Overview

Pantheism (Greek pan “all” + theos “god”) is the belief that God and the Universe are the same thing. God is not a distant creator; God is the stuff of existence.

Core Idea

The core idea is Immanence. The divine is right here, in the trees, the stars, and you. “Deus sive Natura” (God or Nature).

Formal Definition

The view that the Universe (Nature) and God are identical. Pantheists do not believe in a personal, anthropomorphic God.

Intuition

  • The Ocean: Individual things are like waves. The waves rise and fall, but they are all just water. The water is God.
  • “The Force”: Like in Star Wars (mostly). An energy field created by all living things, binding the galaxy together.

Examples

  • Spinoza: The most famous Western pantheist. He was excommunicated for saying God has a body (the universe).
  • Stoicism: The Stoics believed in a divine “Logos” that permeated all matter.
  • Deep Ecology: Revering the earth as sacred.

Common Misconceptions

  • Misconception: It’s just “sexed-up atheism.”
    • Correction: Atheists see the universe as dead matter. Pantheists see it as sacred, alive, and divine. The attitude is religious.
  • Misconception: They worship rocks.
    • Correction: They worship the Totality of which the rock is a part.
  • Panentheism: God is in everything, but also more than the universe (The universe is God’s body, but God also has a mind).
  • Monism: All is one.

Applications

  • Environmentalism: If the Earth is God’s body, polluting is a sin.
  • Spirituality: Finding the divine in nature rather than a church.

Criticism and Limitations

  • No Personal Relationship: You can’t pray to the universe. It doesn’t care about you.
  • Problem of Evil: If everything is God, then cancer and murder are also God.

Further Reading

  • Ethics by Baruch Spinoza
  • The Book by Alan Watts