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Pantheism (Greek: pan = all and Theos = God) literally means "God is All" and "All is God". It is the view that everything is of an all-encompassing immanent God; or that the universe, or nature, and God are equivalent. More detailed definitions tend to emphasize the idea that natural law, existence and/or the universe (the sum total of all that is was and shall be) is represented or personified in the theological principle of 'God'. The term "pantheist" - of which the word "pantheism" is a variation - was purportedly first used by Irish writer John Toland in his 1705 work, Socinianism Truly Stated, by a pantheist.

Varieties of pantheism

Despite the broad, inclusive nature of pantheism, modern pantheists generally identify themselves as members of two rather divergent groups:

Classical pantheism, which is expressed in the immanent God of Kabalistic Judaism, Advaita Vedanta Sanatana Dharma, and Monism, generally viewing God in a personal manner.

Naturalistic pantheism, based on the relatively recent views of Baruch Spinoza and John Toland (who coined the term "pantheism"), as well as contemporary influences, and which encompasses key aspects of pandeism.

The vast majority of persons who can be identified as "pantheistic" are of the classical variety (such as Hindus), 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 two "flavors" of pantheism is not entirely clear in all situations, and remains a source of some controversy in pantheist circles.

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, if this is so, humans can have free will. 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 analogy further maintains that while a cell may be aware of its own environs, and even has some choices (freewill) between right and wrong (killing a bacteria, 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. Another way to understand this relationship is the Hindu concept of Jiva, wherein the human soul is an aspect of God not yet having reached enlightenment, after which it becomes Atman.

However, it should be noted that not all pantheists accept the idea of free will, with determinism being particularly widespread among naturalistic pantheists. 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 critics argue that pantheism is little more than a redefinition of the word "God" to mean "existence" or "reality". Many pantheists reply that even 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, or impersonal Cosmos, and sees this God as uniting all true religions. Naturalistic pantheism believes in an unconscious, non-sentient, and purposeless universe, and which, while being holy and beautiful, is seen as being a God in a non-traditional and atheistic sense.

Cosmotheism, a small but controversial racialist group which considers itself a form of classical pantheism, has an evolutionary interpretation of God, seeing GOD to be impersonal. Cosmotheism is a form of classical pantheism that identifies god with the cosmos, that is, with the universe as a unified whole.

Cosmotheism asserts that "all is within god and god is within all". It considers the nature of reality and of existence to be mutable, and destined to co-evolve towards an ever more complete "universal consciousness", or towards godhood.

Etymologically, cosmotheism differs from "pantheism" in that "pan" is ancient Greek for all, while the Greek word cosmos means an orderly and harmonious universe. Cosmotheists take this as meaning that the divine is tantamount to reality and consciousness, an inseparable part of an orderly, harmonious, and whole universal system.

In its broadest sense, the word cosmotheism may be considered synonymous with pantheism, although not all modern pantheists would accept the term as a synonym for their own worldview because of its recent association with William Luther Pierce and his white separatist political views, which some pantheists might find objectionable (see Cosmotheism (Pierce)).

Through a big picture lens, Cosmotheism has a Transhumanist interpretation of God as the final product of self-directed racial, creative and conscious evolution. God is thus the final stage of a pantheist universe which does not exist at present, but that will exist in the future.

Cosmotheism sees the pantheist universe of the present and past as a kind of metaphorical pre-programmed blind and brute force mathematical equation unravelling as a cosmic process and transformation which unconsciously is going through stages of development towards an end point of God.

More importantly, God in cosmotheism is not only an end point, but how one gets there is an extremely important, specific and precise path. Taking a step back and looking into the past, cosmotheists see life coming into existence as a product of purpose from this blind and unconscious cosmic evolution of the pantheist universe.

During unconscious lifes explosion of variety and brute force evolution over time, at some point life as a whole crosses a stage where a sub set combination occurs within its variation possessing iminent consciousness - or sentience.

Cosmotheism thus sees as the present embodiment of the divine purpose and highest stage of consciousness in life within the European people.

More specifically, Cosmotheists believe that only special racially awakened members within the descendents of Europe reflect the universes highest level of the creative and continued urge towards Godhood.

Racialism is then perceived in this racialist version of pantheism as the necessary force to create a distinct speciation or narrow evolutionary path ever towards the universe continuing its conscious evolution towards Godhood.

Thus with this new divine awareness, self-chosen racialists members of the white race use their racial consciousness as a community to see the once dark maze no longer blind or in darkness.

With illumination and foresight, the divinely-awakened exit the blind maze and then see a clear path, one which directs them into a prescient future of conscious evolution to achieve ever higher states of physical, mental and spiritual being.

The higher states of being are stepping stones towards a final omega point of absolute, total and infinite universal consciousness.

God in the cosmotheist vision is then the end stage of a pantheist universe attaining a state of absolute, infinite and perfect self-awareness of itself in totality through racial conscious evolution.

At this final and completed stage, Godhood in Cosmotheism is the omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresence consciousness which bridges, merges, and converges all the knowledge in the universe, time and space, and the past and future as the one eternal presence of consciousness.

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."

