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Pantheism is the belief that there is fundamental unity that pervades all that exists, and that it is that unity that is the divine or God. Everything that is is a part of the divine, and there is no distinction between the divine and what exists. While pantheism might include beliefs in "spiritism" (that all things, both living and inanimate, have a spiritual component), it does not differentiate this world soul into separate spirits or ultimately distinguish between the spirit and the material. God and the universe are identical. Some scholars have argued that true pantheism is anything but a primitive idea. It requires the quite counter-intuitive belief that there is an overarching unity that provides identity among all things that experience relates are different and varied. It is certainly the case that pantheism lies at the heart of some of the most advanced philosophical systems in both eastern and western societies. Eastern philosophies describe the Brahman as the single, infinite reality behind all the illusions of difference and change in the world. Pantheism also finds expression in the writings of such western philosophers as Spinoza, Lessing, and Hegel, and more recently Whitehead and Hartshorne, and in the romantic literature of authors such as Emerson and Thoreau. Two aspects of pantheism will be highlighted here. First, pantheism provides one way of understanding God in non-personal terms (or, in scholarly terms, "nontheistic"). That is to say, it does not conceive of God as similar to persons in having an intellect, personality, will, or ability of being in relationship. God simply is, and again all that is God. To use the language of the Scout Oath, one's "duty to God" might be summarized as recognizing this fundamental unity that binds one together with all that is as part of the divine. This understanding is foundational to much of what are generally called the eastern religions. The other aspect of pantheism might at first seem contradictory to the first, namely, that pantheistic ideas have influenced the development of the more mystical expressions of "theistic" religions (that is, those religions that understand God in personal terms). The reason why a nontheistic view of the divine can influence theistic experiences of God is because it challenges followers of these religions to hold in tension both notions of "transcendence" (God is other than creation, and so in some way apart from it and thus distant) and "immanence" (God is present in creation). If God is only apart from creation (completely transcendent), then there would be no way for beings within creation to experience or be in relationship with God. One of the great diversifying factors both between and within religious traditions is the degree to which they emphasize the immanence or the transcendence of God. For "ideal" pantheists, there would be no transcendence whatever. Introduce the slightest element of transcendence, and one moves at least into the realm of panentheism. Since they will not be dealt with elsewhere on this sight, it seems appropriate here to distinguish the term "non-theistic" from the ideas of "atheism" and "agnosticism." As already stated, "non-theistic" religions do believe that there is a God or what might be called the divine, they simply deny that God any personal attributes. "Atheism" in contrast denies the existence of God ("a-theism" meaning, "no God"); it is generally associated with a "materialist" philosophy that understands all that is to be nothing more than the matter and the physical forces that act upon and indeed hold matter together. "Agnosticism," in contrast to both the other views, says nothing about God per se, but only makes claims about what can be known of God. It is the belief that while there may be a God, this God is would be so transcendent as to make it impossible to know anything about the divine ("a-gnosticism" meaning "no knowledge"). |
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Scouting and Religious Diversity
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