Those Panentheistic Cosmic Blues

“When you’ve seen beyond yourself then you may find peace of mind is waiting there,
And the time will come when you see we’re all one and life flows on within you and without you.”

“Within You Without You,” The Beatles, lyrics by George Harrison

~

For many years I struggled, trying to come to grips with my disbelief in Abrahamic monotheism and its fear-based ideologies. It isn’t easy to openly reject what you’ve been taught to believe since childhood, but as Mohandas Gandhi once said, “a ‘No’ uttered from the deepest conviction is better than a ‘Yes’ merely uttered to please.” Once I became convinced of the inherent flaws within the Abrahamic traditions, I had no alternative but to walk away and seek ultimate truth elsewhere.

When I was in elementary school and we learned about atoms, I remember thinking how similar the models I’d seen of our solar system were to the structure of atoms presented in my school books. Atoms are composed of three kinds of material: protons, neutrons, and electrons. Protons are heavy particles and have a positive (+) electrical charge. Neutrons are also heavy, but have no electrical charge; they are neutral. The central core of an atom is called the nucleus and is composed of one or both of these materials in various quantities.

Electrons are very tiny particles having a negative (-) electrical charge. All atoms contain one or more electrons, held in orbit around a central nucleus. The number of protons, neutrons, and electrons in each atom determine what type of element (hydrogen, carbon, iron, etc.) the atom is.

Depicted in two dimensions on a page in a book, atomic structures bear a strong resemblance to our solar system, with the planets, asteroids, and comets orbiting the sun like electrons around a nucleus.

I remember wondering if our solar system, and the millions of others like it in the universe might be equivalent to the molecular structures of a much larger organism. Could it be that we – you and I and everyone we’ve ever known – are merely cells of awareness within that being. Are our thoughts, words, and deeds the inner workings of an entity so huge that we are unable to comprehend it’s nature or existence? Might we and all that we experience be simply the biomechanics of a being that exceeds everything we can possibly imagine?

These questions and the ideas that inspire them have been rolling around my head for most of my life, and throughout my search for answers I’ve returned again and again to this concept.

I’ve wandered down many trails in my search for ultimate truth; some paths switchback on themselves and take the earnest seeker in circles, others lead only to dead ends, but of all the roads I’ve traveled, one destination keeps popping up on my radar and time after time I find myself back on the spiritual paths of the Indian subcontinent.

It’s said that one does not convert to Hinduism. You are either born into Hindu culture or you aren’t, but for as long as can I remember I have felt a deep connection to many of India’s spiritual traditions.

Hindu religious texts are generally regarded as among the oldest spiritual literature on Earth. In Hindu theology, Brahman represents the unchanging, infinite, and transcendent reality, the supreme cosmic spirit of all that is, was, or will be. If I understand correctly, this supreme essence, Brahman, is the wellspring of the entire universe – the material and the motivator behind all of creation and which permeates everything.

The pantheistic concept of the Oneness of all creation, that everything in the universe – including you and I – are parts of a greater whole makes more sense to me than any other spiritual idea I’ve ever considered.

Pantheism is the general belief that the universe and God are identical, that is, the entire cosmos, including our planet and all forms of life which it sustains is God and as such, all of creation is deserving of our deepest reverence and worship. I’ve always felt an affinity with this sentiment, but the definition always seemed to fall a bit short.

The other night I ran across an article describing a slightly different take on this idea. Panentheism is similar to pantheism, but where pantheists believe that God is the whole universe; panentheists believe that the whole universe exists within God. That may sound like two ways of saying the same thing, but if we dig a little deeper it becomes clear that the concepts are very different.

While pantheism claims that God and the universe are essentially the same – that God IS the universe, panentheism claims that the universe is merely contained within God and is therefore only a part of God. I’ve always believed that any deity worthy of the title, “God” cannot  fit into a “box” of human contrivance; panentheism meets that criteria with room to spare.

Maybe my crazy childhood fantasy; the one where the Milky Way might be an organelle within a cell in the body of that which we call God just might not be so crazy after all.