Absolute (philosophy)

"The Absolute" redirects here. For the Animorphs novel, see The Absolute (novel). For other uses, see Absolute (disambiguation).

In philosophy, the concept of The Absolute, also known as The (Unconditioned) Ultimate, The Wholly Other, The Supreme Being, The Absolute/Ultimate Reality, and other names, is the thing, being, entity, power, force, reality, presence, law, principle, etc. that possesses maximal ontological status, existential ranking, existential greatness, or existentiality. In layman's terms, this is the one that is, in one way or another, the greatest, truest, or most real being.

There are many conceptions of The Absolute in various fields and subjects, such as philosophy, religion, spiritual traditions, mathematics, and even natural science. The nature of these conceptions can range from "merely" encompassing all physical existence, nature, or reality, to being completely unconditioned existentially, transcending all concepts, notions, and types, kinds, and categories of being.

The Absolute is often thought of as causing to come into being manifestations that interact with lower or lesser forms of being. This is either done passively, through emanations, or actively, through avatars and incarnations. These existential manifestations, which themselves can possess transcendent attributes, only contain minuscule or infinitesimal portions of the true essence of The Absolute.

The term itself was not in use in ancient or medieval philosophy, but closely related to the description of God as Actus purus (Pure Actuality) in scholasticism. It was introduced in modern philosophy, notably by Hegel, for "the sum of all being, actual and potential". The term has since also been adopted in perennial philosophy.

Major conceptions of The Absolute

There are three general ways of conceiving the Absolute. The Absolute might be (1) the first and greatest being, (2) not a being at all but the "ground" of being, or (3) both the ground of being and a being.

In conception one the Absolute is the most true and intelligible reality. It can be spoken of and known. For example, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel's Absolute Spirit is the most true reality. It is thinkable, speakable, and exists in the objective world by comprehending everything, including people, states, and world history.

In conception two the Absolute might be conceived of as utterly outside of all other reality and hence unintelligible. It cannot be known or spoken about. Plato's Socrates says that "The Form of the Good" is "beyond being", implying that it is even beyond thought, language, and normal categories of existence.

St. John of the Cross says:

He who truly arrives there
cuts free from himself;
all that he knew before
now seems worthless,
and his knowledge so soars
that he is left in unknowing
transcending all knowledge.

In conception three the Absolute is seen as transcending duality and distinction. This concept of a fundamental reality that transcends or includes all other reality is usually (but not always) associated with divinity. While this conception initially seems contradictory, it has been highly influential. One way to understand this third conception is to consider the Tao Te Ching.

The Tao that can be spoken is not the eternal Tao.
The name that can be named is not the eternal name.

— Tao Te Ching, 1

These opening lines distinguish between two Taos. One is the "eternal Tao" (which cannot be named or explained) and the other "Tao" seems to exist in space and time (and can be named and explained). The eternal Tao is beyond existence and cannot be named or fully understood, while the other Tao exists and can be known. The eternal Tao is infinite; the other is finite. The eternal Tao is formless; the other is formed. The eternal Tao is transcendent; the other is immanent. The other "Tao" is an attempt to describe the "eternal Tao" in human terms; but such effort can never express the eternal Tao fully. He continues:

The nameless is the origin of Heaven and Earth
The named is the mother of myriad things
Thus, constantly without desire, one observes its essence
Constantly with desire, one observes its manifestations
These two emerge together but differ in name
The unity is said to be the mystery.

In these lines, he further discusses the difference between the two Taos. The eternal Tao is "nameless" and is the origin of Heaven and Earth; this origin can be understood as an underlying metaphysics that cannot be described fully. The "named" Tao, on the other hand, is able to describe specific phenomenons that exist in space and time, hence it is the mother of myriad of things; it also can be treated as the humanly conceived concepts in the effort to describe our physical world. Later, he points out that both the "named" and the "nameless" emerge together from the same eternal Tao. This seemingly self-contradictory unity, of course, is said to be the mystery to be understood.

Cross-cultural conception

One or more of these conceptions of the Absolute can be found in various other perspectives. The following is a list of conceptions of the Absolute. Note that generally the list is ordered alphabetically, but some of the sublists are ordered by historical precedence:

