Citizendia

Part of a series on
God

Theistic approaches
Deism · Henotheism
Monotheism · Panentheism
Pantheism · Monolatrism

Specific conceptions
Names · "God" · Existence · Gender
Creator · Architect · Demiurge · Sustainer
Lord · Father · Monad · Oneness
Supreme Being · The All · Personal
Unitarianism · Ditheism · Trinity
Omniscience · Omnipotence
Omnipresence · Omnibenevolence
in Bahá'í · in Buddhism · in Christianity
in Hinduism · in Islam · in Judaism
in Sikhism

Experience and practices
Faith · Prayer · Belief · Revelation
Fideism · Gnosis · Metaphysics
Mysticism · Hermeticism · Esotericism

Related topics
Philosophy · Religion · Ontology
God complex · Neurotheology
Euthyphro dilemma · Problem of evil (Theodicy)

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Pantheism is the view that everything is of an all-encompassing immanent abstract God; or that the Universe, or nature, and God are equivalent. God is the principal or sole Deity in Religions and other belief systems that worship one deity. Deism is the belief that a supreme God exists and created the physical universe and that religious truths can be arrived at by the application of reason alone without dependence on revelation Henotheism ( Greek heis theos "one god" is a term coined by Max Müller, to mean devotion to a Single god while accepting For the Celtic Frost album see Monotheist (album In Theology, monotheism (from Greek grc [[wiktμόνος μόνος]] Panentheism (from Greek (pân "all" (en "in" and (Theós "God" "all-in-God" is a belief system Monolatrism or monolatry ( Greek: μόνος ( monos) = single and λατρεία ( latreia) = Worship) is the recognition of the existence See also God Conceptions of God can vary widely despite the use of the same term for them all The English word god continues the Old English ang god ( got-Latn guþ gudis in Gothic, gem gud in modern Arguments for and against the existence of God have been proposed by philosophers theologians and others The gender of God can be viewed as either a literal or an allegorical aspect of a deity A creator deity is a Deity in a Creation myth responsible for the creation of the World (or Universe) The Great Architect of the Universe (also Grand Architect of the Universe or Supreme Architect of the Universe) is a conception of God discussed by many Demiurge (the Latinized form of Greek demiourgos, δημιουργός, literally "public or skilled worker" from demos God the Sustainer is a theological term referring to the concept of a God who sustains and upholds everything in existence God is the principal or sole Deity in Religions and other belief systems that worship one deity. In many religions the supreme Deity ( God) is given the title and attributions of Father. Monad (from Greek μονάς monas, "unit" monos, "alone" which according to the Pythagoreans, was a term for God Oneness is a spiritual term referring to the 'experience' of the absence of egoic identity boundaries and according to some traditions the perception of an absolute The term Supreme Being is often defined simply as " God " and it is used with this meaning by theologians of many religious faiths including but not limited to The All (also called The One The Absolute, The Great One The Creator The Supreme Mind The Supreme Good The The expression Personal God, refers to the belief that God is - and can be related to as - a Person. Unitarianism as a theology is the belief in the single personality of God in contrast to the doctrine of the Trinity (three persons in one God Dualism denotes a state of two parts The word's origin is the Latin duo, "two". SSC RF "Troitsk Institute of Innovative and Termonuclear Research" or TRINITY for shprt Троицкий Институт инновационных и термоядерных Omniscience (ɒm'nɪsɪəns (or Omniscient Point-of-View in writing is the capacity to know everything infinitely or at least everything that can be known about a character Omnipotence ( Omni Potens: "all Power " is unlimited power Omnipresence is the ability to be present in every place at any and/or every time unbounded or universal presence Omnibenevolence is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as "unlimited or infinite Benevolence " Bahá'ís believe in a single, imperishable God, the creator of all things including all the creatures and forces in the universe Since the time of the Buddha the refutation of the existence of a creator has been seen as a key point in distinguishing Buddhist from non-Buddhist views The term "Godhead" The term Godhead is a term denoting deity or divinity In Hinduism the concept of God is complex and depends on a particular tradition In Islam, God is believed to be the only real supreme being all-powerful and all knowing Creator Sustainer Ordainer and Judge of the universe Islam puts a heavy emphasis The conception of God in Judaism is Monotheistic. The God of Israel was known by two principal names in the Bible The fundamental belief of Sikhism is that God exists not merely as an idea or concept but as a Real Entity indescribable yet knowable and perceivable to anyone who is prepared to dedicate Faith is a Belief in the trustworthiness of an Idea. Formal usage of the word "faith" is usually reserved for concepts of Religion, as in Prayer is the act of attempting to communicate with a Deity or spirit Belief is the psychological state in which an individual holds a Proposition or Premise to be true Revelation is the act of revealing or disclosing (see etymology or in the theological perception making something obvious and clearly understood through active or passive communication Fideism is the view that Religious belief relies primarily on Faith or Special revelation, rather than rational inference or observation Gnosis (from one of the Greek words for Knowledge, γνώσις is the spiritual knowledge of a Saint or mystically enlightened human being Metaphysics is the branch of Philosophy investigating principles of reality transcending those of any particular science Mysticism (from the Greek grc μυστικός mystikos, an initiate of a Mystery religion) is the pursuit of communion with identity Hermeticism is a set of philosophical and religious beliefs based primarily upon the writings attributed to Hermes Trismegistus, who is put forth as a Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence knowledge truth beauty justice validity mind and language A religion is a set of Tenets and practices often centered upon specific Supernatural and moral claims about Reality, the Cosmos In Philosophy, ontology (from the Greek, genitive: of being (part A God complex is a psychological state of mind in which a person believes that they have supernatural powers or god-like abilities Neurotheology The Euthyphro dilemma is found in Plato's dialogue Euthyphro, in which Socrates asks Euthyphro "Is the pious ( τὸ ὅσιον In the Philosophy of religion and Theology, the problem of evil is the problem of reconciling the existence of Evil or Suffering in the world Theodicy (θiːˈɒdɪsi (adjectival form theodicean) is a specific branch of Theology and Philosophy that attempts to reconcile the existence of Immanence, derived from the Latin in manere "to remain within" refers to philosophical and metaphysical theories of the divine as existing and acting within the mind God is the principal or sole Deity in Religions and other belief systems that worship one deity. The Universe is defined as everything that Physically Exists: the entirety of Space and Time, all forms of Matter, Energy Nature, in the broadest sense is equivalent to the natural world, physical universe, material world or material universe. More detailed definitions tend to emphasize the idea that natural law, existence, and the Universe (the sum total of all that is, was, and shall be) is represented in the theological principle of an abstract 'god' rather than a personal, creative deity or deities of any kind. Natural law or the law of nature ( Latin: lex naturalis) is a theory that posits the existence of a law whose content is set by Nature and that In common usage existence is the world of which we are aware through our senses but in Philosophy the word has a more specialized meaning and is often contrasted with The Universe is defined as everything that Physically Exists: the entirety of Space and Time, all forms of Matter, Energy The Absolute Infinite is Mathematician Georg Cantor 's concept of an " Infinity " that transcended the Transfinite numbers Cantor Theology is the study of a god or the gods from a religious perspective This is the key feature which distinguishes them from panentheists and pandeists. Panentheism (from Greek (pân "all" (en "in" and (Theós "God" "all-in-God" is a belief system Pandeism or Pan-Deism ( Greek πάν, 'pan' = ' all ' and Latin Deus = God, in the sense of Deism As such, although many religions may claim to hold pantheistic elements, they are more commonly panentheistic or pandeistic in nature.

