Pantheism?

[D.N.]

Any Pantheists around here?

Personally, I was raised atheist (my dad had a Roman Catholic mom & a Jewish dad, and my mom got turned off religion growing up in rural Michigan), but I wound up developing my own spiritual beliefs regardless - and lo and behold, I eventually discovered that my beliefs fell neatly in line with a rather agnostic form of Pantheism!

Anyone care to share their own experience?

[jojoglowe]

I remember first coming across the word pantheism. I was pleasantly surprised that there was already a word for how I felt about "life, the universe and everything".

I grew up (catholic schools) under a catholic mom, and a ex-hippy dad. I was a very curious kid and spent hours googling/researching whatever my mind wondered. I looked at the shared aspects of the different theologies and philosophies and figured that's where some truth might lie.

My first vision (when I was a young kid ~5years) was of a native american spirit.
Before puberty, I had nightmares where I was being chased by Pan. (I had never heard of Pan before)
I was void of any visions through highschool and college (I used lots of drugs to try to escape my life)

After I chilled out on the drugs, I began seeing again.

I've seen jesters, reptilian judges, egyptian goddesses, hindu dieties, fairies, and more. (In that order)

I don't necessarily subscribe to any 'ism' but if I had to pick one, I'd say pantheism. I think that those who think this world is "the illusion" fail to see the beauty in it. Sure, our world is just one of infinity, but it is full of infinite beauty, and the entire awesomeness that is "god/us" would not be complete without it.

So that's where I'm at now in life. Being able to see the beauty and the divine in the world is a wonderful gift!

[D.N.]

I remember first coming across the word pantheism. I was pleasantly surprised that there was already a word for how I felt about "life, the universe and everything".

I grew up (catholic schools) under a catholic mom, and a ex-hippy dad. I was a very curious kid and spent hours googling/researching whatever my mind wondered. I looked at the shared aspects of the different theologies and philosophies and figured that's where some truth might lie.

My first vision (when I was a young kid ~5years) was of a native american spirit.
Before puberty, I had nightmares where I was being chased by Pan. (I had never heard of Pan before)
I was void of any visions through highschool and college (I used lots of drugs to try to escape my life)

After I chilled out on the drugs, I began seeing again.

I've seen jesters, reptilian judges, egyptian goddesses, hindu dieties, fairies, and more. (In that order)

I don't necessarily subscribe to any 'ism' but if I had to pick one, I'd say pantheism. I think that those who think this world is "the illusion" fail to see the beauty in it. Sure, our world is just one of infinity, but it is full of infinite beauty, and the entire awesomeness that is "god/us" would not be complete without it.

So that's where I'm at now in life. Being able to see the beauty and the divine in the world is a wonderful gift!

That's really interesting! I don't have visions myself (the closest I get is the occasional dream about something that has yet to happen), I can only imagine how that feels. It sounds really cool, though :0

I'm definitely with you on that latter point, though. It really throws be for a loop that a group that purports to see divinity in the cosmos and in nature and in ourselves can have a branch that writes off all of those things as unreal. Whether our reality is real or not, and whether it's big or small, it's absolutely majestic.