• Abrahamic religions — God in Abrahamic religions
  • Alawites — Allah
  • Bahá'í Faith and Bábism — God in the Bahá'í Faith, Báb, He whom God shall make manifest
  • Christianity — God in Christianity, Jehovah
    • Christian theology — Apophatic theology and Cataphatic theology
      • Catholic theology
        • Scholasticism and Thomas Aquinas: Thomism and Thought of Thomas Aquinas — Actus purus, Actus primus
      • Eastern Orthodox theology — Essence–energies distinction
      • Oriental Orthodoxy — Miaphysitism
      • Protestant theology — Five solae
        • Paul Tillich — God Above God
    • Christian philosophy — God in Christianity
      • Nicolas Malebranche — God
    • Christian mysticism — God in Christianity
    • Kimbanguism — Simon Kimbangu
  • Druze — God
  • Islam — God in Islam, Allah
    • Schools of Islamic theology — God in Islam
    • Islamic philosophy — God in Islam
    • Sufism — Haqiqa, Alam-i-HaHoot
  • Judaism — God in Judaism, Tetragrammaton
    • The Kingdoms of Israel and Judah — Yahweh
    • Jewish philosophy — God in Judaism
    • Jewish mysticism / Kabbalah — Ein Sof
  • Mormonism — God in Mormonism
  • Rastafari — Jah
  • Samaritanism — Yahweh
  • Shabakism — Divine Reality
  • Yazdânism — Hâk / Haqq / Hâq ("Hâq-i wâqi'")
    • Alevism — Haqq-Muhammad-Ali
      • Ishikism — Haqq-Muhammad-Ali
    • Yarsanism — The Divine Essence
    • Yazidis — Hâk / Haqq / Hâq ("Hâq-i wâqi'"), whose main emanation is Melek Taus
• Acosmism — Unmanifest
• Adyghe Habze — Theshxwe
• Ahom religion — Pha Tu Ching
• Akan religion — Anansi Kokuroku
• Albanian mythology — Perendi (deity)
• Aldous Huxley's — Ground of Being, see The Perennial Philosophy
• Altaic mythologies — Tengri
  • Turkic mythology — Tengri, see List of Turkic mythological figures
  • Mongol mythology — Esege Malan
  • Mongolian shamanism — Qormusta Tengri
  • Tungusic creation myth — Buga (deity), Eskeri
• Ancient Canaanite religion — El (deity)
• Ancient Egyptian religion and Egyptian mythology — Ra and assorted aspects, such as Khepri, Khnum, Ra-Horakhty, Raet-Tawy, and the Eye of Ra, see Ancient Egyptian creation myths and Ancient Egyptian deities
  • Atenism — Aten
  • Heliopolis — Atum
  • Heracleopolis Magna — Heryshaf
  • Hermopolis — Ogdoad, Thoth
  • Memphis — Ptah
  • Sais, Egypt — Neith
  • Thebes — Amun
• Ancient Iranian religion — Ahura Mazda
• Ancient Greek philosophy — generally Arche
  • Pre-Socratic philosophy — generally Arche
    • Milesian school — Arche and Apeiron
      • Thales of Miletus — Arche, identified as the classical element water
      • Anaximander — Apeiron
      • Anaximenes of Miletus — Air (classical element)
    • Pythagoreanism — Tetractys
      • Pythagoras — Monad (philosophy), Dyad (Greek philosophy), Musica universalis
      • Hippasus — Fire (classical element)
      • Philolaus — Harmony, Pythagorean astronomical system
      • Archytas — Cosmos, as an unlimited system
    • Heraclitus and the Ephesian school — Becoming (philosophy) and Change (philosophy), represented as Fire (classical element), Unity of opposites, Logos
    • Eleatics — What-Is
      • Parmenides — What-Is, embodied and unified by The One, with nonbeing encompassed by The Void (philosophy)
      • Zeno of Elea — What-Is
      • Melissus of Samos — The One
    • Pluralist school — Pluralism (philosophy)
      • Anaxagoras — Nous
      • Archelaus (philosopher) — Air (classical element) and Infinity (philosophy), with the Nous, formed from the two principles, being the cause of all other things
      • Empedocles — The Perfect Sphere
    • Atomism, as conceived by Leucippus and Democritus — Atom and The Void (philosophy)
    • Sophist — Relativism
    • Xenophanes — God
    • Pherecydes of Syros — Zas, Cthonie, and Chronos
    • Hippo (philosopher) — Water (classical element) and Fire (classical element)
    • Diogenes of Apollonia — Air (classical element)
    • Alcmaeon of Croton — possibly Balance (metaphysics)
  • Socrates — generally Virtue, possibly Eros (concept) or Hyperuranion
    • Cynicism (philosophy) — Physis
      • Antisthenes — God
      • Diogenes — Physis
      • Dio Chrysostom — Physis
    • Cyrenaics and Aristippus — Hedone
    • Eretrian school and Phaedo of Elis — The Good/True
    • Megarian school and Euclid of Megara — The Good
    • Platonism, Platonic idealism, Theory of forms, and Plato — Form of the Good, Hyperuranion
      • Platonic Academy — generally Form of the Good
        • Old Platonic Academy
          • Speusippus — The Ultimate Principle, as the Absolute One
          • Xenocrates — Unity, in the form(s) of the World Soul and Zeus
        • Middle Platonic Academy
          • Arcesilaus — the unknown and possibly unknowable Aletheia/Truth
        • New Platonic Academy
          • Carneades — the unknown and possibly unknowable Aletheia/Truth
          • Philo of Larissa — possibly Noumenon
      • Middle Platonism — generally God as a Unity
        • Antiochus of Ascalon — Logos, which orders the cosmos, and Matter (philosophy), in the form of the four major classical elements, with Fire (classical element) being the greatest, making up stars and planets, as well as minds and even god
        • Philo — God
        • Plutarch — Monad (philosophy)/The One/God and the Indefinite Dyad (Greek philosophy)
        • Alcinous (philosopher) — God
        • Maximus of Tyre — God
        • Numenius of Apamea — The First God, which is a Nous embodying the Form of the Good
        • Origen the Pagan — The One
      • Neoplatonism — The One
        • Plotinus — The One
        • Ammonius Saccas — Nous
        • Porphyry (philosopher) — Porphyrian tree
        • Iamblichus — Monad (philosophy) and Nous
        • Julian (emperor) — Henosis
        • Hypatia — The One
        • Plutarch of Athens — Logos
        • Asclepigenia — The One
        • Syrianus — The One, Monad (philosophy), and Dyad (Greek philosophy)
        • Proclus — The One
        • Damascius — God
