Pandeism Continued

 

The following is based on, “Why Pandeism is Better than Theism: an Essay” by K.M. is posted on www.koilas.org.

Part 4 – Trinity

The trinity explored in this section is not that of Christianity. Rather, it is the three characteristics of a Creator discernible by human comprehension. It should be understood that such a Creator must remain largely ineffable, otherwise humanity would be on a par with that Creator rather than an element of creation.

Firstly, the Creator must possess sufficient power to control the immense power of the universe.

Secondly, the Creator requires an intelligence, way beyond that of human beings, to develop the intricate program governing the dynamics of the unfolding universe producing complex material forms.

Thirdly, the Creator must possess a rationality expressing itself through the rational nature of the universe, the physical laws by which it operates.

It can be inferred from these three factors that the Creator was/is rationally motivated to create.

If this model is sufficient to account for the universe and Man’s observations of it, then no additional factors are required. No further divine attributes can logically be added, which is not to say others do not exist, but if they do they are beyond human comprehension.

Pandeism, therefore, is posited on recognising a Creator with the power to create, with an intelligence that allowed for the universe to be brought about and operate according to its programming and a rational motivation to do all this.

Theism, in its various forms, makes often contradictory claims about their scriptures being the actual Word of God, faith affirming visions and miracles, and the presence of evil as a force to be countered. Each version of theism claims to be, or implies, it is the only true path to God.

Conversely, pandeism states that human beings are part of an incomprehensibly intelligent and powerful Creator, and all the factors theists claim are expressions of the ineffable Creator filtered through our limited, if often spiritually inclined, minds.

Pandeism is sufficient to account for all the features claimed by theism without the need for anthropomorphic God(s) or the Devil to explain them. Indeed, it cannot be assumed the Creator is a conscious and active deity.

The Creator may not intervene in the universe, nor create spiritual forces that do so. All the laws of nature by which the universe operates are a fundamental part of the creation. If the Creator is conscious and does intervene it must be through the processes of creation, not arbitrary miraculous events.

Such are the implications of the rational trinity of Pandeism. Theistic religions are not dismissed, but understood as various spiritual expressions relating to creation. Nor are they, individually or collectively, expressions of ultimate truth. And neither does Pandeism make such an arrogant claim. It is itself a limited, if rational, response to creation and its Creator.

 

Pandeism

The following is based on, “Why Pandeism is Better than Theism: an Essay” by K.M. is posted on www.koilas.org.

Part 3 – Religion

So, why religion at all? Human beings, it seems, have intuitively used religious ideas to express what is essentially inexpressible. Through pre-history, a far longer period than that of recorded history, it appears mankind speculated on metaphysical matters.

Recorded history is a worldwide litany of spiritual visions, encounters with god(s) and divine communications. These became culturally modulated into a variety of faiths and formal expressions, usually spawning a priesthood as guardians and interpreters of religion.

The sceptical reductionist would dismiss all such notions as being the product of pre-scientific understanding; that revelations only occur in the minds of recipients, apparently answered prayers being grossly outnumbered by those unanswered and miracles are either delusion, coincidence or fraudulent.

Evolutionary biology may concede that past religious belief may have conferred some competitive advantage, while insisting they are expressions, ultimately, of fear. Such reductionism, though, demands that every religious event or notion in the entire history of humanity is an error or a fraud.

It has to be accepted that the wide variety of metaphysical or religious claims often conflict, supposedly eternal truths become modified to incorporate new factors and that a significant number of people have not and do not have religious experiences or sensibilities.

Religions and religious affiliations are undoubtedly culturally determined. Any one particular faith is largely made up of those born into it. Nuanced varieties do develop within a given faith and people do convert, while those who fall out if faith become apostates and atheists who continue to hold at least the moral and cultural precepts of their former faith.

An alternative explanation for the multitudinous and often conflicting mutually exclusive faiths is that they are the imperfect partial reflection of a greater, perhaps ineffable, truth. Humanity has an intuitive, subconscious awareness of what is an undefined and undefinable divine creator and creation.

A religious manifestation that is cross-cultural is mysticism. Through meditation and even mind-expanding/altering drugs there seems to be a common replicable observation of oneness with the universe that has a spiritual nature bound up within its very fabric.

It maybe the concept of religion has become so tainted by its inflexible and exclusive expressions that now it is more alienating than attractive to many, perhaps most, people. Deism may be able to buck this trend or maybe needs to transcend religion(s) and present itself as the rational philosophy it actually is.

Pandeism in particular can appeal to both the materialist and idealist as neither is refuted by the notion that the universe is the creation and only expression of the divine. Whether as a religion or a philosophy Pandeism can accommodate people from all religious backgrounds and none, while transcending previous religious expressions.

Pandeism

Introduction

 

“Why Pandeism is Better than Theism: an Essay” by K.M. is posted on www.koilas.org. This is the basis of what follows, a series of pieces on the subject of pandeism that not only précis K.M.’s exposition, but also reflect on it.

 

Part 1 – Defining Terms

 

Princeton University’s ‘WordNet’ dictionary is cited for a definition. Pandeism is “…the belief that God created the universe and its phenomena by becoming the universe, thereafter the sole manifestation of God.”

