The part is not the whole…but it also isn’t *not* the thing of which it is a part. As Alan Watts is so often quoted in pantheist circles as saying, “A wave is a function of what the entire ocean is doing,” and so is the feather of a duck. If you point at a duck’s feather, you are also pointing at the duck that grew it as part of its body. Your ability to isolate your attention on the feather does not remove it from its natural context of duckness.
Category Archives: Essays
It Takes One to Mango
I only needed one mango to get the experience of Mango, so I chose one. I don’t need to eat all 20 of them to know that they taste of Mango, and I’m sure they’re all delicious because they come from the same source.
A Pantheist Takes On the Problem of Evil
I’ll be honest. Sometimes it really sucks to be a pantheist. Not when I’m in my own company, mind you, nor in that of most other people. In fact, the sucking really just occurs when I’m trying to have a serious conversation in the simultaneous midst of two particular groups of people: theists and atheists.Continue reading “A Pantheist Takes On the Problem of Evil”
Do Pantheists Have Souls (or does Soul have them)?
We are the timeless essence of Existence, expressing itself in time as you and me, him and her, this and that, giving each its own unique perspective of the Whole. The experience of the soul –perhaps the verb “souling,” however clumsy for its newness, is the clearest way to convey it– is to be uniquely aware of the the universality of this expression.
An Apple Pie From Scratch: Demystifying Mysticism
I’m going to let you folks in on an important secret about mysticism. This is long overdue and crucial to the development of our species and both its religions and sciences, so I hope you will pay very close attention and try to really grok the distinction between what I am going to say andContinue reading “An Apple Pie From Scratch: Demystifying Mysticism”
All Is Mind: A Fresh Look at Spinozan Panpsychism
“So then, who are you? The organism is inseparable from its environment, so you are the organism-environment. You are no less than the whole universe. Each one of you is the universe expressed in the place you feel as here and now. So when you feel that you are a lonely, isolated, little stranger confrontingContinue reading “All Is Mind: A Fresh Look at Spinozan Panpsychism”
Why Ricky Gervais is a Dangerous Fundamentalist
I have a long history of being annoyed by Ricky Gervais, going back way before I saw this meme — but only in his chosen context as a commentator on religion, not his animal rights activism nor his show business persona. I think he’s a comic genius, and I have always loved his work onContinue reading “Why Ricky Gervais is a Dangerous Fundamentalist”
Pantheism for Dittoheads
Oh, Rush. You’ve done it again. One could build a fairly comprehensive and accurate dictionary just by taking the definitions you give to words that you don’t understand, and writing the opposite. A recent victim of your linguistic vericide was “pantheism.” To refresh your memory, here are some quotes from The Rush Limbaugh Show, aContinue reading “Pantheism for Dittoheads”
Pantheism and the Freedom of “Nothing Left to Lose”
It was suggested in a philosophy forum recently that pantheism might offer the only definition of God that is not disprovable. After all, the post reasoned, equating God with the universe makes it something only a solipsist would dispute (and actually, solipsism is the easiest kind of pantheism to explain, but that’s another idea forContinue reading “Pantheism and the Freedom of “Nothing Left to Lose””
Inside the Whale
Imagine two people inside the belly of a giant whale. One was swimming in the ocean when the beast swallowed him while taking in krill. The other, by rather mysterious circumstances, was born inside the whale and has never been outside of it. This is the only home she has ever known. The two peopleContinue reading “Inside the Whale”
Not One, Not Two 