        • Simplicius of Cilicia — The One
        • John Philoponus — God
    • Aristotle: Peripatetic school and Aristotelian theology — Unmoved mover, Eternity of the world
      • Theophrastus — Motion (physics)
      • Strato of Lampsacus — Physis
      • Critolaus — Physis, Eternity of the world
      • Diodorus of Tyre — A combination of Virtue with the absence of pain
      • Alexander of Aphrodisias — God
      • Themistius — God
  • Hellenistic philosophy — generally Henology and Henosis
    • Epicurus: Epicureanism — Atom and Metakosmia, Aponia and Ataraxia
      • Metrodorus of Lampsacus (the younger) — Aponia
      • Zeno of Sidon — Aponia
      • Philodemus — Aponia
      • Lucretius — Physis
      • Diogenes of Oenoanda — Hedone and Virtue
    • Neopythagoreanism — The Good and the Monad (philosophy)
      • Nigidius Figulus — likely Monad (philosophy)
      • Numenius of Apamea — The First God
      • Apollonius of Tyana — Nous
    • Pyrrhonism — Epoché and Ataraxia
      • Pyrrho — Acatalepsia and Ataraxia
      • Timon of Phlius — Acatalepsia and Ataraxia
      • Aenesidemus — Acatalepsia
      • Agrippa the Skeptic — Acatalepsia
      • Sextus Empiricus — Ataraxia
    • Stoicism — God as the Universe, named Zeus, see Stoic physics
      • Zeno of Citium — God as the Universe, with Aether (classical element) as the basis of all activity within
      • Aristo of Chios — God
      • Herillus — Knowledge
      • Cleanthes — Zeus
      • Chrysippus — God
      • Antipater of Tarsus — God
      • Panaetius — God
      • Posidonius — Cosmic "Sympathy"
      • Seneca the Younger — Nature, see Naturales quaestiones
      • Lucius Annaeus Cornutus — Zeus
      • Gaius Musonius Rufus — Jupiter
      • Epictetus — Reason
      • Marcus Aurelius — Logos, see Meditations
    • Eclecticism
      • Cicero — Summum bonum
• Ancient Mesopotamian religion — Tiamat-Nammu and Abzu
• The Andamanese — Pūluga
• Ariosophy — A gnostic, pantheist and deist God, named Odin or Walvater
• Aristotelianism — Unmoved mover, Eternity of the world
• Arthur Schopenhauer — Will to live
• Armenian mythology
  • Early stages — Ḫaldi
  • Persian influence — Aramazd
  • Post-Alexandrian influences — Barsamin
• Ascended Master Teachings — The Universal All-Pervading Presence of Life
• Ayyavazhi and Ayyavazhi mythology — Ekam
• Baltic mythology — Dievas
  • Latvian mythology — Dievs
  • Lithuanian mythology — Dievas, see List of Lithuanian gods and mythological figures
  • Prussian mythology — Deywis
• Bantu mythology — God in Bantu mythology, as Ruhanga, Ngai, Mulungu, and/or others
• Baruch Spinoza: Philosophy of Baruch Spinoza — God as "the sum of the natural and physical laws of the universe"
• The Bassari people in Togo — Unumbotte
• Bon — Ground (Dzogchen), Tagzig Olmo Lung Ring, Tonpa Shenrab Miwoche
• Buddhism and Buddhist philosophy — Gautama Buddha, Tathāgata, Nirvana (Buddhism), see Reality in Buddhism and Enlightenment in Buddhism
  • Early Buddhism: Pre-sectarian Buddhism and Early Buddhist schools — Nirvana
  • Theravada — Buddhahood, Nirvana
  • Hinayana / Śrāvakayāna — Buddhahood, Nirvana
  • Mahayana — Sunyata, Trikaya, Dharmakāya, Two truths doctrine, Dharmadhatu, Bodhicitta, Eternal Buddha, see Lotus Sutra
    • Zen — see Doctrinal background of Zen
      • Chan Buddhism — Buddha-nature, Sunyata
      • Japanese Zen — Buddha-nature, Sunyata
    • Nichiren Buddhism — Buddha-nature
    • Pure Land Buddhism — Amitābha
    • Tendai — Buddhahood
    • Korean Buddhism — Two truths doctrine
  • Vajrayana — Adi-Buddha
    • Tibetan Buddhism — Vajradhara, Samantabhadra, Five Tathagatas, Rangtong-Shentong
    • Shingon Buddhism — Adi-Buddha, Vairocana
    • Dzogchen — Ground
  • Navayana / Dalit Buddhist movement / Buddhist modernism — Nirvana
  • Chinese Buddhism — Vairocana, Five Tathagatas, Eternal Buddha
  • Japanese Buddhist pantheon — Vairocana, Five Tathagatas, Eternal Buddha
  • Hòa Hảo — Huỳnh Phú Sổ, regarded as a Buddha
• Burmese folk religion — Thagyamin
• Caodaism — Cao Đài Tiên Ông Đại Bồ Tát Ma Ha Tát ("The Highest Power [the] Ancient Immortal [and] Great Bodhisattva")
• Celtic mythology and Celtic polytheism, see Celtic deities and List of Celtic deities — Cailleach, God in Christianity
  • Irish mythology — Cailleach, The Dagda
  • Scottish mythology — Cailleach, Beira (mythology)
  • Welsh mythology — God in Christianity (mythology was already Christianized long before it was recorded and/or collected)
  • Breton mythology — God in Christianity (mythology was already Christianized long before it was recorded and/or collected)
  • Cornish mythology — God in Christianity (mythology was already Christianized long before it was recorded and/or collected)
• Cheondoism — Haneullim
  • Suunism — Okhwangsangje Hanulim (the "Great Jade Emperor of Heaven")
• The Chinese — Tian, see Chinese creation myths
  • Chinese folk religion — Shangdi and Tian, see Chinese gods and immortals
    • Chinese shamanism — Shangdi and Tian
    • Chinese salvationist religions — Maitreya, Wusheng Laomu
      • Earliest influences (Yuan dynasty, 1277–1377)
        • White Lotus — Wusheng Laomu
        • Maitreya teachings — Maitreya
      • Ming dynasty (1367–1644) and Qing dynasty (1644–1911)
        • Baguadao — Wusheng Laomu
        • Luo teaching — "True Void" (真空 Zhēnkōng), Wuji (philosophy), Zhēn (真 "Truth", "True Reality"), Gǔfú (古佛 "Ancient Awakened"), The Eternal Parents (無生父母 Wúshēng Fùmǔ): Holy Patriarch of the Unlimited (无极圣祖 Wújí Shèngzǔ) and Wusheng Laomu
          • Chinese religions of fasting — Wusheng Laomu
          • Yiguandao — Wusheng Laomu or the Splendid Highest Deity (Chinese: 明明上帝; pinyin: Míngmíng Shàngdì)
        • Church of the Highest Supreme — Wusheng Laomu
        • Sanyi teaching — Taiji (philosophy)
      • Republic of China (1912–49)
        • Zaili teaching — Guanyin the "Only God of the Unlimited" (无极只神 Wújí Zhīshén)
        • Xiantiandao — Wusheng Laomu