Contents

History

The term "pantheist"—from which the word "pantheism" is derived—was purportedly first used by Irish writer John Toland in his 1705 work, Socinianism Truly Stated, by a pantheist. The Irish people ( Irish: Muintir na hÉireann, na hÉireannaigh, na Gaeil) are a Western European Ethnic group who originate John Toland ( November 30, 1670 - March 11, 1722) was an Irish Philosopher. Socinianism is a form of Antitrinitarianism, named for Laelius Socinus (died 1562 in Zürich) and of his nephew Faustus Socinus However, the concept has been discussed as far back as the time of the philosophers of Ancient Greece, by Thales, Parmenides and Heraclitus. The term ancient Greece refers to the period of Greek history lasting from the Greek Dark Ages ca Thales of Miletus According to Bertrand Russell, "Philosophy begins with Thales Parmenides of Elea ( Greek:, early 5th century BC was an Ancient Greek Philosopher born in Elea, a Greek city on the southern coast of Heraclitus of Ephesus ( Ancient Greek: &mdash grc-Latn ''Hērákleitos ho Ephésios'' English Heraclitus the Ephesian) (ca The Jewish backgrounds for pantheism may reach as far back as the Torah itself in its account of creation in Genesis and its earlier prophetic material in which clearly "acts of nature" [such as floods, storms, volcanoes, etc. PLEASE TAKE NOTE************ term " Torah " ( Hebrew: תּוֹרָה "teaching" or "instruction" sometimes translated as "Law" most commonly refers to ] are all identified as "God's hand" through personification idioms, thus explaining the open references to the concept in both New Testament and Kabbalistic literature. Kabbalah (קַבָּלָה lit "receiving" is a discipline and school of thought discussing the mystical aspect of Judaism.

In 1785 a major controversy began between Friedrich Jacobi and Moses Mendelssohn, which eventually involved many important people of the time. Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi ( 25 January, 1743 - 10 March, 1819) was a German Philosopher notable for coining the term Moses Mendelssohn ( Dessau, 6 September 1729 4 January 1786 in Berlin) was a German Jewish Philosopher Jacobi claimed that Lessing's pantheism was materialistic in that it thought of all Nature and God as one extended substance. Lessing is the surname of Doris (May Lessing (born 1919 British novelist and the 2007 Nobel Prize laureate in literature Feodor (Franz Nature, in the broadest sense is equivalent to the natural world, physical universe, material world or material universe. God is the principal or sole Deity in Religions and other belief systems that worship one deity. Substance theory, or substance attribute theory, is an ontological theory about objecthood, positing that a substance is distinct from its For Jacobi, this was the result of the Enlightenment's devotion to reason and it would lead to atheism. The Age of Enlightenment or The Enlightenment is a term used to describe a phase in Western philosophy and cultural life centered upon the eighteenth century Atheism Mendelssohn disagreed by asserting that pantheism was the same as theism.

