EverChanging
Well-Known Member
I'm working through some issues in my spirituality that at times prove to be complex. Different elements are held in tension and can be hard to reconcile, but I do feel that with only some refinement here and there I've discovered a basic path that works for me.
I am a naturalistic pantheist. Supernatural concepts are not a part of my belief system, nor am I a dualist, nor do I believe in life after death in a traditional way. And I am not a panentheist, nor do I believe God is anthropomorphic. Depending on what terms one wants to use I'm simply an atheist. However my spiritual and prayer life appropriates concepts and language in such a way as to suggest a belief in all of these things -- panentheism, life after death, miracles, magic, and so forth.
I evolved into a pantheist when I was about 14 years old but only became a naturalistic pantheist at a later point. Through a series of events I awakened to the meaning in Christian myths and symbols I had abandoned and one day spontaneously believed in the Real Presence when I was offered and received communion in a Methodist parish -- that is, I believed the bread and wine were literally God in a pantheistic sense in a ritual that before had no meaning for me.
In a way it would be easier for me to be a more "traditional" pantheist instead of overlaying my spirituality with these disparate concepts, but I have found this doesn't work for me. In my experiences in prayer I experience God talking to me, I experience angels, and so forth. I presume that the repetitious use of Christian prayers and concepts has created certain neural connections in my brain because these prayers and rituals trigger me to sink deeply into myself in meditation in a way that I can't with Buddhist techniques or any others I've tried. My spirituality is strongly contemplative. I create my own rituals to do inner work on myself and do celebrate a pantheist rite of Holy Communion primarily in secret in addition to attending a traditional Anglican parish, but my rituals do appropriate much traditional language.
I want to think about language here and would love any input on others' ideas or how they may approach this in their own pantheistic path.
I have accepted that since I am working in a particular mythic framework that not all of my language -- which is metaphorical -- will correspond exactly to the objects or realities symbolized. For instance I tend to think of the cosmos, especially matter, as the Incarnation, and yet in my rite I speak of the cosmos ascending "with" and "in" Jesus. As I see it, since I visualize, invoke, and worship the cosmos through my concept of Jesus there is a true sense in which the cosmos ascends with and in him for me as I perceive and relate to such a reality. (Ascension here has multiple layers of meaning for me but in part refers to the expansion of the universe.) Because I am relating to the cosmos in an anthropomorphic way the "ascension" (or expansion) is taking on a particular meaning "through," "in," and "with," my language and symbols (including Jesus). (I'm terrible at explaining this I'm afraid.)
I pray for others including the dead not because I believe in an interventionist deity but because ultimately I don't see anyone and anything as separate from myself. The separate ego is a mere illusion as far as I am concerned. Ultimately "I" consist of a bunch of elements and chemicals that are in turn merely an extension of the rest of the cosmos, and who "I" am is constantly shifting and unstable just like every other particular object. (I have Buddhist leanings here but have also been influenced by my understanding of certain scientific ideas and psychology.) Even if others never perceive my prayers doing them any good I hold the sufferings of the world -- which are all my own and a part of me -- contemplatively within my heart. My suffering ultimately arises from the same roots as anyone else's; I am a part of everything, and everything is a part of me including you. When those sufferings are held within me, healed within me, not separated from me, seen as an extension of me, then my prayers are really doing a good for others -- through me and in me. We are all extensions of one another. In this way I become the mediating Christ and make at-one-ment in my prayers (which is largely what my version of the mass is about).
If the redemption of the world occurs in me then it has occurred for everyone even if individual egos cannot perceive that. Ultimately no harm can occur to the totality: we only perceive it that way because we filter our perceptions of the cosmos in a limited way through our particular lives and egos. Ultimately all things are one and there is no harm that can be done to the fundamental nature of energy.
This traditional canticle also plays a role in my prayers:
Most High, all-powerful, all-good Lord, All praise is Yours, all glory, all honour and all blessings.
To you alone, Most High, do they belong, and no mortal lips are worthy to pronounce Your Name.
Praised be You my Lord with all Your creatures,
especially Sir Brother Sun,
Who is the day through whom You give us light.
And he is beautiful and radiant with great splendour,
Of You Most High, he bears the likeness.
Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Moon and the stars,
In the heavens you have made them bright, precious and fair.
This prayer easily lends itself to panentheism, and yet I have read the "Most High, all-powerful, all-'good' Lord," the creator, as the entire Cosmos which creates all things through itself, and since "Sister Moon and the stars" are a part of this totality I indeed praise God (the all) through them.
My experience of God is very personal and I do commune with "him" in my heart, sometimes as though a person is actually speaking to me. I have chosen to accept this despite my impersonal notions of God because this is a part of how human minds work anyway. We find faces in the clouds, in rocks, in trees. We read volition into robots or simple computer simulations. When it comes down to it we can locate no essential "self" within ourselves or other humans, and so in some way we are anthropomorphizing one another. The impersonal God becomes "personal" to me because I am personal.
While much of the language I use is necessarily imprecise since it is employed in the ways of metaphor and myth and also becomes an exploration of my inner mental world I ultimately perceive all of those concepts which are arising within my mind and being enacted ritually by myself as aspects of God, as God Himself. In me (and you!) he is interacting with himself through these (sometimes clumsy) concepts which are also Himself! It then begins to matter very little how precise they are. (And in fact very much of even ordinary everyday language is imprecise and metaphorical.)
I do hope others will share their perspectives on these matters here whether or not you are pantheists. Some pantheists in the neo-pagan movement do worship the cosmos through gods and goddesses and have similar non-literal (non-realist) interpretations. I'd love to hear some input! I know this post might come across as confusing. It's very hard for me to articulate what's going on inside my mind!