          • Yaochidao — Queen Mother of the West
        • Guiyidao — The Holiest Venerable Patriarch of the Primordial Heaven (Zhisheng Xiantian Laozu)
        • Shanrendao — Dao
        • Tiandi teachings — The "Heavenly Deity" or "Heavenly Emperor" (Tiāndì 天帝)
        • De teaching — De (Chinese)
        • Yellow Sand Society — De (Chinese)
      • Late 20th century
        • Xuanyuan teaching — Yellow Emperor
        • Way of the Gods according to the Confucian Tradition — Tao
        • Qigong — Qi, Yin and yang, Wu Xing
          • Falun Gong — Tao
      • 21st century
        • Weixinism — Kunlun (mythology)
    • Mo (religion) — Bu Luotuo
    • Miao folk religion — Yawm Saub
    • Yao folk religion — Three Pure Ones
    • Qiang folk religion — Mubyasei ("God of Heaven"), or Abba Chi
    • Chinese ritual mastery traditions — Dao
    • Manchu shamanism — Apka Enduri ("God of Heaven")
    • Nuo folk religion — Tiānxiān (天仙 "Heavenly Immortal")
  • Chinese mythology — Jade Emperor, Pangu, Shangdi, Tian, Wufang Shangdi
  • Chinese philosophy — Taiji, Wuji
    • Confucianism — Mandate of Heaven, see Confucian theology
    • School of Naturalists — Yin and Yang, Wu Xing
    • Taoism — De, Tao, Taiji, Wuji, see Taoist philosophy
    • Mohism — Tian
    • Neo-Confucianism — Tiandao (Chinese: 天道; pinyin: Tiāndào; literally: "Way of Heaven"; Vietnamese: Thiên Đạo, Japanese: Tendō), Tianli (天理 "Order/Rule of Heaven"/"Heavenly Principle"/"Natural Law")
    • Xuanxue — Tao
    • Legalism (Chinese philosophy) — Wu wei
    • New Confucianism — Tian
    • Chinese Marxist philosophy / Maoism — "Contradiction" (Maodun)
  • Chinese theology — Hundun
    • Shang-Zhou theology — Tian, Shangdi
    • Qin-Han theology — Wufang Shangdi, Taiyi Shengshui, Yellow Emperor, Jade Emperor, Three Pure Ones, Hongjun Laozu, Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, Shen (Chinese religion), Doumu
• Church of the SubGenius — Jehovah 1
• Classical mythology — Chaos, see List of Greek mythological figures and List of Roman deities
  • Ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology — Thetis
  • Religion in ancient Rome and Roman mythology — Janus
• Daejongism — Haneullim, the triad of Gods of Korean culture: the creator (Hanim/Hwanin), the teacher (Hanung/Hwanung) and the ruler (Dangun/Hanbaegŏm)
• Daesun Jinrihoe — Sangje
• Đạo Mẫu — The Jade Emperor (Ngọc Hoàng) and the Mẫu, whose primary manifestation is Thánh Mẫu Liễu Hạnh
• Davi Kopenawa Yanomami — Omai (deity)
• Dinka religion — Nhialic
• Dogon people of Mali — Amma (deity)
• Donyi-Polo — the fountain god that begets the universe, called Sedi by the Minyong and Padam, Jimi by the Galo, Rangfrah by the Tangsa, and Intaya by the Mishmi, or the nothingness or the vacuum that is the one source of all things, called Keyum in Talom Rukbo's theology
• Eckankar — ECK
• Edo religion — Osanobua
• Efik mythology — Abassi
• Etruscan religion — Tinia, see List of Etruscan mythological figures
• F.H. Bradley's — The Absolute
• Finnish paganism: Finnish mythology and Estonian mythology — Jumala, Ukko
• Folklore of Romania — Sabaoth
• Fon people: Dahomean religion — Nana Buluku, see Fon creation myth
  • West African Vodun — Bondye
• Friedrich Nietzsche — The Übermensch and Eternal return
• Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling — God
• Georg Cantor — Absolute Infinite
• Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel: Hegelianism and Absolute idealism — das Absolute, Geist/Begriff
• Georgian mythology — Armazi (god)
• Germanic mythology
  • Norse mythology and Old Norse religion — Ginnungagap
  • Anglo-Saxon paganism — Wyrd
  • Continental Germanic mythology — possibly Wodan
  • Mythology in the Low Countries — possibly Wodan
• Greco-Roman mysteries and Hellenistic religion
  • Cult of Attis — Attis
  • Cult of Cybele — Cybele
  • Cult of Despoina — Despoina
  • Cult of Jupiter Dolichenus — Jupiter Dolichenus
  • Cult of Sol Invictus — Sol Invictus, Elagabalus (deity)
  • Dionysian Mysteries — Dionysus
  • Eleusinian Mysteries — Demeter and Persephone
  • Mithraism — Mithras (name), see Mithras in comparison with other belief systems
  • Mysteries of Isis — Isis
  • Orphism (religion) — the Unutterable Beginning/Principle, or Arrētos Arche (Ἄρρητος Ἀρχή — transliterated as Árritos Arkhí), which produces Chronos and Ananke
  • Samothrace temple complex — Axiéros the Great Mother
  • Cult of Serapis — Serapis
  • Cult of Trophonius — Trophonius
• Gnosticism — Monad (Gnosticism), Pleroma
  • Syrian-Egyptian Gnosticism
    • Bardaisan — God
    • Basilides and Basilideans — God
      • According to Hippolytus — not-being God
      • According to Irenaeus and Epiphanius — the Unbegotten and Innominable Father
    • Sethianism — Unknown God
    • Ophites — Bythos
      • Naassenes — The First Man (Protanthropos, Adamas)
    • Valentinus (Gnostic) and Valentinianism — Bythos
      • Marcosians and Marcus (Marcosian) — Tetrad
    • Simon Magus and Simonians — The First Principle, as Fire (classical element)
    • Menander (gnostic) — The Father On High
  • Persian Gnosticism
    • Mandaeism — God
    • Manichaeism — The Father of Greatness, proper name Zurvan, and The Prince of darkness (Manichaeism), proper name Satanas, Diabolos Protos, Iblis Al-Qadim, or Ahriman
      • Chinese Manichaeism — Shangdi/Míngzūn/Zhēnshén
    • Sabians — Allah
  • General Gnosticism
    • Carpocrates — God
    • Cerinthus — God
    • Marcion of Sinope and Marcionism — God
    • Cerinthus — God
    • Catharism — The evil Old Testament God and good New Testament God
    • Borborites — Barbelo
    • Bogomilism — God
    • Colarbasians — Greek alphabet
    • Euchites — Ousia
    • Paulicianism — The Good Spirit and the Evil Spirit
    • Monoimus — Monad (Gnosticism)
• Goddess movement — Magna Dea
• Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz — "Monas Monadum"
• Guanches — Achamán
• Haitian Vodou — Bondye, Gran Maître, Damballa
• The Heikum of South Africa — Xamaba
