Pantheism is a philosophy or worldview.
Pantheism is the belief system of those who hold that the entire universe is the only God . This worldview and philosophical doctrine states that the entire universe, nature, and God are the same . In other words, existence (everything that was, is and will be) can be represented through the theological notion of God.
Each existing creature, according to pantheism, is a manifestation of God, which takes human, animal, plant, etc. form. For many experts, pantheism is the link that unites non-creationist religions, in addition to appearing in the essence of polytheisms.
Pantheism, however, is not usually considered a religion , but rather a worldview or philosophy . Due to its breadth, it can be understood in different ways.
The universe as a divine manifestation
Pantheism, in a sense, can consider divine reality to be the only existing reality . The entire universe, therefore, is a manifestation or emanation of God. In another sense, pantheism can understand that the world is the only true reality: God, in this case, is reduced to the world and becomes the self-consciousness of the universe or the organic principle of the natural.
Several of the main thinkers in human history are considered pantheists. Heraclitus , for example, maintained that the divine is present in the totality of things. For Plotinus , God is the beginning of everything, although not everything. Giordano Bruno , for his part, maintained the existence of the soul of the world, which is the general form of the universe. For Baruch de Spinoza, finally, nothing can be or be conceived outside of God.
For pantheism, the entire universe and God are the same.
Types of pantheism
It is possible to distinguish between the following two types of pantheism:
Acosmist : according to its principles, God is the only reality and the world (which is conceived as development, manifestation or emanation) is reduced to it. For its part, the term "acosmist" derives from "acosmism", which is defined as a philosophical thesis that does not accept the existence of the sensible world, or does so but only hypothetically;
Atheist : also called atheist , this is a vision that considers the world itself, to which God is reduced, as the only true reality. In other words, divinity is conceived as the unity of the world, as the beginning and end of Nature if it is understood as the consciousness that the world has of itself.
Way of salvation
There are organizations that promote pantheism, generally proposing a path to save the planet, to focus on the Earth and the Cosmos instead of learning about a supposed afterlife and worrying about our soul reaching eternity.
With clear derogatory references to the main religions, they seek to vindicate the beauty that we can perceive, that we can touch, that generates admiration when we approach nature , to the detriment of the perfection of supernatural gods.
Pantheism in fiction
Pantheism has a strong presence in fiction, since it appears implicitly or explicitly in various works of varying importance at an international level. One of the most outstanding examples is the Star Wars movie saga, which talks about The Force , understood as the energy that resides in all living beings in the universe and that connects them to each other.
On the other hand is Avatar , one of the most successful films of recent times, in which the aliens so characteristic of this masterpiece by James Cameron have an absolutely pantheistic way of understanding life. Earth Girl Arjuna , for its part, is a Japanese anime series that also has a vision that revolves around pantheism, since it addresses the connection between all the elements that are part of the Planet.