-
Welcome to Religious Forums, a friendly forum to discuss all religions in a friendly surrounding.
Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:- Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
- Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
- Access to private conversations with other members.
We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!
Pantheism: Is the Pantheistic Form of God A Concious Agent?
- Thread starter MSizer
- Start date
Erebus
Well-Known Member
It depends on the person in question really. Naturalistic Pantheists would most likely say that no, God is not conscious. A Christian Pantheist on the other hand would almost certainly claim he(?) was conscious.
Personally I don't know, I don't tend to think of reality as being conscious, though I wouldn't reject the possibility either. The way I see it, if our conscious self is formed by countless billions of individual cells, it's entirely possible that the countless billions of stars in the universe form a single giant consciousness.
ericoh2
******
I don't classify myself under any particular religion or philosophy but I have studied various religious concepts so I thought I would throw my view out there. This is however pretty much in alignment with my understanding but since people have their own definition I see no reason for a label. In my understanding of pantheism, God is expressed through all things. Everything is essentially a manifestation of "his" consciousness. Therefore God is conscious/self conscious through "his" creation (which is simply an extension of "himself") to varying degrees, depending on which instrument of creation that "he" is being expressed through. Just to expand a little further, the totality of existence would also have a consciousness of its own in the same way that a human being has a consciousness created from the totality of his parts. This level of being would however be very, very far beyond the level of consciousness that we normally see in individual humans.
Last edited:
EverChanging
Well-Known Member
I'm assuming God/Goddess/Deity equals the universe for the purposes of this forum.
I have no clue if the universe is conscious or not. Not too long ago, I probably would have said most certainly not, other than ourselves and some other creatures, of course. But now I'm not so sure. The universe is a very odd place.
I have no clue if the universe is conscious or not. Not too long ago, I probably would have said most certainly not, other than ourselves and some other creatures, of course. But now I'm not so sure. The universe is a very odd place.
As a whole, no, the universe is not conscious. Parts of it are, the part of the universe that asked this question for instance I believe is conscious (or was when the question was asked), and the part of the universe that is answering this question is conscious right now, (but I am heading to bed real soon).
The answer to your question about pantheism is that some pantheists view it as a conscious being and some dont. Neither consciousness nor the lack of consciousness is inherent in the definition of a pantheistic universe.
The answer to your question about pantheism is that some pantheists view it as a conscious being and some dont. Neither consciousness nor the lack of consciousness is inherent in the definition of a pantheistic universe.
WayFarer
Rogue Scholar
MSizer,
Your question (topic heading) "Pantheism: Is the Pantheistic Form of God A Concious Agent?" caught my attention. Then you asked "Can god think? Is god Concious?" If you go with the definition of pantheism and further viewed God as active/conscious you may need to approach it from the angle that God's Will is what is in effect. If the Universe/Nature and God are identical then the Will of God (everything) would seem both natural and subtle. Sort of like many of the laws of nature. Things/events would tend to gravitate towards desired (by the Universe/God) ends. However if the thought is God plays a more active role and changes things more dramatically then perhaps panentheism could be more what your looking for. A belief that like pantheism God and the universe are one yet goes a step further to propose that God exists beyond it as well. In this scenario God is a(n) (potentially) active agent. The nature of God may still be brought into question as in 'is God corporeal' or 'is existence/the Universe the only physical level and God is as if a ghost in the machine or exists on a purely spiritual level'.
Your question (topic heading) "Pantheism: Is the Pantheistic Form of God A Concious Agent?" caught my attention. Then you asked "Can god think? Is god Concious?" If you go with the definition of pantheism and further viewed God as active/conscious you may need to approach it from the angle that God's Will is what is in effect. If the Universe/Nature and God are identical then the Will of God (everything) would seem both natural and subtle. Sort of like many of the laws of nature. Things/events would tend to gravitate towards desired (by the Universe/God) ends. However if the thought is God plays a more active role and changes things more dramatically then perhaps panentheism could be more what your looking for. A belief that like pantheism God and the universe are one yet goes a step further to propose that God exists beyond it as well. In this scenario God is a(n) (potentially) active agent. The nature of God may still be brought into question as in 'is God corporeal' or 'is existence/the Universe the only physical level and God is as if a ghost in the machine or exists on a purely spiritual level'.
Twig pentagram
High Priest
The uni/multi-verse is god. We think, we are concious, and we're one with the uni/multi-verse. Individual thought and concious most definetly exist, but I don't know if collective concious or thought exist.
brbubba
Underling
I think most pantheists would say no when approaching this from a traditional sense. As a classical pantheist myself, I would say yes in terms of collective consciousness, which is a very non traditional notion. But there is no overriding single being that has a separate consciousness, akin to the Christian God.
On the naturalistic pantheist side, they would likely be very against the thought of any thinking conscious God. I might argue that the very definition of Pantheism necessitates a collective conscious, regardless of your supernatural beliefs.
On the naturalistic pantheist side, they would likely be very against the thought of any thinking conscious God. I might argue that the very definition of Pantheism necessitates a collective conscious, regardless of your supernatural beliefs.
Might you? Well if you do please let me know, I would love to see it.
fantôme profane;2082316 said:
You are already it (consciousness) a mistake in general comes when we think that consciousness can be divided by material form. Rather material existence exists in consciousness, which is already one (I would not say collective as that signifies parts, rather consciousness is singular, which is the closest I would say to a pantheist collective). So your love can be satisfied
brbubba
Underling
You are already it (consciousness) a mistake in general comes when we think that consciousness can be divided by material form. Rather material existence exists in consciousness, which is already one (I would not say collective as that signifies parts, rather consciousness is singular, which is the closest I would say to a pantheist collective). So your love can be satisfied
Precisely! If you believe that the whole is God and God is the whole, then by default the sum of human consciousness would be a collective consciousness. No need for a belief in the spirit realm here.
no-body
Well-Known Member