Reception

On the whole, one might be surprised that even in the seventeenth century pantheism did not gain a complete victory over theism; for the most original, finest, and most thorough European expositions of it (none of them, of course, will bear comparison with the Upanishads of the Vedas) all came to light at that period, namely through Bruno, Malebranche, Spinoza, and Scotus Eriugena. The Upanishads ( Devanagari: उपनिषद् IAST: upaniṣad also spelled "Upanisad" are Hindu scriptures that constitute the core teachings "Veda" redirects here For other uses see Veda (disambiguation. Giordano Bruno (1548 – February 17, 1600) was an Italian Philosopher best-known as an early proponent of Heliocentrism and "Malebranche" redirects here For the fictional demons see Malebolge. Baruch or Benedict de Spinoza (ברוך שפינוזה Bento de Espinosa Benedictus de Spinoza ( November 24, 1632 – February 21, After Scotus Erigena had been lost and forgotten for many centuries, he was again discovered at Oxford and in 1681, thus four years after Spinoza's death, his work first saw the light in print. This seems to prove that the insight of individuals cannot make itself felt so long as the spirit of the age is not ripe to receive it. On the other hand, in our day (1851) pantheism, although presented only in Schelling's eclectic and confused revival thereof, has become the dominant mode of thought of scholars and even of educated people. This is because Kant had preceded it with his overthrow of theistic dogmatism and had cleared the way for it, whereby the spirit of the age was ready for it, just as a ploughed field is ready for the seed. Immanuel Kant (ɪmanuəl kant 22 April 1724 12 February 1804 was an 18th-century German Philosopher from the Prussian city of Königsberg Dogma (the plural is either dogmata or dogmas, Greek, plural) is the established Belief or

– Schopenhauer, Parerga and Paralipomena, Vol. I, "Sketch of a History of the Doctrine of the Ideal and the Real"

Varieties of pantheism

This article distinguishes between three divergent groups of pantheists:

The vast majority of persons who can be identified as "pantheistic" are of the classical variety (such as Hindus, Sufis, Unitarians, neopagans, New Agers, Etc. Hinduism is a religious tradition that originated in the Indian subcontinent. Sufism ( تصوّف - taṣawwuf, Persian: صوفی‌گری sufigari, Turkish: tasavvuf, Urdu: تصوف Unitarianism as a theology is the belief in the single personality of God in contrast to the doctrine of the Trinity (three persons in one God Neopaganism or Neo-Paganism is an Umbrella term used to identify a wide variety of modern religious movements particularly those influenced by historical New Age ( New Age Movement and New Age Spirituality) is a Social Collective Phenomenon and a Spiritual Nature ), while most persons who self-identify as "pantheist" alone (rather than as members of another religion) are of the naturalistic variety. The division between the three strains of pantheism are not entirely clear in all situations, and remains a source of some controversy in pantheist circles. Classical pantheists generally accept the religious doctrine that there is a spiritual basis to all reality, while naturalistic pantheists generally do not and thus see the world in somewhat more naturalistic terms. Confusion between the concepts of pantheism and atheism may be an ancient problem in linguistics. Rome referred to early Christians as atheists, and the explanations of this semantic phenomenon vary, one of which refers to the confusion between these two concepts. Atheism

Methods of explanation

An oft-cited feature of pantheism is that each individual human, being part of the Universe or nature, is part of God. One issue discussed by pantheists is how free will may exist in this framework. In answer, the following analogy is sometimes given (particularly by classical pantheists): "you are to God as an individual blood cell in your vein is to you. The cell is the structural and functional unit of all known living Organisms It is the smallest unit of an organism that is classified as living and is often called In the Circulatory system, a vein is a Blood vessel that carries Blood back toward the Heart (as opposed to Artery, a blood vessel " The analogy further maintains that while a cell may be aware of its own environs, and even has some choices (free will) between right and wrong (killing a bacterium, becoming malignant, or perhaps just doing nothing, among countless others), it likely has little conception of the greater being of which it is a part. The question of free will The Bacteria ( singular: bacterium) are a large group of unicellular Microorganisms Typically a few Micrometres in length bacteria have Cancer (medical term Malignant Neoplasm) is a class of Diseases in which a group of cells display uncontrolled Another way to understand this relationship is through the Hindu phrase, tat tvam asi - "that thou art", wherein the human soul/self or Atman is understood to be the same as God or Brahman - only people do not realize it. A Hindu ( Devanagari: हिन्दू is an adherent of the philosophies and scriptures of Hinduism, a set of religious, Philosophical Tat Tvam Asi ( Sanskrit: तत् त्वम् असि or तत्त्वमसि a Sanskrit sentence translating variously to "Thou art that" "That The soul, according to many religious and philosophical beliefs is the self-awareness, or Consciousness, unique to a particular living The Ātman ( IAST: Ātman Sanskrit: आत्मन्‍ is a philosophical term used within Hinduism and Vedanta to identify the Soul Brahman ( bráhman-, Nominative bráhma sa ब्रह्म is a concept of Hinduism. In this Hindu context, they believe that one must be liberated through enlightenment (moksha) in order to experience and fully understand this relationship - the part becomes no longer dissimilar from the whole. In Indian religions, Moksha ( Sanskrit: sa मोक्ष mokṣa) or Mukti ( Sanskrit: sa मुक्ति literally "release"

Not all pantheists accept the idea of free will, with determinism being particularly widespread among naturalistic pantheists. Determinism is the philosophical Proposition that every event including human cognition and behaviour decision and action is causally determined Although individual interpretations of pantheism may suggest certain implications for the nature and existence of free will and/or determinism, pantheism itself does not include any requirement of belief either way. However, the issue is widely discussed, as it is in many other religions and philosophies.

