Pantheism
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"I wish there was one person
in my life I could show. One instinctive, absolutely unbrisk person
I could take to Greece, and stand in front of certain shrines and sacred
streams and say, 'Look! Life is only comprehensive through a thousand
local gods. And not just the old dead ones with names like Zeus -
no, but living Geniuses of Place and Person! And not just Greece
but modern England! Spirits of certain trees, certain curves of brick
wall, certain chip shops, if you like, and slate roofs - just as of certain
frowns in people and slouches' ...I'd say to them - 'Worship as many gods
as you can see - and more will appear!' ...If I had a son, I bet you he'd
come out exactly like his mother. Utterly worshipless."
- from Equus
by Peter Shaffer, 1973 (Act 1:18)
For all that lives is holy.
- William Blake
Pantheism
is the belief that everything is god, and that god is everything.
I have trouble explaining this clearly to people, especially in writing.
One friend thinks I worship stones - and I do, but not in the sense that
implies. Another friend described me as worshipping Pan, and
that isn't the point either. It's a misleading pun. Let me
try to explain....
The true essence of divinity is ineffable - which means it can't be explained
in words. All religions have this situation, and they overcome it
by using words and ideas to get as close as they can to the meanings they
intend. No one can describe the indescribable, not even mystics and
seers. But they try.
The result is that we have religion expressed in a series of descriptive
metaphors, adopted by individuals or cultures according to their needs
and understanding. Sometimes this takes the form of anthropomorphizing
god - talking about divinity as if it were a person, like in the old joke,
"I saw God, and did I get a surprise. She's black." Sometimes
the attempt to describe the nature of god becomes abstract (calling it
such names as Sanctus Spiritus) or concrete, whereby god has human form
as an avatar, a human birth, or many human, animal and other forms - the
sun, for example.
I consider divinity to be existence. There are other words for it:
-- truth, reality, the universe, the omniverse. It can be seen as
one thing (emphasizing the unity of all) or as many things, emphasizing
the unique properties of every object or conception.
Since god is everything and everywhere, it doesn't matter what the
expression of worship is. As Shaffer suggests, find your own gods,
and you will always be finding more.
So what is the nature of worship? It is appreciation of everything
for what it is, acceptance of everything we encounter, valuing things for
their own attributes. If you look hard enough at anything, you will
see the divinity that it really is. We can't see the molecules or
atoms of its composition with our naked eyes, but we can acquire a sense
of wonder about them, the pattern of substance and notion that makes it
that way. That pattern is no less holy than the object itself.
One of the great insights is that the dancer is the dance.
It isn't that god demands worship, or needs it. It is that we need
to nourish the spiritual side of ourselves to connect to the world around
us, and the people around us, and life as we live it, good and bad.
In gaining insight into the universe we gain insight to ourselves - we
of course being another expression of divinity. Or conversely, in
gaining insight into ourselves, we gain insight into the universe.
To listen to the voice of god, listen to your heart, your conscience, your
mind and your subconscious. Think for yourself, and you will
find the truth you are looking for.
A Prayer....
From Rosslyn Chapel, in Roslin, Scotland:
Deep peace of Running Wave to you
Deep peace of the Flowing Air to you
Deep peace of the Quiet Earth to you
Deep peace of the Shining Stars to you
Deep peace of the Son of Peace to you
The Nature of Good and Evil....
In an absolute sense, the terms are meaningless, and evil is as holy and
goodness, and vice versa. But we don't live in absolute, objective
terms: we are human beings, and we have a vested interest in what is good
for us. We have every right to love existence, and to love
ourselves, and to love our species, as well as those personally close to
us. So that which threatens our well-being is evil. However
holy the smallpox bacteria may be, or the AIDS virus, or a falling bomb,
they can cause us great harm.
What is evil, is whatever causes suffering. What is good, is whatever
increases happiness and decreases suffering. For our lives
to reach their potential - which is the path to enlightenment and happiness
- we should minimize suffering in ourselves and others. Life is full
of the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. With luck, we learn
from this and grow, but it can be a painful process.
Happiness is a creative, fecund experience that leads to sharing that happiness.
Misery is selfish and solipsistic, thinking about itself and its wants.
True hedonism is unselfish. Being uptight is a form of self-abuse,
taking too much unto oneself, losing the calmness and humour that are really
at the centre of helping others.
A few tips for a good life:
Learn to forgive, because anger will harm
you.
Be brave, because courage is the strongest
weapon.
Be flexible. Stubbornness is often related
to stupidity.
Know yourself, and other knowledge will come
to you.
Learn everything you can. Knowledge
is freedom.
Listen to your heart. Your body and
your feelings have wisdom they are trying to share with you.