• Helena Blavatsky and Theosophy (Blavatskian) — Causeless cause, see Buddhism and Theosophy, Christianity and Theosophy, Theosophy and science, Theosophy and Western philosophy
• The Himba and Herero people of Namibia — Mukuru
• Hinduism — God in Hinduism, see Hindu denominations, Hindu texts, Deva (Hinduism), List of Hindu deities
  • Historical Vedic religion — Ishvara, Hari, Vishvakarman, Ṛta, Bhagavan
  • Dravidian folk religion — Sivan
  • Religion in ancient Tamil country — Shiva
  • Vaishnavism — Vishnu, Krishna, Rama, Narayana, Svayam Bhagavan, Dashavatara, Mahavishnu, Avatars of Vishnu, Deva, Harihara
  • Shaivism — Rudra-Shiva, Parameshwara (God), Parashiva, Parashakti, Deva, Harihara
  • Shaktism — Shakti, Mahavidya, Adi Parashakti, Matrikas, Devi
  • Smarta tradition — Para Brahman, manifesting as Saguna brahman in the forms of Vishnu, Shiva, Brahma, Ganesha, and Devi (Shakti), see Panchayatana puja
  • Ganapatya — Ganesha, Mahaganapati, Thirty-two forms of Ganesha, Major forms of Ganesha
  • Saura (Hinduism) — Surya as the Saguna Brahman
  • Balinese Hinduism — Acintya
  • Hindu philosophy
    • Samkhya — Purusha, sometimes Ishvara
    • Yoga (philosophy)/Yoga — Prakṛti, Paramatman
    • Nyaya — Moksha
    • Vaisheshika — Parimaṇḍala Parimāṇa
    • Mīmāṃsā — Dharma
    • Vedanta — Brahman, Paramatman, oftentimes Nondualism
• Hungarian mythology — Isten
• Hurrian religion and Hittite mythology and religion — Elkunirsa
• Hypsistarians — Hypsistos
• Immanuel Kant, Transcendental idealism, and Kantianism — Thing-in-itself, Noumenon
• Iranian mythology
  • Persian mythology — Ahura Mazda, Parvardigar, Khuda
  • Kurdish mythology — Ahura Mazda
  • Ossetian mythology — Xucau
  • Scythian religion — Tabiti
• Itelmen religion — Kutka and Chachy, Dusdaechschitsh
• Jacques Lacan — The Real
• Jainism — Kevala Jnana, Siddhashila, Arihant (Jainism), Anekantavada, Dravya
• Jakob Böhme and Theosophy (Boehmian) — Ungrund, "unground", the ground without a ground
• Japanese new religions
  • Konkokyo — Tenchi Kane No Kami
  • Oomoto — Kunitokotachi
  • Church of World Messianity — Johrei
  • Mahikari — Mioya Motosu Mahikari Omikami
  • Sukyo Mahikari — Mahikari
  • Happy Science — El Cantare
  • New Thought — Infinite Intelligence
  • Tenrikyo — God in Tenrikyo
• Jeungsanism/Jeung San Do — Sangje
• Johann Gottlieb Fichte — Das absolute Bewusstseyn (the absolute consciousness)
• Kassites — Ḫarbe, see Kassite deities
• Kingdom of Mutapa — Mwari
• Komi peoples — En and Omöl
• Kongo religion — Nzambi a Mpungu, Kengue
• Korean shamanism and Korean mythology — Haneullim
• Kuba Kingdom and Bushongo mythology — Mbombo
• Kumina — Oto, King Zombi
• Lugbara mythology — Adroa
• Lusitanian mythology — Endovelicus
• Luwian religion — Tarḫunz
• The Makua of Mozambique — Muluku
• Malagasy mythology — Zanahary
• Mandé creation myth — Mangala
• Mbuti mythology/Pygmy peoples — Khonvoum
• Martin Heidegger — Dasein
• Modern Paganism —
  • Adonism — Adonis
  • Church of Aphrodite — Aphrodite
  • Zuism — Anu/Dingir
  • Slavic Native Faith — Rod (Slavic religion), see Slavic Native Faith's theology and cosmology
    • Native Ukrainian National Faith — Dažbog
    • Ynglism — Ra-M-Ha
    • Ringing Cedars' Anastasianism — God (Rod) as Nature
  • Abkhaz neopaganism — Antsua (also spelled Antzva)
  • Vattisen Yaly — Tura
  • Wicca — Dryghten or The Star Goddess, The One / The All
    • Dianic Wicca — Magna Dea
  • Heathenry (new religious movement) — a pantheistic conception of the natural world as being sacred and imbued with a divine energy force permeating all life
  • Estonian neopaganism — Tharapita
  • Finnish neopaganism — Ukko or Ilmarinen
  • Hungarian Native Faith — Égig érő fa
    • András Kovács' Ancient Hungarian Taltos Church — God the Father as an energetic vibration which incarnated in a host, the Mother of God, begetting the Sun God (of whom Jesus is a representation)
    • Imre Máté's Yotengrit Church — a conception of primordial God, called Yotengrit, Tengrit or Tengri, which represents all the deities in their yet undivided state, and later manifests as a male–female duality: Ukkó, the mother goddess whose forehead is decorated by the moon, and who is identified as the Boldogasszony (the "Blessed Lady") of Christianised folk beliefs, and Gönüz, the sun-faced father god
    • László Nimród's Ancient Hungarian Church — Isten
    • Zoltán Sólyomfi's Firebird Taltos Drum Circle — The One, or God, as the "unmanifested, unshaped space" which contains the "shared consciousness" of mankind
  • Udmurt Vos — Inmar, or In-Mumy (depending on the source)
  • Burkhanism — Uch Kurbustan
  • Mari Native Religion — Kugu Jumo
  • Mordvin Native Religion — Ineshkipaz
  • Kemetism — Netjer
  • Uatsdin-Assianism — Xwytsau
  • Church of the Guanche People — Chaxiraxi
  • Armenian Native Faith — Ar and Ara
  • Zalmoxianism — Zalmoxis
  • Baltic neopaganism — Dievas
    • Dievturība — Dievs, Māra, and Laima as a triune godhead
    • Druwi — Dievas
    • Romuva (religion) — Dievas
• Mordvins — Chipaz and Ange Patiai
  • Erzya — Thsipaz/Chipaz, later Nishkepaz
  • Mokshas — Viarde Skai
• The Mythologies of the indigenous peoples of the Americas and Native American religion — Great Spirit, see Manitou and Orenda
  • North America
    • Abenaki mythology and the Algonquian peoples — Tabaldak
      • Narragansett people — Cautantowwit
    • Anishinaabe traditional beliefs — Gitche Manitou
    • Blackfoot mythology and Blackfoot religion — Apistotoke
    • Cherokee mythology — Unetlanvhi
    • Choctaw mythology — Nanapesa/Ishtahullo-chito/Nanishta-hullo-chito/Hushtahli/Uba Pike/Aba/Shilup Chitoh Osh/Chitokaka
    • Crow religion — Akbaatatdia/Iichíkbaalee/Isáahkawuattee
    • Lakota mythology — Wakan Tanka
    • Pawnee mythology — Atius Tirawa
    • Iroquois mythology — Ha-wen-ni-yu, Taryenyawagon
    • Creek mythology — E-sau-ge-túh Emis-see
    • Tsimshian mythology — Raven
    • Inuit religion — Silap Inua, Anguta