Debate

Some argue that pantheism is little more than a redefinition of the word "God" to mean "existence", "life" or "reality". In common usage existence is the world of which we are aware through our senses but in Philosophy the word has a more specialized meaning and is often contrasted with Reality, in everyday usage means "the state of things as they actually exist" Many pantheists would say that if this is so, such a shift in the way we think about these ideas can serve to create both a new and a potentially far more insightful conception of both existence and God.

Perhaps the most significant debate within the pantheistic community is about the nature of God. Classical pantheism believes in a personal, conscious, and omniscient God, and sees this God as uniting all true religions. Classical pantheism is a form of Pantheism that equates Existence with God without attempting to redefine or to minimize either term and has an inclusive Consciousness has been defined loosely as a constellation of attributes of Mind such as Subjectivity, Self-awareness, Sentience, and the Omniscience (ɒm'nɪsɪəns (or Omniscient Point-of-View in writing is the capacity to know everything infinitely or at least everything that can be known about a character Naturalistic pantheism believes in an unconscious, non-sentient Universe, which, while being holy and beautiful, is seen as being a God in a non-traditional and impersonal sense. Naturalistic Pantheism is a form of Pantheism that holds that the universe although un Conscious and non- sentient as a whole behaves as a single interconnected

The viewpoints encompassed within the pantheistic community are necessarily diverse, but the central idea of the Universe being an all-encompassing unity and the sanctity of both nature and its natural laws are found throughout. Some pantheists also posit a common purpose for nature and man, while others reject the idea of purpose and view existence as existing "for its own sake. "

Pantheistic concepts in religion

Hinduism

It is generally asserted that Hindu religious texts are the oldest known literature that contains Pantheistic ideas. [1] In Hindu theology, Brahman is the unchanging, infinite, immanent, and transcendent reality which is the Divine Ground of all things in this Universe, and is also the sum total of all that ever is, was, or ever shall be. Theology is the study of a god or the gods from a religious perspective Brahman ( bráhman-, Nominative bráhma sa ब्रह्म is a concept of Hinduism. This idea of pantheism is traceable from some of the more ancient Vedas and Upanishads to later Advaita philosophy. "Veda" redirects here For other uses see Veda (disambiguation. The Upanishads ( Devanagari: उपनिषद् IAST: upaniṣad also spelled "Upanisad" are Hindu scriptures that constitute the core teachings Advaita Vedanta ( IAST Advaita Vedānta; Sanskrit अद्वैत वेदान्त əd̪vait̪ə veːd̪ɑːnt̪ə is a sub-school of the All Mahāvākyas(Great Sayings) of the Upanishads, in one way or another, seem to indicate the unity of the world with the Brahman. The Mahavakyas are the four "Great Sayings" of the Upanishads, the foundational texts of Vedanta. Chāndogya Upanishad says "All this Universe indeed is Brahman; from him does it proceed; into him it is dissolved; in him it breathes, so let every one adore him calmly". The Chandogya Upanishad is one of the "primary" ( Mukhya) Upanishads Together with the Jaiminiya Upanishad Brahmana and the Brihadaranyaka It further says "This whole universe is Brahman, from Brahman to a clod of earth. Brahman is both the efficient and the material cause of the world. He is the potter by whom the vase is formed; He is the clay from which it is fabricated. Everything proceeds from Him, without waste or diminution of the source, as light radiates from sun. Everything merges into Him again, as bubbles bursting mingle with air-as rivers fall into the ocean. Everything proceeds from and returns to Him, as the web of the spider is emitted from and retracted into itself. "[2]. In the hymns of the Rigveda, a pantheistic strain of thought may be discernible in the tenth book (10-121). The Rigveda ( Sanskrit sa ऋग्वेद ṛgveda, a compound of ṛc "praise verse" and veda "knowledge"

This concept of God is of one unity, with the individual personal gods being aspects of the One; thus, different deities are seen by different adherents as particularly well suited to their worship. As the sun has rays of light which emanate from the same source, the same holds true for the multifaceted aspects of God emanating from Brahman, like many colors of the same prism. Vedanta, specifically, Advaita, is a branch of Hindu philosophy which gives this matter a greater focus. Vedanta ( Devanagari: sa वेदान्त Vedānta) is a spiritual tradition explained in the Upanishads that is concerned with the Self-realisation Advaita Vedanta ( IAST Advaita Vedānta; Sanskrit अद्वैत वेदान्त əd̪vait̪ə veːd̪ɑːnt̪ə is a sub-school of the Hindu philosophy is divided into six Sanskrit ''{{IAST|āstika}}'') schools of thought or darshanas (literally "views" Sankhya Most Vedantic adherents are monists or "non-dualists" (i. Monism is the metaphysical and Theological view that all is one that all reality is subsumed under the most fundamental category of being or existence In Philosophy of mind, dualism is a set of views about the relationship between mind and matter which begins with the claim that mental phenomena are in some e. Advaita Vedanta), seeing multiple manifestations of the one God or source of being, a view which is often considered by non-Hindus as being polytheistic. Advaita Vedanta ( IAST Advaita Vedānta; Sanskrit अद्वैत वेदान्त əd̪vait̪ə veːd̪ɑːnt̪ə is a sub-school of the Polytheism is belief in or worship of multiple Gods (usually assembled in a pantheon) together with associated Mythology and Rituals

