There is to be found in Nature, an incredible, all-encompassing life-force or power, which I call the “Omnia” (Latin for ‘all’ or ‘everything’). This word not only denotes all energy/matter in the physical Universe, but also the innate quality of that matter, through the laws of Nature, to self-organize, replicate, move toward complexity and (in the case with organic life) push and pull all species to evolve, adapt, reproduce and survive.
These things are not only verifiable through modern science, but also critical in the understanding of our shared philosophy, crucial in our ability to progress as a species and central to the Biopantheist idea… i.e. that we humans represent the cognitive and moral aspect of a massive, collective Being. As such, I will now explore the most common and ubiquitous thought in Pantheism– that we are all, literally, the physical manifestation of God. The most common understanding of Pantheism states:
“Pantheism is the belief that the Universe (or Nature as the totality of everything) is identical with divinity, or that everything composes an all-encompassing, immanent God. Pantheists therefore do not believe in a distinct, personal or anthropomorphic god.”
Most Pantheists will claim it readily enough and repeat it frequently (sometimes ad nauseam), but do they actually consider what it means? Many will spout out bold assertions of their own divinity, making statements like: “God is everything” or “We are all God”, etc. Yes, we are all God, but we are not “God” in the traditional sense… i.e., we are not all powerful right now and “God” is not a conscious, coherent, singular being, as is so commonly thought throughout history and currently in the world of religion.
As others have noted, we are ‘collectively’ the manifestation of God, together with all the plants and animals and every other thing in existence that makes up the observable Universe. But “God” is not awake and perceptive on a cognitive, intellectual level… except when He/She/It is ‘awakened’ through sentient beings like us. Right now, the physical laws of the Universe are acting as a kind of ‘latent’ programming or unconscious memory of God, allowing all things to be and acting as the driving force behind gravity, electromagnetism, entropy, self-organization, awareness, consciousness and evolution in all biological life forms.
As the Deists rightly contend, God cannot ‘intervene’ to help us and there will not be true peace on Earth until human beings collectively unite to form a colossal, symbiotic relationship with one another and become the singularity that once existed before the Big Bang. All the details about ego, ascension, elevating our minds and consciousness and finding balance and peace, are part of the process of becoming ‘whole’ again. We are all God, but we are the differentiated, dispersed, individualized units or pockets of energy, that make up the ‘potential’ form of God. The mind and intellect of God does not exist as a conscious, moral agent with discretion and discernment, until we collectively develop our sense of logic and reason and establish a firm grasp of right and wrong on a global and perhaps even universal scale.
This will ultimately lead to a shared morality, which will end all violence and suffering and eventually create a lasting, unified peace. How do we help this process? By loving and accepting one another as unique representations of the Divine and embracing one another based on our commonalities, not our differences. The illusion of distinction is so minute, it pales in comparison to that which we actually share– as Earthlings, as Homo Sapiens, as Primates, as Mammals, as Animals, and as Carbon-based Life forms… we are all one Being, though scattered and split up into hundreds of trillions of subjective forms. We are everywhere, as God is thought to be, but we are not operating in unity and cohesion right now.
Likewise, only a part of God is all-knowing and intelligent and that part is relegated to the genius of DNA and the internal programming that allows all Life to self-replicate, adapt, survive, evolve and reproduce, with bodily functions that operate autonomously to maintain all biological systems that grow, heal and reproduce, etc. In all other ways the mind of God is asleep and unconscious… until we manifest love and act with empathy and compassion and show altruism, kindness and solidarity.
When we do this we are in essence, becoming the ‘mind’ of God, which intrinsically ‘wants’ to love and accept Itself… though It is just now beginning to learn how, through us. “God” is not what you think… and in order to understand why we (as God), are powerless to prevent tragedy and bring about world peace on a global scale, we must first understand the ‘true’ nature of God… which is one-part ultra-intelligent and quintessential genius, one-part ignorant and powerless, autonomic mute.
One-part morally superior, with the highest standards, ideals and sentient awareness possible, and one-part primitive, barbaric and instinctual, with only a basic, animalistic drive. One-part holy, sacred and divine in Its beauty, intelligence and complexity, and one-part asleep, blind, deaf and dumb in Its current, catatonic, comatose state. This, is the nature of the Omnia… It is growing and developing in terms of morals, ethics, values and ideals, even as we grow and progress in our morals, ethics, values and ideals.