    • Wabunowin — Gitche Manitou
    • Purépecha religion — Cuerauáperi
    • Zuni mythology — Awonawilona
    • Hopi mythology — Tawa
    • Miwok mythology — O-let'-te Coyote-man
    • Kwakwaka'wakw mythology — Raven
    • Wintun mythology — Olelbis
    • Powhatan mythology — Ahone
    • Plains Apache mythology — Kuterastan
  • Central America/Mesoamerican religion
    • Aztec mythology and Aztec religion — Ōmeteōtl, Teotl, see Aztec creator gods
    • Maya mythology and Maya religion — Itzamna, Hunab Ku
    • Olmec religion — possibly Feathered Serpent
    • Taíno — Atabey (goddess) and Yúcahu
    • Antioquia Department mythology — Abira
  • South America
    • Mapuche religion — Pu-am, Ngenechen
      • Huilliche people — Chaotroquin
    • Chilote mythology — Ten Ten-Vilu and Coi Coi-Vilu
    • Inca mythology — Viracocha
      • Ichma culture — Pacha Kamaq
    • Guarani mythology and Religion in the Inca Empire — Tupã (mythology)
    • Muisca mythology and Muisca religion — Chiminigagua
• Mythology of Indonesia
  • Traditional Dayak religion/Kaharingan — Ranying Hatalla Langit
  • Batak mythology/Traditional Batak religion — Mula Jadi Na Bolon and Naga Padoha
  • Aluk — Puang Matua
  • Sunda Wiwitan — Sang Hyang Kersa ("The Powerful")/Nu Ngersakeun ("He Who has the Will")/Batara Tunggal ("The One")/Batara Jagat ("Ruler of Universe")/Batara Seda Niskala ("The Unseen")
  • Kejawèn/Aliran kepercayaan — Hyang
  • Marapu — the Great Mother (Ina Kalada) and the Great Father (Ama Kalada)
  • Subud — God, see Subud and religion
  • Balinese mythology — Antaboga
  • Kapauku Papuans — Ugatame
• The Nenets people of Siberia — Num (god) and Nga (god)
• New Age — The Ultimate Source, among other names for a holistic divinity, see New Age Movement
• New Thought — Higher consciousness
• Ngäbe — Noncomala
• Nuristani religion — Imra
• Oahspe: A New Bible — the Creator, whose masculine aspect is named "Jehovih", "The Great Spirit", "Ormazd", "Egoquim", "Agoquim", "Eloih", "The I Am", and "Jehovah"; feminine aspect is named "Om", "The All Person", "The Unseen" and "The Everpresent", "The All Light", "The Highest Light"
• Oceanic mythology and Polynesian narrative
  • Australian Aboriginal religion and mythology — Rainbow Serpent, Baiame, Bunjil, Dreamtime
  • Samoan mythology — Tagaloa
  • Māori mythology — Rangi and Papa
  • Fijian mythology — Degei
  • Hawaiian religion — Kāne, see Kumulipo
  • Tahiti and Society Islands mythology — Ta'aroa
  • Mangarevan narrative — Tu
  • Cook Islands mythology — Te-Aka-Ia-Roe
  • Tongan narrative — Limu (Tongan mythology), Tangaloa 'Eiki, see Tangaloa
  • Solomon Islands mythology — Agunua
  • Tikopia — Atua Fafine, Atua I Raropuka
  • Micronesian mythology — Ligobubfanu
• Odinani — Chukwu
• Perennial philosophy: Unitarian Universalism — a universalist conception of God
• Philippine mythology: see Deities of Philippine mythology, Diwata, Anito, Philippine mythical creatures
  • Indigenous religious beliefs of the Tagalog people — Bathala
  • Visayans — Kan-Laon, Kaptan
  • Tboli people — Kedaw La Sambadn
  • Ilocano people — Buni
  • Kapampangan people — Mangechay or Mangacha
  • Blaan people — Melu
  • Palawan people — Ampu
  • Higaonon people — Magbabayà (The Ruler of All)
  • Teduray people — Minaden
  • Mangyan — Mahal na Makaako
  • Itneg people — Bagatulayan
  • Talaandig — Magbabaya
  • Gaddang people — Nanolay
  • Ifugao people — Mah-nongan
  • Aeta people — Gutugutumakkan
• Proto-Indo-European mythology — *Dyḗus Pḥatḗr
• Raëlism — "Everything In Everything", see Raëlian beliefs and practices
• Rahmanism — Ar-Rahman
• Rangfrah — Rangfrah
• Religion in pre-Islamic Arabia — Allah
  • Palmyra — Bol
• René Descartes: Cartesianism — God, possessing necessary existence
• Ryukyuan religion — Utin ("Heaven", the father), Jiichi ("Earth", the mother), and Ryūgū ("Sea", the place from which we were born)
• Sámi shamanism — Ipmil, Radien-attje, Waralden Olmai
• San religion — Cagn
• Sanamahism — Atiya Sidaba, Apaanba and Asheeba as the three manifestations or incarnations of God as the creator, the preserver and the annihilator of this universe respectively
• Sanchuniathon — Elioun Hypsistos and Beruth
• Santal people — Marang buru or Bonga
• Sarnaism — Dharmesh/Marang Buru/Singbonga
• Serer religion — Roog, see Serer creation myth
• Shinto and Japanese mythology — Japanese creation myth, Kotoamatsukami
  • Kojiki — Amenominakanushi
  • Nihon Shoki — Kuninotokotachi
  • Yoshida Shintō — Shintō, defined not only as the source of creation, but also as the source of all principle in the world, manifesting in the form of the primary god Kuninotokotachi
• Sikhism — God in Sikhism, Ik Onkar, Waheguru, Nirankar, Akal Purakh, Satnam
• Slavic paganism — Rod/Bog, see Deities of Slavic religion
• Tangsa people — Rangkhothak / Rangwa / Rangfrah
• Tengrism — Tengri
• Thelema — True Will
• Thracian religion — Sabazios
• Tikopia — Atua I Kafika
• Traditional Berber religion — Amun, Baal, Zeus, equated with each other
• Tumbuka mythology — Chiuta (meaning "Great Bow")
• Ugric peoples — Num-Torum
• The Urantia Book — God
• Urhobo people — Cghene
• Vainakh religion — Deela or Dela
• Vietnamese folk religion — The Jade Emperor
  • Đạo Tứ Ân Hiếu Nghĩa — Venerable Master Ngô Lợi, revered as a Buddha
  • Minh Đạo — The Jade Emperor (Ngọc Hoàng Thượng Đế) and the Queen Mother of the West (Tây Vương Mẫu)
• Western esotericism — a generally Monistic conception of God
  • Freemasonry — Great Architect of the Universe and Eye of Providence
  • Rosicrucianism — Great Architect of the Universe
  • Hermeticism — The All
• Waaqeffanna — Waaq
• William Blake's mythology — God in Christianity, Albion (Blake)
• Winti — Anana Kedyaman Kedyanpon
• Yoruba religion — Olodumare, Olorun, and Olofi
• Zoroastrianism — Ahura Mazda
  • Zurvanism — Zurvan
  • Mazdak — Ahura Mazda
    • Khurramites — The Principle of the Universe as Light
• Zulu mythology — Unkulunkulu, Umvelinqangi