This is supported by the Encyclopedia Britannica. “Pandeism…attempted to unite aspects of Deism with pantheism, (and) held that through the act of creation God became the universe. There is thus no theological need to posit any special relationship between God and creation; rather, God is the universe and not a transcendent entity which created and subsequently governs it.”

Both these definitions, largely in agreement, indicate a polar opposite to the supernatural, anthropomorphic depictions of God propounded by most religions, especially the three Abrahamic ones. God cannot be supernatural, above or beyond nature, because God has become and is nature, all of it.

This also means that every aspect of the universe is a part manifestation of God. Patently, every particle, system and galaxy is an element of the universe as a whole, so if the universe is the total manifestation of God, then any individual feature of the universe must be a feature of God.

To claim pandeism as being better than theism may appear to be positing a moral superiority. However, the use of ‘better’ in this context is to state that pandeism provides a more suitably logical explanation of the relationship between creator and creation, being on and the same, than transcendent model favoured by theism.

Pandeism also counters the tendency towards human self-promotion with theism suggesting humanity has some special place in creation, or has a more significant role or destiny – Man being the image of God.

Ironically, atheism suffers from the same tendency to human self-promotion in its opposition to theism. Essentially, whether stated as such or not, atheism total denial of God implies that as far as is known Man is the most intelligent, the superior form, in the universe.

Theism encourages, wilfully or not, people to embrace what is comforting over what can be shown to be true. This can lead to ideas conflicting with science or bending of supposed divine principles to make them comply with science. Pandeism does neither of these, indeed it embraces science as presently our best way to insights into the workings of the universe, and therefore by God.

Differing Deisms

All ideologies, religious and secular, have their internal differences. Christianity, for example, has the three major divisions, Roman Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant. Taking the latter, it sub-divides into Episcopalians, Methodists, Presbyterians, Baptists, Quakers and others. Within each of these further divergences can be identified.

The same is true of politics for instance. The British parliament boasts three main parties and representatives from a number of others. Take any of those parties and within it a variety of views will be found, coalescing around official or semi-official groupings.

This is perfectly natural as it is the way ideas contest and prove themselves or change or become discarded. All positions, no matter how formidable they may seem for a time, are provisional, influenced by changing times, events and advancing knowledge.

Unfortunately, problems arise when a particular ideology becomes so dominant it considers all opposition as heresy requiring the apparatus of repression. This engenders bitter opposition often resulting in violence: the bloody history of the Reformation being but one example of this tendency. An agreement to differ is not only more civilised, it opens up possibilities for the exploration and formulation of new thinking.

Just as Christians of whatever stripe have fundamentals on which they agree, so it is with Deists. Deism is usually broadly defined as belief in God founded on Reason, Experience and Nature (of the universe). However, this does not imply all deists are alike in their thinking.

There is a variety of deist positions, some of them being:
• Monodeism – The universe was created by a single god that does not intervene in human affairs. Instead, God observes the universe, and therefore people as a sentient element, and its development in the way of an impartial scientist.
• Polydeism – Rather than the creation of one god, the universe is the product of various gods, each responsible for creating a different part, which is why there isn’t a single god taking an interest in the universe as a whole.
• Pandeism – God is the universe and the universe is God. Not only did God create the universe the divine pervades every aspect of it, living and non-living. This does not imply God takes a personal interest in human affairs, but that the whole universe is the extension of God.
• Panendeism – The universe is only a part of God, the divine power extending way beyond physical limitations. The philosopher Immanuel Kant insisted the power of omnipotent being cannot be limited, and allows for the idea of some cosmologists of the existence of multi-verses.
• Process Deism – God, like the universe, is subject to change. Not omnipotent, but omnipresent, God is eternal and experiences the passage of time. For people who also change over time, their lives can be validated by sharing this experience of God.
• Christian Deism – Interprets the teachings of Jesus in a Deist way while rejecting supernatural elements or that Jesus is the Son of God in a literal sense, other than as all people are ultimately the sons and daughters of God.
• Philosophical Deism – Draws on a broad range of religious and philosophical sources for deist ideas, while discounting as myths all suggestions of miracles.
• Scientific Deism – Scientific precepts and methodologies have pre-eminence, so any religious thinking must not be in contradiction with science. Particular reference is made to quantum physics as a demonstration of the strangeness of the universe.

These are some of the main strands of deism and there may well be others. There can be no definitive deism because God stands beyond human definition. Reason and experience applied to the nature of the universe is, for deists, suggestive of God, but by no means a proof.

Even what is meant by God is open to question, certainly not an anthropomorphic figure often suggested by religions. Language can only go so far to express what is little more than an inkling at best. Deism thus has much in common with Humanism that would not use the word “God”, but still express spiritual concepts drawn from the religion it grew.

Deism is not a proselytising religion, knocking on doors with the intention of securing converts. In its many forms it offers views of creation and suggests to those who are in some way in agreement that they also may be deists.

Those who are prepared to accept such a designation will, most likely, favour the form of deism that most closely accords with their thinking, or maybe prefer to be just deists, reflecting an implicit imprecision.

Difference for deists is a strength and should be embraced as an opportunity for keeping the conversation alive: reason and experience are not limited to a particular moment so there will always be room for new ideas and shared speculation.