I am a naturalistic pantheist. Supernatural concepts are not a part of my belief system, nor am I a dualist, nor do I believe in life after death in a traditional way. And I am not a panentheist, nor do I believe God is anthropomorphic. Depending on what terms one wants to use I'm simply an atheist. However my spiritual and prayer life appropriates concepts and language in such a way as to suggest a belief in all of these things -- panentheism, life after death, miracles, magic, and so forth.
I evolved into a pantheist when I was about 14 years old but only became a naturalistic pantheist at a later point. Through a series of events I awakened to the meaning in Christian myths and symbols I had abandoned and one day spontaneously believed in the Real Presence when I was offered and received communion in a Methodist parish -- that is, I believed the bread and wine were literally God in a pantheistic sense in a ritual that before had no meaning for me.
In a way it would be easier for me to be a more "traditional" pantheist instead of overlaying my spirituality with these disparate concepts, but I have found this doesn't work for me. In my experiences in prayer I experience God talking to me, I experience angels, and so forth. I presume that the repetitious use of Christian prayers and concepts has created certain neural connections in my brain because these prayers and rituals trigger me to sink deeply into myself in meditation in a way that I can't with Buddhist techniques or any others I've tried. My spirituality is strongly contemplative. I create my own rituals to do inner work on myself and do celebrate a pantheist rite of Holy Communion primarily in secret in addition to attending a traditional Anglican parish, but my rituals do appropriate much traditional language.
I want to think about language here and would love any input on others' ideas or how they may approach this in their own pantheistic path.
I have accepted that since I am working in a particular mythic framework that not all of my language -- which is metaphorical -- will correspond exactly to the objects or realities symbolized. For instance I tend to think of the cosmos, especially matter, as the Incarnation, and yet in my rite I speak of the cosmos ascending "with" and "in" Jesus. As I see it, since I visualize, invoke, and worship the cosmos through my concept of Jesus there is a true sense in which the cosmos ascends with and in him for me as I perceive and relate to such a reality. (Ascension here has multiple layers of meaning for me but in part refers to the expansion of the universe.) Because I am relating to the cosmos in an anthropomorphic way the "ascension" (or expansion) is taking on a particular meaning "through," "in," and "with," my language and symbols (including Jesus). (I'm terrible at explaining this I'm afraid.)
I pray for others including the dead not because I believe in an interventionist deity but because ultimately I don't see anyone and anything as separate from myself. The separate ego is a mere illusion as far as I am concerned. Ultimately "I" consist of a bunch of elements and chemicals that are in turn merely an extension of the rest of the cosmos, and who "I" am is constantly shifting and unstable just like every other particular object. (I have Buddhist leanings here but have also been influenced by my understanding of certain scientific ideas and psychology.) Even if others never perceive my prayers doing them any good I hold the sufferings of the world -- which are all my own and a part of me -- contemplatively within my heart. My suffering ultimately arises from the same roots as anyone else's; I am a part of everything, and everything is a part of me including you. When those sufferings are held within me, healed within me, not separated from me, seen as an extension of me, then my prayers are really doing a good for others -- through me and in me. We are all extensions of one another. In this way I become the mediating Christ and make at-one-ment in my prayers (which is largely what my version of the mass is about).
If the redemption of the world occurs in me then it has occurred for everyone even if individual egos cannot perceive that. Ultimately no harm can occur to the totality: we only perceive it that way because we filter our perceptions of the cosmos in a limited way through our particular lives and egos. Ultimately all things are one and there is no harm that can be done to the fundamental nature of energy.
This traditional canticle also plays a role in my prayers:
Most High, all-powerful, all-good Lord, All praise is Yours, all glory, all honour and all blessings.
To you alone, Most High, do they belong, and no mortal lips are worthy to pronounce Your Name.
Praised be You my Lord with all Your creatures,
especially Sir Brother Sun,
Who is the day through whom You give us light.
And he is beautiful and radiant with great splendour,
Of You Most High, he bears the likeness.
Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Moon and the stars,
In the heavens you have made them bright, precious and fair.
This prayer easily lends itself to panentheism, and yet I have read the "Most High, all-powerful, all-'good' Lord," the creator, as the entire Cosmos which creates all things through itself, and since "Sister Moon and the stars" are a part of this totality I indeed praise God (the all) through them.
My experience of God is very personal and I do commune with "him" in my heart, sometimes as though a person is actually speaking to me. I have chosen to accept this despite my impersonal notions of God because this is a part of how human minds work anyway. We find faces in the clouds, in rocks, in trees. We read volition into robots or simple computer simulations. When it comes down to it we can locate no essential "self" within ourselves or other humans, and so in some way we are anthropomorphizing one another. The impersonal God becomes "personal" to me because I am personal.
While much of the language I use is necessarily imprecise since it is employed in the ways of metaphor and myth and also becomes an exploration of my inner mental world I ultimately perceive all of those concepts which are arising within my mind and being enacted ritually by myself as aspects of God, as God Himself. In me (and you!) he is interacting with himself through these (sometimes clumsy) concepts which are also Himself! It then begins to matter very little how precise they are. (And in fact very much of even ordinary everyday language is imprecise and metaphorical.)
I do hope others will share their perspectives on these matters here whether or not you are pantheists. Some pantheists in the neo-pagan movement do worship the cosmos through gods and goddesses and have similar non-literal (non-realist) interpretations. I'd love to hear some input! I know this post might come across as confusing. It's very hard for me to articulate what's going on inside my mind!