We are becoming what we were and evolution is not blind or random, but guided by the laws of Nature (or the “will” of the Omnia, to be more specific). Let me see if I can put this in simplistic terms that everyone can understand and relate to, since these concepts are so profound: As conscious forms of energy/matter we are evolving, growing, changing and shifting, to become what we once were—an infinite, omniscient Mind… capable of anything.
Right now, in our own, limited awareness of time, no god exists (except in terms of an unconscious, internal programming that maintains the Universe through the laws of Nature), but right now in the distant future (and in the distant past), we are already there… unified, coherent and complete. We are actually everywhere at once, but we are only able to perceive the present moment, because our awareness is limited to our physical senses, which cannot remember, or foresee, our original form.
Some, can perceive more than others (and this is where psychic phenomena, ESP, clairvoyance and pre-cognition come in). The goal is to enjoy and experience the present moment, while understanding the trajectory and our ultimate future destiny. In Pantheistic terms, everything is God, but no Pantheist can tell you why. I say, it is because everything was once God and everything will be God again in the future (this is the ontology of Biopan).
Everything is not the all-knowing, all-powerful god of myth, because right now It is actually scattered and differentiated, broken up into trillions of constituent parts, simultaneously expanding and spreading out everywhere (just like a Torus), and simultaneously contracting and condensing back into Its singular form. You see, that “God” of myth and legend actually existed before time began and will exist again in the future. Or similarly, it could be said that It exists right now, outside of linear time as we know it.
We are unable to interact with Its Intelligence and Its conscious mind (as Theists would falsely have you believe), because It is not yet whole and coherent as a unified Being in our perception… but we can see the ‘remnants’ of divinity– the unconscious, inherent programming that exists within us and all around us, as expressed through Nature, and it is astonishingly complex and exceedingly intelligent… far beyond our individual intelligence. But, (and this is the key point) It is not moral. It has no capacity to judge or discern anything as a cognitive mind would… and this is why there is pain and suffering in the world and why on a certain level, all the Atheists are right– “God” does not exist.
As Nietzsche famously said, “God is dead” (the conscious mind of God anyway). In this sense, the Deists are also correct– God does not intervene… It does not because It cannot, in this current form. And yet, the more conscious, coherent and intelligent we become as highly evolved expressions of this divine Being, the more we develop our ability to love and show kindness and compassion and empathy towards all of the other, differentiated parts of God and the more the Omnia accepts and embraces Itself, the closer we get to becoming that all-loving god who acts morally on our behalf and cares for all sentient Life.
Since we are all God, God can only act and behave morally at the level that we act and behave morally. This is why morality and ethics are such a vital part of Biopantheism, because it is literally up to us to manifest everything we wish to see in the world. The Omnia exists and It has brought us this far through evolution and the laws of Nature. Now, as Its mind becomes more and more aware and conscious of good and evil, right and wrong (through us), It will grow and develop in tandem… and as we collectively unite, we literally ‘become’ the god of myth and legend. This is what we are all doing here and this is the crux of what my philosophy is all about—the awakening, or resurrection of “God.”
Some would ask, “where does ‘love’ fit into the equation?” Is not love the driving force behind God? When it comes to the concept of love, I would say “love” is simply the unconditional acknowledgement and acceptance of self. In this case, we know as Pantheists and Pandeists that ‘self’ implies other (everything else that exists in the physical world), since we are all connected and ultimately, we are all God.
Once one realizes how beautiful, complex and miraculous every part of this grand design is, admiration, appreciation, reverence and respect are the only natural responses… and subsequently, coherence, organization, cohesion and collective action ensues. I don’t know if you realize what this means, but it could be compared to all of the nerve endings, muscles, tendons and ligaments of a body, working together in unison to move an arm or a leg… in this case, the owner of that appendage is none other than God, a.k.a. the living Universe or Omnia.
Biopantheism is anthropocentric to be sure, but not in a selfish or hostile way toward Nature, it is not impudent or lacking in humility when it comes to our place in the grand scheme of things ecologically or cosmically. On the contrary, we recognize specifically our role as human animals on a planet populated by billions of other animals and life forms deserving of the same love, admiration, dignity and respect as ourselves.
Biopantheism is absolutely and irrevocably FOR Nature in every sense of the word… and yet, it doesn’t espouse or promote the worship of ANYTHING (even the Omnia Itself) only the respect, consideration, appreciation and acknowledgement, of all Life and the natural forces at work in the Universe. The “theism” in “Biopantheism” could easily be replaced with “deism” in that there is no active, conscious, discerning deity present… but instead, a residual, physical, penultimate, or internal/external force, and Its grand manifestation (the Universe), essentially running on autopilot… or what we call the “Laws of Nature.”
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