Interpretations

While these conceptions are superficially similar, they admit of multiple interpretations. Some philosophers, especially perennialists and pantheist philosophers, find great significance in the similarities between these different words and argue that various/all cultures past and present have an identical concept of the 'Absolute'.

Other philosophers, however, argue that these concepts are not the same, since the Logos is rational and formal whereas Brahman is formless and irrational; and since Plato's Form of the Good is impersonal where the Christian God is personal; since Bradley's Absolute is a conscious experience whereas Brand Blanshard's Absolute is an unconscious, intelligible system.

Perennialist philosophers such as John Hick argue that even if the concepts vary slightly, the reality of the Absolute reality behind the varying concepts is the same.

Within religious traditions

Philosophers such as Adi Shankara denied the Absolute any personal sense, whereas philosophers such as Ramanuja and Madhva, tended to identify the Absolute with a personal God. The Traditionalist School, via Frithjof Schuon, admits:

It is true that God as creator, revealer, and savior is not to be identified with the Absolute as such; it is likewise true that God in Himself, in the full depth of His reality, is not to be reduced to the creative Function.

Early Hinduism identified Brahman with Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. The same immortal spirit was conceived of as functional in the world in three ways: creation, preservation, and destruction. There was therefore no real contradiction between love of a personal God and an impersonal Absolute, although the latter was sometimes conceived of as "purer."

Shaivism, and most monotheistic Indian religions, gave God five functions: creation, preservation, destruction, concealment, and revelation. Shiva, as Brahman, would therefore act in the world as a personal God. Yet this distinction between the Absolute and Infinite, or Transcendent and Immanent is not entirely, in itself, absolute. Philosophers like Shankara believe that upon doing away with maya the entire universe disappears, including the notion of a personal God. Philosophers such as Madhva and Ramanuja, tend to propound an identification of the Absolute with God, whereas later philosophers such as Nimbarka and Caitanya, tended to identify the Absolute with a personal form of God (Krishna). Either way, all these claims, taken in context, tend to prove non-contradictory.

