One of the keys to understanding panentheism is, in my opinion, to appreciate the limitations of language and to resist the temptation to equate the symbols that we use in theological speech, communications and thought with something that is real and actual.
I believe that ‘God’ does reveal god-self (a better term, borrowed from a friend of mine, to express the gender-less nature of ‘God’ than using him/her/itself) but that this is experienced as an indescribable presence / feeling. As soon as we put words to this we lose the wholeness and completeness and subtlety of the experience.
That is not to say that discussing God is wrong; but it is very limited and all our God-words must be expressed in the humble knowledge and understanding of this.
Maybe when attempting to describe ‘God’ we are like a person trying to describe what the colour ‘purple’ means to someone who has been blind from birth. Purple can only be experienced; it cannot be described without reference to a simile; but the simile can only get over a limited amount of subjective information: it cannot explain the depth and richness and the reality of what ‘purple’ really is.
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About this Blog
Panentheism is a very ancient philosophy which can be described as the belief that 'God' is immanent in all things cosmos-wide but that 'God' is also transcendent. In other words all is 'God' but 'God' is more than just being a sum of 'his' parts.
The author of this blog identifies with panentheism as a belief-system and this blog will provide thoughts from daily life lived as a panentheist.
The author of this blog identifies with panentheism as a belief-system and this blog will provide thoughts from daily life lived as a panentheist.
1 comment:
I agree with you. I think that we cannot ever completely grasp the reality of God, partly because we are limited creatures trying to make sense of an infinite reality, but also I believe that from a panentheistic perspective God's immanence makes it impossible for us to step back and take an objective look at God as an "other". If God is within us, and if God is a part of us, then God is not an object completely outside of us; sow how can objectively characterize God?
It seems to me that the limited ability that we have to express God's nature also serves as a basis for religious pluralism. We are all like blind men, with God being the elephant.
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