Pantheism is a key component of Advaita philosophy. Advaita Vedanta ( IAST Advaita Vedānta; Sanskrit अद्वैत वेदान्त əd̪vait̪ə veːd̪ɑːnt̪ə is a sub-school of the Other subdivisions of Vedanta do not strictly hold this tenet. For example, the Dvaita school of Madhva holds Brahman to be the external personal God Vishnu, whereas the theistic school of Ramanuja espouses Panentheism. Dvaita ( Kannada: ದ್ವೈತ Devanagari:द्बैत is a dualist school of Vedanta Hindu philosophy. For other meanings see Vishnu (disambiguation. Vishnu ( IAST viṣṇu Devanagari विष्णु (honorific Ramanuja ( traditionally 1017&ndash1137 also known as Ramanujacharya, was a Theologian, Philosopher, and Scriptural Exegete. Panentheism (from Greek (pân "all" (en "in" and (Theós "God" "all-in-God" is a belief system

Judaism

The radically immanent sense of the divine in Jewish mystical Kabbalah is said to have inspired Spinoza's formulation of pantheism. Immanence, derived from the Latin in manere "to remain within" refers to philosophical and metaphysical theories of the divine as existing and acting within the mind Kabbalah (קַבָּלָה lit "receiving" is a discipline and school of thought discussing the mystical aspect of Judaism. Baruch or Benedict de Spinoza (ברוך שפינוזה Bento de Espinosa Benedictus de Spinoza ( November 24, 1632 – February 21, However, Spinoza's views have not been accepted in Orthodox Judaism. On the other hand, Schopenhauer asserted that Spinoza's pantheism was a result of his reading of Malebranche:

Malebranche teaches that we see all things in God himself. "Malebranche" redirects here For the fictional demons see Malebolge. "Malebranche" redirects here For the fictional demons see Malebolge. This is certainly equivalent to explaining something unknown by something even more unknown. Moreover, according to him, we see not only all things in God, but God is also the sole activity therein, so that physical causes are so only apparently; they are merely occasional causes. (Recherches de la vérité, Livre VI, seconde partie, chap. 3. ) And so here we have essentially the pantheism of Spinoza who appears to have learned more from Malebranche than from Descartes.

– Schopenhauer, Parerga and Paralipomena, Vol. I, "Sketch of a History of the Doctrine of the Ideal and the Real"

Additionally, the Baal Shem Tov, the founder of Hasidism, had a mystical sense of the divine that could be described as panentheism. Rabbi Yisroel (Israel ben Eliezer (רבי ישראל בן אליעזר August 27, 1698 (18 Elul &ndash May 22, 1760) often called Hasidic Judaism (also Chasidic, etc from the Hebrew: he '''''חסידות''''', Chassidus, meaning "piety" from the Hebrew Panentheism (from Greek (pân "all" (en "in" and (Theós "God" "all-in-God" is a belief system

Biblical Judaism asserts the origin of the Universe was brought forth by the Torah law of nature. Law is a system of rules enforced through a set of Institutions used as an instrument to underpin civil obedience politics economics and society Thus the original Torah is found not within the writing of Moshe, but within nature itself. "Reading" the Torah of nature is seen as equivalent to "reading" the Torah of revelation and theoretically will agree with one another in the end [as illustrated for example in the discovery of the Big Bang in 1965]. Rabbinical Orthodoxy viewing this as a discrepancy, in order to maintain the written Torah above that given first in nature, has argued that written Torah preceded creation, and it was from the written Torah that God "spoke" creation. A view rejected by Biblical pantheists.

Maimonides, though Orthodox, reflected the sentiment that the Torah of nature and the Torah of scripture were equivalent and found its logic inescapable, in his comments on the reconciliation of science with scripture. Moses Maimonides ( March 30 1135 – December 13 1204) also known as the Rambam, was a Rabbi, Physician, and These instructions no doubt served as background for the development of Baruch Spinoza's later views.

Christianity

There are a number of minority traditions within and around historical Christianity which trace the origins of their pantheistic beliefs to the New Testament and other related ecclesiastical traditions. The diversity of this view extends from early Quakers, to later Unitarians, to as far as within the traditional Catholic and Liberal Protestant main-line denominations themselves.

Other sources include Process theology, Creation Spirituality, the Brethren of the Free Spirit and some would claim its presence among the gnostics. Process theology is a school of thought influenced by the metaphysical Process philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead (1861–1947 Creation Spirituality is a socially conscious earth-centered unorthodox Christian spiritual system formulated in the 1970s by Matthew Fox then a Catholic priest The Brothers or Brethren of the Free Spirit (Brüder und Schwestern des Freien Geistes was a lay Christian movement which flourished in northern Europe in Gnosticism (γνώσις gnōsis, Knowledge) refers to a diverse Syncretistic Religious movement consisting of various Belief systems The idea has had adherents within segments of Christianity for some time. Christianity ( Greek Χριστιανισμός from the word Xριστός ( Christ)is a monotheistic Religion centered on the life and teachings

Some Christians look at the Trinity in this sense: that the Holy Ghost holds together the Universe, and personifies itself as the Father, who personifies Himself as the Son inside this Universe (meaning the Father is outside of the Universe, Time, and Space). Also held is that the Holy Spirit is conscious and useable, and thus is used by God to bless people with the Gifts of the Holy Ghost. All supernatural powers are believed to be possible by the Universe/Holy Ghost as well.