Related concepts

Panentheism

Pantheism has features in common with panentheism, such as the idea that the universe is part of God. Technically, the two are separate, inasmuch as pantheism finds God synonymous with nature, and 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 Gita and Shri Rudram support this view.

Pandeism

Pandeism combines the major elements of natural pantheism with deism (the concept that God created a self-regulating universe, and does not actively intervene in its operations). The fundamental concept is that a single, omnipotent deity preceded the existence of the universe, that this deity envisioned or designed the universe with all of its physical attributes, and that this deity created the universe by completely incorporating itself into the material universe. In short, God ceased to be an independent and sentient God, and instead became the non-sentient and non-responsive universe. This subset of naturalistic pantheism is distinct in that it necessarily encompasses the belief in a sentient deity that existed before the formation of the universe.

Pantheistic concepts in religion

Hinduism

In Hindu theology Brahman is the ultimate, both transcendent and immanent, the absolute infinite existence, the sum total of all that ever is, was, or ever shall be. 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. 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. Pantheism and panentheism are key components of Advaita theology.

In Smartist tradition, which follows Advaita philosophy, Brahman is seen as the one God, with aspects of God emanating therefrom. With all Hindus, there is a strong belief in all paths, or true religions leading to One God.

Some of the Hindu aspects of God include Ganesa, Devi, Vishnu, and Siva.

Hindus who follow the Smarta tradition believe that these different aspects of God can bring worshippers closer to Moksha, end of the cycle of rebirth.

Other subdivisions of Vedanta do not strictly hold this tenet. For example, Dvaita school of Madhva holds Brahman to be only Vishnu. In contrast, Arya Samaj believes in worshipping Brahman directly, without conceptualizing God through form such as Ishta-deva or using an icon, the Hindu murti to focus. Arya Samaj only takes into consideration the formless Brahman while Advaita states that the formless Brahman and the formful God Saguna Brahman are the same and hence worship of either is valid and equivalent. However, Advaita agrees with Arya Samaj that the Ultimate Reality is attributeless, in contrast to the theistic schools of Ramanuja, who also stressed panentheism, and Madhva, an advocate of duality.

Vedanta, specifically, Advaita, is a branch of Hindu philosophy which gives this matter a greater focus. Most Vedantic adherents are monists or "non-dualists" (i.e. Advaita Vedanta), seeing multiple manifestations of the one God or source of being, a view which is often confused by non-Hindus as being polytheistic.

Judaism

The Kabbalah, in Jewish mysticism, paints a pantheistic/panentheistic view of God which has wide acceptance in Hasidic Judaism, particularly from their founder, the Baal Shem Tov.

Other religions

There are elements of pantheism in the Liberal Catholic Church, Theosophy, some forms of Buddhism, Taoism, Process theology and Creation Spirituality, along with many varying denominations and individuals within denominations.

Many Unitarian Universalists consider themselves pantheists.

Quotations

A religion old or new, that stressed the magnificence of the universe as revealed by modern science, might be able to draw forth reserves of reverence and awe hardly tapped by the conventional faiths. Sooner or later, such a religion will emerge. - Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot (1994)

It is necessary to note that While Sagan never described himself as a pantheist; many maintain that pantheism fit his views better than any other term. This claim, while widely accepted among pantheists of all varieties, remains somewhat controversial outside the pantheist community. A similar debate surrounds the attribution of pantheism to other notable figures, including Einstein.

I believe in Spinoza's God who reveals Himself in the orderly harmony of what exists, not in a God who concerns himself with fates and actions of human beings. - Albert Einstein

To me, nature is sacred. Trees are my temples and forests are my cathedrals. - Mikhail Gorbachev [1]

@@ Line 21: / Line 21: @@
 [[Cosmotheism (Pierce)|Cosmotheism]], a small but controversial [[racialist]] group which considers itself a form of classical pantheism, has an evolutionary interpretation of God, seeing GOD
+to be impersonal. '''Cosmotheism''' is a form of [[classical pantheism]] that identifies god with the [[cosmos]], that is, with the [[universe]] as a unified whole.
-to be impersonal.
+Cosmotheism asserts that "all is within god and god is within all".  It considers the nature of reality and of existence to be mutable, and destined to co-evolve towards an ever more complete "universal consciousness", or towards godhood.
+Etymologically, cosmotheism differs from "pantheism" in that "pan" is [[ancient Greek]] for ''all'', while the Greek word ''cosmos'' means an orderly and harmonious universe. Cosmotheists take this as meaning that the divine is tantamount to reality and consciousness, an inseparable part of an orderly, harmonious, and whole universal system.
+In its broadest sense, the word ''cosmotheism'' may be considered synonymous with pantheism, although not all modern pantheists would accept the term as a synonym for their own worldview because of its recent association with [[William Luther Pierce]] and his white separatist political views, which some pantheists might find objectionable (see [[Cosmotheism (Pierce)]]).
 Through a big picture lens, Cosmotheism has a [[Transhumanist]] interpretation of God as the final product of self-directed racial, creative and conscious evolution. God is thus the final stage of a pantheist universe which does not exist at present, but that will exist in the future.