Be aware. See the wonder.
Be at peace with yourself, which will make
it possible to be at peace with others.
Be kind.
Remember that words are less important than
the meaning or intent behind them. In most cases, the important thing
is unspoken or unseen. "What is essential is invisible to the eye,"
is how Antoine de Saint-Exupéry put it in The Little Prince.
Cultivate freedom - your own, and others.
Other priorities will fall into place.
Holy places...
Holy places are where you find them.
Of course, if we were to look at things on a purely objective level, all
places are holy to the pantheist. But sometimes that holiness speaks
to us, unbidden - and it can be difficult to understand exactly why, or
whether that communication has something to do with oneself, or the circumstances,
or the time, or the energy of the place. Sometimes a
number of people agree by consensus that a place is holy, and build a church,
or make pilgrimages to it. Lourdes, Stonehenge, Ayers Rock,
St. Peter's Basilica.
Sometimes the holiness is apparent only to one person, a special connection
between that person and that place. M. Scott Peck said, speaking
of himself and his wife, "I cannot tell what makes Tintagel [in Cornwall]
suxh a holy spot for us any more than I can about the hut circles at South
Stack [in Wales]: it is just the conjunction of natural beauty with ancient
human ruins. Beyond that, it is mysterious - mystical.... I wonder
whether Arthur contributed to the holiness of Tintagel or or the holiness
of the place led to it being attributed to him of legend? I suspect the
latter."
I tend to feel that sense of holiness around trees, and on the sea, on
cliffs and on islands.
A friend of mine a work, a Catholic, recently said to me, "I know all times
are God's time, but I don't like early mornings." What a wonderful
concept, I thought. The idea that time belongs to god, and we are
allowed to use it. Peck has something to say about that, too: "Some
Catholics have a concept I much admire: the Sacrament of the Present Moment.
It suggests that every moment of our lives is sacred, and that we should
make of each moment a sacrament." Without being sure that I
understand what the Catholic Church means by a sacrament, I am suggesting
the same thing, that holiness exists in all moments, all objects, and all
situations. We only need the will to see it.
Authors who have inspired
my pantheism over the years....
Spinoza
Lau Tzu
Lucretius
Einstein
Meister Eckhart
Matthew Fox
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Patanjali, the Bhagavad Gita,
and other writings on Yoga
Pantheism on the
Net....
There are numerous websites, mailing lists, discussion forums and
newsgroups out there about pantheism. At first, I was excited to
find them, and delighted that there were other pantheists like myself.
On reading the websites and newsgroups, I found that they tend to be divided
into three types. There are those who don't call themselves pantheists,
but express ideas I consider to be pantheist within the framework of other
established religions - Christianity (many of the great Pantheist mystics
were Christian), Buddhism, First Nation religions, Shinto, and so
on. The second type follows a doctrine of science and
study, coming close, in my eyes, to actual atheism, denying "spirit" that
is not matter or energy. The third type is into nature worship.
I favour a synthesis of these approaches: learning mixed with mysticism,
nature worship tempered with the teachings of many faiths.
Links to Pantheist
sites:
Scientific
pantheism: basic principles by Paul Harrison
---
A
Religious Naturalist's view on Scientific Pantheism
---
Pantheism
---
Encylopaedia
entry
pantheism
[Gr. pan (= (all, theos (= (God], any system of belief or speculation that
identifies the universe with GOD. Some
pantheists view God as primary and the universe as a finite and temporal
emanation from God; others see
nature as the great, inclusive unity. The various types of pantheism have
religious, philosophical, scientific, and
poetic bases. HINDUISM is a noteworthy form of religious pantheism; philosophical
pantheism is most
completely represented in the monistic system of SPINOZA.
---
Definition
of Pantheism (and discussion of it with regard to Christianity) by Edward
A. Pace
---
An
Introduction to Pantheism by Jan Garrett
---
The
Pantheist Page - An introduction to pantheism
for pagans and others
---
Pantheist
Association for Nature
---
About.com
links
From "In Memoriam" in Rosslyn Chapel,
in Roslin, Scotland:
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our
light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves,
"Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous." Actually,
who are you not to be? Your playing small doesn't serve the
world.
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking
so that others won't feel insecure around you. We are born to manifest
the glory that is within us. It is in everyone. And as we let
our own light shine, we unconsciously give others permission to do the
same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically
liberates others.
- Clifford
Innes (1955-2000)
Do you
understand now why I call my website "World of Wonders", and what
I mean by it?
I'll add more links in future, and more sources as I find them. Meanwhile,
if you
have comments,
I'd be happy to hear them.
Om shanti.
Elizabeth
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