Christian pantheists, who appeal to its Biblical form, assert its origin is found throughout the scriptures, from the Old Testament to the New Testament and reconciles the difficulties which Roman theologians erroneously attempted to "solve" in the Roman councils concerning both the Trinity and the Nature of Christ as the Logos. As only pantheism provides both an expression of Christ as the "Logos" of God, and the unity of Monotheism. For the Celtic Frost album see Monotheist (album In Theology, monotheism (from Greek grc [[wiktμόνος μόνος]]

The Biblical equation of God to acts of nature, and the definition of God within the New Testament itself, all provide the basis of appeal to this belief system.

It is maintained by Christian pantheists, that the Catholic definition of God was heavily influenced by non-biblical sources and was dominated by Neo-platonism, rendering the definition of God as something which "exists" outside of "existence", thus rendering the definition of "God" as something which "does not exist". That is, a non-existent God. It is this basic definition of God into Neo-Platonic non-existence that Christian pantheists find unbiblical and objectionable.

Augustine rejected pantheism on the following grounds:

Ought not men of intelligence, and indeed men of every kind, to be stirred up to examine the nature of this opinion? For there is no need of excellent capacity for this task, that putting away the desire of contention, they may observe that if God is the soul of the world, and the world is as a body to Him, who is the soul, He must be one living being consisting of soul and body, and that this same God is a kind of womb of nature containing all things in Himself, so that the lives and souls of all living things are taken, according to the manner of each one’s birth, out of His soul which vivifies that whole mass, and therefore nothing at all remains which is not a part of God. And if this is so, who cannot see what impious and irreligious consequences follow, such as that whatever one may trample, he must trample a part of God, and in slaying any living creature, a part of God must be slaughtered? But I am unwilling to utter all that may occur to those who think of it, yet cannot be spoken without irreverence. [3]

as well as:

Concerning the rational animal himself,—that is, man,—what more unhappy belief can be entertained than that a part of God is whipped when a boy is whipped? And who, unless he is quite mad, could bear the thought that parts of God can become lascivious, iniquitous, impious, and altogether damnable? In brief, why is God angry at those who do not worship Him, since these offenders are parts of Himself?[4]

In the Gospel of Thomas (considered by most Christians to be un-canonical), Jesus said: I am the light that is over them all. The Gospel According to Thomas ( Coptic: ⲡⲉ̅ⲩ̅ⲁ̅ⲅⲅ̅ⲉⲗ̅ⲓⲟⲛ̅ ⲡⲕ̅ⲁ̅ⲧⲁ ⲑ̅ⲱ̅ⲙⲁⲥ also known as The Gospel Canonical is an Adjective derived from canon. Canon comes from the Greek word kanon, "rule" (perhaps originally from Jesus of Nazareth (7–2 BC / BCE —26–36 AD / CE) I am the All; the All has come forth from me, and the All has attained unto me. Cleave a (piece of) wood: I am there. Raise up the stone, an ye shall find me there. (77)[5]

Islam

To Muslims, the concept of pantheism is an un-Islamic teaching. However, Sufism, a minority, is believed by some non-Sufi Muslims to have pantheistic teachings. Sufism ( تصوّف - taṣawwuf, Persian: صوفی‌گری sufigari, Turkish: tasavvuf, Urdu: تصوف Sufism ( تصوّف - taṣawwuf, Persian: صوفی‌گری sufigari, Turkish: tasavvuf, Urdu: تصوف

Sufism can be divided into the following categories:

Pantheism may be randomly found in any of the above groups as Sufism, unlike majority orthodox Islam, is very diverse and emphasizes personal and individual spiritual experience and understanding. The sources of pantheistic interpretation would differ in each case according to the tradition it follows. Indigenous Sufism would be obviously influenced by eastern texts, Hadith Sufism would be influenced by Islamic scholars from Sulaiman period, and Quranic Sufis would see the Quran itself as the continuing revelation and interpret personification linguistics is the same manner as consistent with previous Biblical prophets. Most Ismaili Muslims are pantheistic, or to be more precise, panentheistic. For the Egyptian city see Ismaïlia. The Ismāʿīlī ( Urdu: إسماعیلی Ismāʿīlī, Arabic: الإسماعيليون Panentheism (from Greek (pân "all" (en "in" and (Theós "God" "all-in-God" is a belief system

Seth Speaks

Pantheism is an integral concept in many New Age religions and philosophies; it is supported most specifically by the Seth readings given by the psychic Jane Roberts (1929-1984). New Age ( New Age Movement and New Age Spirituality) is a Social Collective Phenomenon and a Spiritual Nature Jane Roberts ( May 8, 1929 &ndash September 5, 1984) was an American author Psychic and trance medium Seth, the "entity" whom Roberts purportedly channeled, said that God is composed of mental energy, that God's mental energy is the formative substance of all beings and things, and that God's consciousness is carried on this energy, thus making God's consciousness omnipresent. Seth frequently referred to God as "All That Is" and said "All faces belong to God. " Seth described God as a gestalt of all the individuals within it; he said that God knows itself as itself, yet also knows itself as each individual. However, this teaching has more in common with the related concept panentheism. Panentheism (from Greek (pân "all" (en "in" and (Theós "God" "all-in-God" is a belief system

