Spiritual Pantheism

[Joker]

I consider myself a spiritual pantheist who has alot of influence from the Benedict Spinoza.

Anyone else out there like myself?

Ultimately I believe in a great spirit or mover of the cosmos that is comprised of infinite amounts of modes and substances that all other modes/substances come from including ourselves.

[Joker]

Thoughts would be appreciated.

[Joker]

• Crickets*

[matthatter]

makes noise

I pretty much agree with your thoughts. I’m not very influenced by Spinoza (not directly, at least).

Have you heard of “Panentheism”?

Pantheism is the belief that “God” (I am just using this in place of your “great spirit”) is the whole universe, while Panentheism says that the universe is within God (one illustration would be that the universe is God’s body).

Indian myths speak of Brahman, the supreme Spirit in Hinduism, having certain thoughts, and those thoughts being instantaneously created (as the reality of what we call the (physical) “universe”).

Not to say that there is a kind of wall… like the universe is a circle, and at the end of that circle is the Spirit. I prefer to look at it as a mix; a soup, I suppose. There are different dimensions… the meats in the soup, the vegetables, the spices, the broth, the tastes that permeate everything, the emotional state of the chef, the chef’s intention, the chemicals that make up the broth. All of these things can exist in their own reality, without any element really being very conscious of the other. But a change in one alters all the rest.

I’d say pantheism is sort of like “God is the soup”, while panentheism is “God is momentarily causing itself to take the form of that soup, while simultaneously causing itself to take the form of other soups.”

Do you have any ideas of the great spirit, or the universe, which make “Pantheism” a more appropriate label? I’d like to hear them!

[Joker]

@matthatter

makes noise

I pretty much agree with your thoughts. I’m not very influenced by Spinoza (not directly, at least).

Have you heard of “Panentheism”?

Pantheism is the belief that “God” (I am just using this in place of your “great spirit”) is the whole universe, while Panentheism says that the universe is within God (one illustration would be that the universe is God’s body).

Indian myths speak of Brahman, the supreme Spirit in Hinduism, having certain thoughts, and those thoughts being instantaneously created (as the reality of what we call the (physical) “universe”).

Not to say that there is a kind of wall… like the universe is a circle, and at the end of that circle is the Spirit. I prefer to look at it as a mix; a soup, I suppose. There are different dimensions… the meats in the soup, the vegetables, the spices, the broth, the tastes that permeate everything, the emotional state of the chef, the chef’s intention, the chemicals that make up the broth. All of these things can exist in their own reality, without any element really being very conscious of the other. But a change in one alters all the rest.

I’d say pantheism is sort of like “God is the soup”, while panentheism is “God is momentarily causing itself to take the form of that soup, while simultaneously causing itself to take the form of other soups.”

Do you have any ideas of the great spirit, or the universe, which make “Pantheism” a more appropriate label? I’d like to hear them!

I believe God is nature, the earth, the sun and the cosmos that consists of everything but at the same time I see all creatures as being a intricate part of this great encircling system.

I see the cosmos as the great spirit of all things and the prime mover that shapes all substances or modes of existance. God to me is the infinite amount of modes and substances which all things arrive from.