Comments on: Exotheism

By: uwe

uwe — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 07:31:41 +0000

A wonderful post indeed.
For anyone new to (or just interested in) the idea of panentheism, I would like to recommend a book that convincingly makes the case for this way of conceptualizing the Divine: “The God We Never Knew: Beyond Dogmatic Religion to a More Authentic Contemporary Faith” by Marcus Borg. Borg’s claim is that panentheism not only seems the least offensive to our postmodern minds, but also – and far more importantly – that this way of imaging God most faithfully reflects deep mystical experience. I also very much like the fact that the author tells the story of his own evolving Godview, from “supernatural theism” (God out there, remote and authoritarian) to panentheism.

By: Erick Mead

Erick Mead — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 15:41:08 +0000

Sorry, the link truncated:

here is another link to the same essay:

http://www.superdirector.com/suncrates2.html

By: Erick Mead

Erick Mead — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 15:34:49 +0000

Your abandonment of personhood in the Godhead in the may be misplaced. There is, in fact, a point of view in the mix of the “-isms” that you have not considered in defaulting to panentheism : “panpenetheism” — which is strongly developed in both traditional Chinese Neo-Confucian thought and with strong parallels to that of Alfred North Whitehead’ process thought. I won’t elaborate but rather point your here: http://www.inbetweenness.com/Suncrates'%20Publications/CHINESE%20PHILOSOPHY%20AS%20WORLD%20PHILOSOPHY.pdf

This line of approach is most attentive to the radical Creativity of God — God as Creativity itself — echoed in the Book of Changes and explicitly in Tolkiens’ observations (of whom you seem markedly fond) on what he termed “subcreation” as the unique faculty and fundamental calling of the incarnate human soul — to participate WITH God in his creation rather than trying to compete to substitute ours for His — which in this conception (pun intended) is the straightforward definition of sin and the measure of the Fall.

By: Lyric

Lyric — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 14:38:31 +0000

I’m a latecomer to this post but I had to come back to it to say how much I appreciate it. This statement is profound: “…dropping the demands of our neediness is essential to experience the divine later on in the journey as the soul matures.”

By: ned

ned — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 14:40:50 +0000

Hi there — I got a link to your blog from Hamza Darrell Grizzle’s blog. I do read your blog on and off, even though I don’t comment here.

I was a conventional Muslim theist who also found panentheism as the most inclusive and most mature picture of the Divine. I’ll be referencing this great entry from my blog if that’s all right with you.

One thing I’d like to mention is that panentheism doesn’t necessarily mean the Divine is purely impersonal. I used to have a hard time seeing God as personal, but the Indian philosopher-sage Sri Aurobindo helped me see that the Divine transcends the concepts of both impersonal and personal. I would say God is both universal *and* in touch with the particularities of each individual.

By: tinythinker

tinythinker — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 03:21:53 +0000

I once received some advice when it comes to such actualization of realization, or to put it another way, of being genuinely open to reality-as-it-is, which I hope may be of some use here: “Never think that you’ve ‘got it’, and never doubt that you do.”

By: Jason

Jason — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 21:30:31 +0000

Oh well. I think I somehow lost my comment to you. I wanted to thank you for such a wonderful post, bringing together all these theological perspectives through panentheism! I’ve often felt this way… and even toyed with the idea that I’m in some ways an atheist because I’m not THAT kind of theist… but you expressed so much I haven’t been able to articulate myself. Also, I think sometimes I may think exotheistically without realising it, and maybe that’s when spirituality feels most stagnant. I’ll have to pay attention and see if that’s true. Anyway, congratulations on your nomination by Darrell and I hope to read more from you.

By: Jason

Jason — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 21:27:55 +0000

Did my comment go through or are you filtering? Test…

By: Darrell Grizzle

Darrell Grizzle — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 20:47:44 +0000

This is indeed a fantastic post. I’m still holding on to the label “panentheist,” although I can recognize its limitations. I can also appreciate the glimmers of truth in each of the other “isms” you’ve listed here. Many, many thanks, for a very thought-provoking post.

I�ve nominated you for the �Open Mind Blogger Award.� See my post about the award at my Blog of the Grateful Bear, then visit http://politicsandreligion.wordpress.com/open-mind-award/ to claim your award!

~ Grateful Bear

By: a. julie

a. julie — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 18:08:41 +0000

This is an excerpt from a letter to a very dear friend, that explains better than will my fumbling with words today:

Did God really betray you? Or who? made promises on His behalf,
for the wind that blows where it will,
that is everywhere at once, and nowhere, and where,
where is our perception?
Heaven is now.