The quote above, via Schuon, is actually fully represented within the Hindu tradition. Brahma, the creator god, is not worshiped within Hinduism. The only deities that are worshiped, are Shiva, and Vishnu. Both Shiva and Vishnu, by their respective devotees, are represented as having power over the following five functions: creation, preservation, destruction, concealment, and revelation. However, a further distinction is made by Shankara: God is not Brahman (the Absolute). Rather the appearance of God is still via the power of Maya. So there are in effect, three levels, which Schuon himself observes: Brahman (the Absolute), God as creator, revealer, and savior (AKA, Shiva or Vishnu), and finally God as creator (AKA, Brahma). Incidental reasons are given for Brahma's lack of worship, a Hindu myth attributes this situation to a curse by Bhrigu. Devdutt Pattanaik, an Indian author, gives some philosophical reasons. Ultimately the reason is actually inherent ("inherent" in the Absolute) and theological.

Relation of humanity to the Absolute

Laozi taught that the Tao was not only the ultimate reality but the ideal of human life. Another conceptual similarity between various conceptions is that the ultimate reality also somehow reveals to humans the way to live. For example, Plato taught that the Good was both the source of reality, the highest object of knowledge, and the ultimate end of desire.

C. S. Lewis explains the connection between the highest reality and human action in this way:

In early Hinduism that conduct in men which can be called good consists in conformity to, or almost participation in, the Rta—that great ritual or pattern of nature and supernature which is revealed alike in the cosmic order, the moral virtues, and the ceremonial of the temple. Righteousness, correctness, order, the Rta, is constantly identified with satya or truth, correspondence to reality. As Plato said that the Good was 'beyond existence' and Wordsworth that through virtue the stars were strong, so the Indian masters say that the gods themselves are born of the Rta and obey it. The Chinese also speak of a great thing (the greatest thing) called the Tao. It is the reality beyond all predicates, the abyss that was before the Creator Himself. It is Nature, it is the Way, the Road. It is the Way in which the universe goes on, the Way in which things everlastingly emerge, stilly and tranquilly, into space and time. It is also the Way which every man should tread in imitation of that cosmic and supercosmic progression, conforming all activities to that great exemplar. 'In ritual', say the Analects, 'it is harmony with Nature that is prized.' The ancient Jews likewise praise the Law as being 'true'. This conception in all its forms, Platonic, Aristotelian, Stoic, Christian, and Oriental alike, I shall henceforth refer to for brevity simply as 'the Tao'.

— C.S. Lewis, The Abolition of Man

I. K. Taimni says:

Because the Ultimate Reality which is denoted by the word 'Absolute' or 'Parabrahman' (卍) is the very core of our being as well as the cause and basis of the universe of which we are part, we can no more get away from it than our solar system can get away from the sun round which it resolves and from which it receives everything which keeps it alive and moving. Although the Absolute is sometimes referred to by such epithets as the Void, Ever-Darkness etc. and is beyond intellectual comprehension, still, from the intellectual point of view it is the most profound concept in the whole realm of philosophy. The fact that it is called 'Unknowable' does not mean that it is beyond the range of philosophical or religious thought and something on which thinking is impossible or undesirable. The very fact that it is the heart and the basis of the universe should make it the most intriguing object of enquiry within the realms of the intellect.

— I. K. Taimni, Man, God and the Universe, Chapter 1

Aldous Huxley says:

Only the transcendent, the completely other, can be immanent without being modified by the becoming of that in which it dwells. The Perennial Philosophy teaches that it is desirable and indeed necessary to know the spiritual Ground of things, not only within the soul, but also outside in the world and, beyond world and soul, in its transcendent otherness 'in heaven.' ... God within and God without; these are two abstract notions, which can be entertained by the understanding and expressed in words.

— Aldous Huxley, The Perennial Philosophy

Similarly, the Hindu Taimni describes the Parabrahman as unknowable by the human mind and unthinkable but the highest object of realization and the most profound object of philosophical enquiry.

Plotinus likewise taught that the goal of philosophy was to "contemplate the One".

Experiencing the Absolute

Philosophers and religious adherents who aim to pattern their life after the Absolute reality sometimes claim to have experienced the Absolute. They report mystical experiences, feelings of oneness, transcendence of their everyday personality or of personhood altogether.

Representing the Absolute

The Absolute represented as Yggdrasill in Germanic religion.

The Absolute is conceptually defined as something inexpressible and perhaps unthinkable. This concept creates special problems for expression in words, poetry, mythology, and art. Writers, painters, storytellers, filmmakers often use paradox or contradiction because of the "contradictory aspect of the ultimate reality".

According to Mircea Eliade, the Absolute can be mediated or revealed through symbols. For Eliade the "archaic" mind is constantly aware of the presence of the Sacred, and for this mind all symbols are religious (relinking to the Origin). Through symbols human beings can get an immediate "intuition" of certain features of the inexhaustible Sacred. The mind makes use of images to grasp the ultimate reality of things because reality manifests itself in contradictory ways and therefore can't be described in concepts. It is therefore the image as such, as a whole bundle of meaning, that is "true" (faithful, trustworthy). Eliade says :

the sacred is equivalent to a power, and, in the last analysis, to reality. The sacred is saturated with being. Sacred power means reality and at the same time enduringness and efficacy. The polarity sacred-profane is often expressed as opposition between real and unreal or pseudoreal. [...] Thus it is easy to understand that religious man deeply desires to be, to participate in reality, to be saturated with power.

Common symbols of the Absolute include world trees, the tree of life, microcosm, fire, children, circles, mandalas, and the human body.

See also

• Absolute idealism
• Absolute Infinite
• Adi-Buddha
• Atman
• Being
• Buddhahood
• Buddha-nature
• Chaos
• Conceptions of God—Existence of God—Names of God
• Dharmakāya
• Dialectical monism—Neutral monism
• Eternal Buddha
• God—Godhead—God the Father
• Indeterminacy
• Intrinsic value
• Meaning of life
• Monad—Monism—Henology
• Mysticism
• Non-absolutism
• Logos—Nous—Reason
• Pleroma
• Reality
• Reality in Buddhism
• Sacred
• Śūnyatā
• Supreme Being
• The All
• Universality (philosophy)

References

• John Daniel Dadosky. The Structure of Religious Knowing: Encountering the Sacred in Eliade and Lonergan. State University of New York Press, 2004. ISBN 0791460614