What differentiates your beliefs from atheism?

[The Sum of Awe]

I believe there is a Divine Will and perhaps even consciousness to existence, I take it very literally that the universe is God. But I'm aware that a lot of pantheists may disagree on that, and I'm curious what is the difference between your naturalistic pantheism from naturalistic atheism.

 

[dybmh]

Panentheist here, I suppose for me, it's that I do not think God is ONLY expressed will.

 

[The Sum of Awe]

Panentheist here, I suppose for me, it's that I do not think God is ONLY expressed will.

If existence is God's expressed will, isn't the other parts of God nonexistent?

 

[dybmh]

If existence is God's expressed will, isn't the other parts of God nonexistent?

Yes, I differentiate between existence and reality.

In my view, existence is what was and what is.

Reality includes that and more: What was, what is, what will be, what wasn't, what isn't, what won't and what could be.

 

[vulcanlogician]

I tend to look at reality/the universe/existence as one thing with a bunch of little parts, rather than a bunch of little parts that do their own thing independently (and just happen to share the same space).

There's nothing in either of these views that is necessarily separate them from atheism; an atheist could adopt either view. But since this is the pantheism DIR, and OP is asking what differentes my view from atheism, it'd probably be the notion that all things constitute a single whole... it is only we humans that find it useful to chop things up into distinct parts. But it is more properly seen as one seamless thing.

 

[Jainarayan]

I believe there is a Divine Will and perhaps even consciousness to existence, I take it very literally that the universe is God. But I'm aware that a lot of pantheists may disagree on that, and I'm curious what is the difference between your naturalistic pantheism from naturalistic atheism.

At one point I was an agnostic deist. Agnostic in that I didn't know if it was "God" or just a universal consciousness, something like the Force of Star Wars, or some such thing. In any case, it was something that got everything started, set up the rules and then just let it run. It was the Watchmaker Analogy.

As a theist and monist I'm a pantheist and panentheist. In Hindu philosophy they are not mutually exclusive. Brahman is the universe ... sarvam khalvidam brahma (Chandogya Upanishad)... "all this verily is Brahman", yet Brahman manifests as God, as well as everything we see and are, who is immanent and transcendent. In chapter 10 of the Bhagavad Gita Krishna describes his attributes:

• Neither celestial gods nor the great sages know of My origin. I am the source from which the gods and great seers come.
• From Me alone arise the varieties of qualities in humans, such as intellect, knowledge, clarity of thought, forgiveness, truthfulness, control over the senses and mind, joy and sorrow, birth and death, fear and courage, non-violence, equanimity, contentment, austerity, charity, fame, and infamy.
• I am the origin of all creation. Everything proceeds from Me. The wise who know this perfectly worship Me with great faith and devotion.
• O Arjun, I am seated in the heart of all living entities. I am the beginning, middle, and end of all beings.

Those are just a very few. The last verse, I believe establishes pantheism and panentheism by pervading and being the universe yet supporting it from "outside":
What need is there for all this detailed knowledge, O Arjun? Simply know that by one fraction of My being, I pervade and support this entire creation.

There are Hindus who have a naturalistic atheistic belief. There are atheistic Hindus who believe that the world arises from a single source, Brahman, that is not necessarily "divine" (certainly not "God", as Brahman is usually erroneously believed to be) but rather energy and/or the "stuff" of the universe. The same energy and stuff of the universe that physicists speak of. Even for theists, the universe though a creation of "God" or gods can be said to be based on and works by physical laws that physicists and other scientists describe. Hinduism is largely monistic.

So, what is the difference between my naturalistic pantheism and naturalistic atheism? Nothing except the inclusion of "God". God doesn't pull the strings as in Abrahamic belief, God is the strings.