Other religions

There are many elements of pantheism in some forms of Buddhism, Neopaganism, and Theosophy along with many varying denominations and individuals within and without denominations. Buddhism is a family of beliefs and practices Neopaganism or Neo-Paganism is an Umbrella term used to identify a wide variety of modern religious movements particularly those influenced by historical This article is about the philosophy introduced by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky See also the Neopagan section of Gaia and the Church of All Worlds. Gaia (ˈgeɪə or /ˈgaɪə/ (" land " or " Earth " from the Ancient Greek Γαîα also Gæa or Gea The Church of All Worlds (CAW is a neopagan religious group whose stated mission is to evolve a network of information mythology and experience that provides a context and

Many Unitarian Universalists consider themselves pantheists. Unitarian Universalism ( UUism) is a theologically liberal Religion characterized by its support for a "free and responsible search for truth

Paul Carus called himself "an atheist who loves God", and advocated "henism", which is often seen as monist or pantheist in nature. Paul Carus PhD (1852‑1919 was a German-American Author, editor, a student of comparative religion and former Professor of Philosophy Monism is the metaphysical and Theological view that all is one that all reality is subsumed under the most fundamental category of being or existence Pantheism ( Greek: πάν ( 'pan') = all and θεός ( 'theos') = God it literally means " God is All

Related concepts

Panentheism

Pantheism has features in common with panentheism, such as the idea that the Universe is part of God. Panentheism (from Greek (pân "all" (en "in" and (Theós "God" "all-in-God" is a belief system Technically, the two are separate. Whereas pantheism finds God to be synonymous with nature, panentheism finds God to be greater than nature alone. Some find this distinction unhelpful, while others see it as a significant point of division. Many of the major faiths described as pantheistic could also be described as panentheistic, whereas naturalistic pantheism cannot (not seeing God as more than nature alone). For example, elements of both panentheism and pantheism are found in Hinduism. Certain interpretations of the Bhagavad Gita and Shri Rudram support this view. The Shri Rudram Chamakam ( Sanskrit श्रि रुद्रम् चमकम् is a Vedic Stotra dedicated to Rudra (an early epithet

Cosmotheism

While the term is rarely used, and is most often simply a synonym for Pantheism, this unusual philosophy has been used rather differently, but in all cases, the feeling was that God was something created by man, perhaps even an end state of human evolution, through social planning, eugenics and other forms of genetic engineering. Human evolution, or anthropogenesis, is the part of biological Evolution concerning the emergence of Homo sapiens as a distinct Species

H. G. Wells subscribed to a form of Cosmotheism, which he called the "world brain" (from a book of essays by the same name he printed in 1937, one of which details the creation of a Library-encyclopedia hybrid), and detailed even more in his book God the Invisible King (in which he proscribes mankind to set up a socialist system, structuring itself on social and genetic statistics, education, and eugenics, ideally someday equating itself and possibly even merging with and conquering the Pantheist god itself. Herbert George Wells (21 September 1866 &ndash 13 August 1946 He was an outspoken socialist and a pacifist, his later works becoming increasingly political World Brain is the title of a book of essays by English author H An encyclopedia (or '''encyclopædia''') is a comprehensive written Compendium that contains Information on either all branches of Knowledge Socialism refers to a broad set of economic theories of social organization advocating state or collective ownership and administration of the Means of production and distribution See: Omega Point) and there were also some sections of his work Outline of History, which reflected this belief and his finding it in the teachings of Jesus and Siddhartha. Omega point is a term invented by French Jesuit Pierre Teilhard de Chardin to describe the maximum level of complexity and consciousness to which the universe The Outline of History, subtitled either " The Whole Story of Man " or " Being A Plain History of Life and Mankind Jesus of Nazareth (7–2 BC / BCE —26–36 AD / CE) His book Shape of Things to Come (and the 1936 film Things to Come) also reflects this, in which mankind, surviving an apocalyptic war and an extended Feudal period, unites to form a collectivist Utopia. Things to Come ( 1936) is a British Science fiction film, produced by Alexander Korda and directed by William Cameron Menzies Feudalism, a term first used in the early modern period (17th century in its most classic sense refers to a Medieval Europe Political system composed Utopia is a name for an ideal community taken from the title of a book written in 1516 by Sir Thomas More describing a fictional Island in the

In modern Israel, Cosmotheism was described by Mordekhay Nesiyahu, one of the foremost ideologists of the Israeli Labor Movement and a lecturer in its college Beit Berl. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Israel topics. Mordekhay Nesiyahu (מרדכי נסיהו is the founder of a little known Israeli subsect named Cosmotheism, and is affiliated with both the Israeli Labor Party Beit Berl (בֵּית בֶּרְל lit Berl House is a village and the largest academic college in Israel, in relation not only to the number of students (approximately He felt that God was something which did not exist before man, and was a secular entity which the rebuilding of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem had an instrumental role in "inventing". Etymology The Hebrew name given in Scripture for the building is Beit HaMikdash or "The Holy House" and only the Temple in Jerusalem is referred to by this name

