Temple of PANTHEISM   
                                                          at U of Originality

   In eighth grade a rumor swept my junior high school that one of the science teachers 'worshipped trees.'  At that time I was exposed to a very limited knowledge of religions.  There was Christianity, of course, and Judaism.  The only other religions I knew of where 'those odd Eastern religions' on which The Tao of Pooh book is based.  I took this rumor to have as much validity as a rumor I heard the next year which accused my English teacher of having a wooden leg and a glass eye.  It wasn't until my first year of college, in a Philosophy of Religion class, that I was first introduced to the term "Pantheism."  I believe that this is what my 'tree hugging' junior high school science teacher believes.

      PAN = EVERYTHING                 THEOS = GOD
     Pantheism, in an extremely loose definition, is the belief that God is everything, and everything is God.  This characteristically "new age" religion has roots in the ideas of the pre-socratic philosophers, such as Anaximander and Heraclitus.
As is the case with most religions, describing the nature of Pantheism (no pun intended) and still doing it justice is no easy task.  First you must see the universe as divine.  Everything natural is made of the same matter.  We scientifically name this 'atoms.'  Anaximander named this 'apeiron.'  Heraclitus thought it was fire. The Quakers termed this 'Inner Light.'  Pantheists believe we came from this matter, are of this matter, and when we die we will be integrated back into the same matter.  I would like to explain this in terms of Christianity.  This religion believes there is a holy trinity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  It also believes that people have souls.  If you were to say that the essence of all of these, the trinity and our souls, are made of the same 'stuff,' you would be leaning towards a pantheistic view of the world.

     Pantheists, however, do not exclude anything that is natural from having this connecting matter.  In fact, many Pantheists feel most at home in the wilderness, surrounded by nature, the most 'natural' of things.  Nature is often referred to as the temple or church of Pantheism.  Since it is so natural, nature is bursting with the energy that flows through all living things, so in the same way that Christians believe that the church symbolizes the house of God, Pantheists see wilderness as symbolizing a closeness to their 'god' (the matter/ energy that flows through all living things.)

     To learn more about Pantheism, check out a Pantheist Credo. Do you think you could be a Pantheist?  Take a quiz and see!  Explore the many different elements of Pantheism!  You can also explore a web page with Pantheistic quotes from Emerson's Nature, or my paper which explores Emerson's Pantheistic and Transcendental views in his essay The Poet.
 
             FOR MUCH MUCH MUCH MORE INFORMATION,
                    HERE IS A LIST OF MORE LINKS!

PANTHEISM -- FROM THE STANFORD ENCYLOPEDIA OF PHILOSOPHY
GOD IS ALL AND ALL IS GOD
BACK TO TRANSCENDENTALISM PAGE of Joanna Langworthy
World Pantheist Movement
Pantheism:  a religion for all

Also, if you find yourself intrigued by these ideas and want to talk about them, you can talk to me in person or e-mail me at mailto:grroveman@prodigy.net.  I share this address, so make sure to put my name in the subject so I know the message is for me.

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Links
Universal Pantheist Society: membership organization for all pantheists.
Swedish Pantheist Society excellent site
Scientific Pantheism the best
An introduction to pantheism by Jan Garrett excellent
Modern pantheism as an approach to environmental ethics by Harold Wood. very good
Pantheism. By Michael Levine. Long article in Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy. excellent
The Universe is a growing God good but short
Michael Shanks Homepage - has some Pantheist links
Pantheists
Spinoza
Emerson
Einstein
More Einstein
Even More Einstein -quotes
Einstein
The great Pantheist (among other things :))!

In His Own Words

The Quotable Einstein

Pictures of Einstein

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Emerson on Transcendence, Polarity, and the Active Soul
Emerson the Pantheist
Emerson, Ralph Waldo (1803-1882)
Environmental Ethics - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Lucidcafe's Ralph Waldo Emerson Page
Ralph Waldo Emerson Quotes
Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson
William Wordsworth
Everything (almost) you could ever want to know about his writings
Walt Whitman
Links
Henry David Thoreau
Links