The eastern sky is beautiful this morning as the sun came up. There are high cirrus clouds everywhere and one thin cumulus cloud rising from the horizon shaped like funnel or a staircase to the heavens. The temperatures must be right for there are jet trails everywhere, crisscrossing the heavens like checkerboard. One might ask, are we to take the beauty in this world solely as a natural occurrence or is there more going on here on earth?
I have been
digging into what the philosophers have to say about our world. It is a slow
dig because so much of what is said is couched in the language of the
intellectual community. However, it is never too late for an old dog to learn
new tricks, particularly when one’s days are so unencumbered. Pantheism says
that Gods are all around us in this world. The historical church has almost
equated pantheism with the devil or as evil. Traditional theism (God
understanding), says that God is located above and beyond our earthly reality yet
pulling strings in our world. To this observer, this is one of those bedtime
stories.
Panentheism
is the philosophical alternative to these two types of theisms. Notice the “en”
that is added to pantheism. What I know of philosophy I have learned via the
google search engine. Maybe if google had been around fifty years ago, I would
have been a better student? Getting the terms down is a lot easier with the
computer. Anyway, panentheism says there is a little bit of God in everything in our world and that God is also living, invisible, untouchable and largely
silent in our midst.
Panentheism
works for me, it gives credit where due for the beauty in this world and opens
up our lives to the true friend who knows our troubles, shares our pain and is
the giver of healing hope/joy.
What more
could we ask of God?
G. Goslaw
Landers, Ca.
