stance differs from eupraxsophy in that the latter typically implies a strictly non-theistic outlook, whereas it is essential that a life stance can be theistic or non-theistic.

Life

Life is a condition that distinguishes organisms from inorganic objects and dead organisms, being manifested by growth through metabolism, reproduction, and the power of adaptation to environment through changes originating internally. A diverse array of living organisms can be found in the biosphere on Earth. Properties common to these organisms – plants, animals, fungi, protists, archaea and bacteria – are a carbon and water-based cellular form with complex organization and genetic information. They undergo metabolism, possess a capacity to grow, respond to stimuli, reproduce and, through natural selection, adapt to their environment in successive generations.

An entity with the above properties is considered to be an organism. However, not every definition of life considers all of these properties to be essential. For example, the capacity for descent with modification is often taken as the only essential property of life. This definition notably includes viruses, which do not qualify under narrower definitions as they are acellular and do not metabolise. Broader definitions of life may also include theoretical non-carbon-based life and other alternative biology.