What is Pantheism - Pantheism Study Group

[Luna's Crone]

When I was 8 years old, I stopped believing God. First adults lied through their teeth at you; Santa Claus, Easter Bunny, The Great Pumpking (just kidding about the great pumpkin, although that would have been a good one), Tooth Fairy. We where poor and still told about the tooth fairy, put the teeth under the pillow. Sometimes it was still there, sometimes gone, but no penny or nickle.

One night, I was lying out in the old (really old 1600's to 1900's) french cemetary, looking at the stars. Now I knew the planets and I knew there where no planets call Purgatory or limbo out there. There couldn't be a heaven in the sky, or hell under the ground because I knew planetary science at least has it was known to be in the early 60's. Telescopes, no heaven. Mines, no hell, other than the mines themselves.

So therefore I became an atheist, no don't think so. I loved the country and the earth, trees and rocks, and the moon. I just loved the moon. So was I a pagan? Guess so. What else could it be. Even though I didn't believe in fairies or the wee folk. Gods and Goddesses where Folklore and I loved those stories.

Then a few years ago, I came across the word Pantheism and my whole life, yes life, not soul/spirituality, but life changed. I knew what I was in my heart FINALLY! And I knew alot of educated people felt the way that I did at least to some extent. HURRAY?

I was still on my own, but who cared, it still put me in with a tribe/group that some how made ME legit.

 

[MissNine]

Hi and thank you for sharing this. I had never heard of pantheism, so it was a cool thing to learn!

It sounds, from what I read on Wikipedia, that you believe in a Creator of the universe. But not necessarily one God, as in the one with saints and angels and a son Jesus, like Catholics/Christians do.

Is that right?

 

[Luna's Crone]

One of the definitions of Pantheist

This is a Quote from Wikipedia: "Pantheism is the belief that the Universe (or nature as the totality of everything) is identical with divinity,[1] or that everything composes an all-encompassing, immanent god.[2] Pantheists thus do not believe in a distinct personal or anthropomorphic god." This is how at least some if not most Greek philosophers basically defined pantheism. Again from Wikipedia: "Pantheism is derived from the Greek πᾶν pan (meaning "all, of everything") and θεός theos (meaning "god, divine")." This kinda leaves an open end for discussion. Just what we wanted.

As I had already stated I am science/nature/paganish sorta pantheist. This is not a suitable name, not even a suitable description.

So how do we proceed to figure out what I am in definition sorta way?

 

[Luna's Crone]

Hi and thank you for sharing this. I had never heard of pantheism, so it was a cool thing to learn!

It sounds, from what I read on Wikipedia, that you believe in a Creator of the universe. But not necessarily one God, as in the one with saints and angels and a son Jesus, like Catholics/Christians do.

Is that right?

Yes. As a matter I just put a basic definition in after your msg.

What it comes down to is that One (creator - nature??) is all, and all is One. Scientist essentially explained this (not on purpose) when they discovered that down to the last little particle, that basically we are all stardust, and after we die, eventually that is what we will go back to. But the interesting thing is anything with mass, which is pretty much everything "is pure energy". This so blows my mind in a spiritual way.

 

[Luna's Crone]

I believe in nature as the creator. Science as my religion, i am so into geology and glaciology and planetary science in general. But physics is just astronomically awesome.

Trees and rocks are sacred to me, as well as Gaia (earth), the moon and Spirit. That's my paganish part.

 

[MissNine]

Yes. As a matter I just put a basic definition in after your msg.

What it comes down to is that One (creator - nature??) is all, and all is One. Scientist essentially explained this (not on purpose) when they discovered that down to the last little particle, that basically we are all stardust, and after we die, eventually that is what we will go back to. But the interesting thing is anything with mass, which is pretty much everything "is pure energy". This so blows my mind.

Sounds right to me! Energy is really the common denominator. A lot of intuitives learn this through experiences. I'm glad there's a name for it. It is a great way to explain everything. I also feel there's one creator, as how else would I be able to channel messages for people of all different religions, if it was true that there's only one God and He is Catholic.

I read a great post on AT once, saying man made God in his likeness and not the other way around. It blew my mind because it totally resonated with all my recent experiences with channeling. People tend fear the unknown. So they stick to a system of belief they are raised with or drawn to in order to make the unknown easier to understand. The only thing that is bothersome to me about religions is that "only this way is the right way" motto. I can't agree with it because it seems so fear based. Kind of like Santa and his list although that's a secular thing.

Anyhow, good topic and thank you for bringing it to everyone's attention and giving it a name.

 

[Luna's Crone]

standford dictionary of philosophy

This defines the crux of the problem:

"Pantheism
First published Mon Oct 1, 2012

The term ‘pantheism’ is a modern one, possibly first appearing in the writing of the Irish freethinker John Toland (1705) and constructed from the Greek roots pan (all) and theos (God). But if not the name, the ideas themselves are very ancient, and any survey of the history of philosophy will uncover numerous pantheist or pantheistically inclined thinkers; although it should also be noted that in many cases all that history has preserved for us are second-hand reportings of attributed doctrines, any reconstruction of which is too conjectural to provide much by way of philosophical illumination.

At its most general, pantheism may be understood positively as the view that God is identical with the cosmos, the view that there exists nothing which is outside of God, or else negatively as the rejection of any view that considers God as distinct from the universe.

However, given the complex and contested nature of the concepts involved, there is insufficient consensus among philosophers to permit the construction of any more detailed definition not open to serious objection from some quarter or other. Moreover, the label is a controversial one, where strong desires either to appropriate or to reject it often serve only to obscure the actual issues, and it would be a sad irony if pantheism revealed itself to be most like a traditional religion in its sectarian disputes over just what counts as ‘true pantheism.’ Therefore pantheism should not be thought of as a single codifiable position. Rather it should be understood as a diverse family of distinct doctrines; many of whom would be surprised — and, indeed, disconcerted—to find themselves regarded as members of a single household. Further, since the concept has porous and disputed boundaries there is no clear consensus on just who qualifies, no definitive roll-call of past pantheists. Given this situation the range of things that may be usefully said about all pantheisms is perhaps limited, but nonetheless a variety of concepts may be clarified, the nature of contentious issues explored, and the range of possible options more precisely mapped out."

 

[Luna's Crone]

Anyhow, good topic and thank you for bringing it to everyone's attention and giving it a name.

There is one general name. Pantheism, and it really isn't a name, its a basic description because there can be as many definitions of it as there are people on earth. It kind goes with the, everyone has their own realities and spiritualities, none are the same due to small tweaks here and there, so to speak.

 

[Luna's Crone]

Link to Stanford Dictionary of philosophy

The whole paper is quite interesting and probably should be a reading must for the discussion group if each person wants.

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/pantheism/#ArgForDriTowPan

 

[MissNine]

Thank you for the link to the paper!