In the 20th century United States, William Luther Pierce, a white nationalist associated with the American Nazi Party and founder of the National Alliance also utilised the term "Cosmotheism". The United States of America —commonly referred to as the William Luther Pierce III ( September 11 1933 &ndash July 23 2002) was the leader of the White separatist National Alliance White nationalism is a political Ideology which advocates a racial definition (or redefinition of national identity for White people, in opposition to The American Nazi Party was an organization formed with the goal of reviving Nazism, this time in the United States of America. The National Alliance is a White nationalist and White separatist Radical political organization In his eyes (similar to H. G. Wells'), God would be the end result of eugenics and racial hygiene (See: Nazism, Francis Galton and Theosophy). Herbert George Wells (21 September 1866 &ndash 13 August 1946 He was an outspoken socialist and a pacifist, his later works becoming increasingly political Eugenics is a social Philosophy which advocates the improvement of Human Hereditary traits through various forms of intervention Racial hygiene (often labeled a form of " Scientific racism " is the selection by a government of the putatively most physical intellectual and moral persons to raise Nazism, which was a short name for National Socialism (Nationalsozialismus refers primarily to the Ideology and practices of the National Socialist German Sir Francis Galton FRS ( 16 February 1822 &ndash 17 January 1911) half-cousin of Charles Darwin, was an This article is about the philosophy introduced by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky

Vladimir Vernadsky's and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin's "Noosphere" could be referred to as a description of the Cosmotheist deity, as does Emile Durkheim's Collective consciousness and Carl Jung's collective unconscious. Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky (Володимир Іванович Вернадський/Владимир Иванович Вернадский ( - January 6 1945 Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (pjɛʀ tejaʀ də ʃaʀdɛ̃ 1 May 1881, Orcines, France – 10 In the thought of Vladimir Vernadsky and Teilhard de Chardin, the noosphere (sometimes spelled noösphere) can be seen as the " sphere of Émile Durkheim ( April 15, 1858 – November 15, 1917) was a French Sociologist whose contributions were instrumental Collective consciousness refers to the shared beliefs and moral attitudes which operate as a unifying force within society Collective Unconscious or known to laymen as Collective Subconscious is a term of Analytical psychology, Coined by Carl Jung.

Arthur C. Clarke makes a possible reference to the Cosmotheist Noosphere in his 1953 book Childhood's End, referring to it as the "Overmind". Sir Arthur Charles Clarke, CBE (16 December 1917–19 March 2008 was a British Science fiction Author, Inventor, and In the thought of Vladimir Vernadsky and Teilhard de Chardin, the noosphere (sometimes spelled noösphere) can be seen as the " sphere of Childhood's End is a Science fiction novel by Sir Arthur C Clarke, dealing with the role of Mind in the cosmos and the plausible implications

See also: transhumanism, eternal return, Isaac Asimov's The Last Question. Transhumanism (sometimes symbolized by >H or H+) a term often used as a synonym for " Human enhancement " is an international intellectual Eternal return (also known as " eternal recurrence " is a concept which posits that the Universe has been recurring and will continue to recur in a Isaac Asimov (c January 2 1920 &ndash April 6 1992 ˈaɪzək ˈæzɪmʌv originally Исаак Озимов but now transcribed into Russian as, was a Russian "The Last Question" is a Science fiction Short story by Isaac Asimov.

Pandeism

Pandeism is a kind of Pantheism which incorporates a form of Deism, holding that the Universe is identical to God, but also that God was previously a conscious and sentient force or entity that designed and created the Universe. Pandeism or Pan-Deism ( Greek πάν, 'pan' = ' all ' and Latin Deus = God, in the sense of Deism Deism is the belief that a supreme God exists and created the physical universe and that religious truths can be arrived at by the application of reason alone without dependence on revelation God only became an unconscious and nonsentient God by becoming the Universe. Other than this distinction (and the possibility that the Universe will one day return to the state of being God), Pandeistic beliefs are identical to Pantheism.

Ethics

According to Schopenhauer, pantheism has no ethics.

All pantheism must ultimately be shipwrecked on the inescapable demands of ethics, and then on the evil and suffering of the world. If the world is a theophany, then everything done by man, and even by animal, is equally divine and excellent; nothing can be more censurable and nothing more praiseworthy than anything else; hence there is no ethics. Theophany, from the Greek, theophaneia (meaning "appearance/showing of God" refers to the appearance of a Deity to a human or to a divine disclosure

– The World as Will and Representation, Vol. Published in 1819 The World as Will and Representation is the central work of Arthur Schopenhauer. II, Ch. XLVII

However, some pantheists hold that the pantheist viewpoint is the most ethical viewpoint, pointing out that any harm done to another is doing harm to oneself because what harms one harms all. What is good and evil isn't the mandate of something outside of us, but as a result of the way we are all interconnected. Instead of good choices being based on fear of divine punishment, it comes from a mutual respect from all things.

Traditional forms and definitions of pantheism, would however, refer to their classical bodies of sacred texts and teachers for definitions of ethics.

Neo-Pantheistic ethics are based on the belief that any action initiated resonates throughout all of existence. What is good and evil is not mandated from something outside of us, but is a result of our interconnectedness. Instead of consideration based upon fear of divine punishment or hope of divine reward, the better Pantheistic ethical decision comes from an awareness of mutual interrelation.

References

  1. ^ General Sketch of the History of Pantheism p. 29
  2. ^ Chandogya Upanishad 3-14 Williams Translation
  3. ^ City of God Book 4 Chapter 12
  4. ^ City of God Book 4 Chapter 13,
  5. ^ The text of the Gospel of Thomas from the Scholars Version translation published in The Complete Gospels

See also

External links

Dictionary

pantheism

-noun

  1. The belief that the universe is divine and should be revered. Pantheism identifies the universe with God but denies any personality or transcendence of such a God.
  2. (rare) The belief in all gods; omnitheism.

Pantheism

-noun

  1. Alternative spelling of pantheism.
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