PantheismPage2

Is pantheism just theism in disguise?
No. Theism means belief in a personal God who is greater and older than the universe. This God may or may not be present in the universe.
Pantheism says simply that the universe is divine. This is a statement about the attitude we should adopt towards the universe and nature - an attitude which we have no choice but to adopt of we open our eyes to the full awe and mystery of reality.
The universe has some features in common with the God of traditional religions - its power, immensity, and mystery. But it is not personal. It has no mind apart from the minds of intelligent species within it. It is neither loving nor vengeful. It does not sit in judgment over us and mete out rewards and punishments in an afterlife.
Before we can really understand the divine cosmos, we must forget everything we have learned about traditional gods, and learn to look at what is in front of our eyes with an open mind.

So is Pantheism just atheism or humanism in disguise?
Again: no. Like atheism and humanism, pantheism does not believe in a personal God separate from the Universe. Like them it is critical of beliefs that depend on faith in impossibilities, or unproven revelations in ancient books.
But unlike atheism and humanism, Pantheism adopts a reverent and religious attitude towards nature and the universe. It affirms our unity with these, and rejects the idea of human mastery over nature or human pre-eminence in the cosmos. It takes our relationship to nature and to the universe as the center of our religion, our ethics and our aesthetics.

What is the difference between pantheism and panentheism?
Panentheists and pantheists share the view that the universe and every natural thing in it is pervaded by divinity.
However, pan-en-theos means "all-in-God" - that is, the universe is contained within God, not God in the universe. Panentheists believe in a God who is present in everything but also extends beyond the universe. In other words, God is greater than the universe. Often they also believe that this God has a mind, created the universe, and cares about each of us personally.
Pantheists believe that the universe itself is divine. They do not believe in personal or creator gods.

Does pantheism have anything to do with pantheon or polytheism?
Only the etymology. In Greek pan means all, theos means god, while poly means many.
POLYTHEISM is belief in many gods.
The PANTHEON (=all gods) is the collection of classical deities like Zeus, Hera and so on, or a building in which they are worshipped.
PANTHEISM (all=god) is a term coined in the eighteenth century for the belief that everything is God. Very confusingly, some dictionaries give an alternative definition of pantheism as "belief in all the gods." However, this use is uncommon today, overlaps with polytheism, and is quite unrelated to the ideas of modern pantheism. Hopefully it will die out as understanding of modern pantheism spreads.

What is the relationship between paganism and pantheism?
There are many points in common between paganism and Pantheism. Most pagans say they are pantheists. They too believe that divinity is manifested everywhere. They too celebrate solstices, equinoxes and other natural passages. They too have a strong environmental ethic and a deep love of nature.
Many pagans are straight pantheists, using polytheism as a metaphoric way of approaching the cosmic divinity. Some people feel the need for symbols and personages to mediate their relationship with nature and the cosmos. There is no harm in this, as long as the symbols help us to connect to Reality and do not block or distort our view of Reality.
Pantheists can also relate directly to the universe and to nature, without the need for any intermediary symbols or deities. The divine cosmos manifests itself directly to us in nature and the night sky.
However, many pagans are literal polytheists, and believe in magic, reincarnation, and the irrational. Modern pantheists are not polytheists, and do not believe in magic, or disembodied spirits. Most of them do not believe in a personal afterlife, whether through reincarnation or transport to any kind of non-material "heaven."
If by the irrational, people mean a strongly emotional and aesthetic approach to nature and the universe, then we support it just as strongly as any pagan. But we see no conflict in principle between this and science, reason or logic. The findings of science have often been abused to harm nature and humans, but to correct the harm we need better, more ethical science and better public control over science and technology - not an abandonment of science. Without science we would have no hope of saving the earth, and no hope of understanding the universe we live in.
However, if the irrational means abandonment of science, reason and logic, then pantheists reject it. Once these are abandoned, all beliefs are equally valid - including racism, fascism and the wildest superstitions.

Has pantheism got anything to do with animism?
Animism is the belief that every living thing in nature - including trees, plants and even rocks or streams - has its own spirit or divinity. In primitive societies animism often requires that before anyone can kill an animal or fell a tree, its natural spirit must be placated.
Pantheism is in a sense a natural development of animism. Pantheism celebrates the divinity inherent in the whole of the universe and nature. This whole possesses the power, the creativity, the awe and mystery that we need for a supreme divinity.
However, the whole exists through and in its parts. Every natural thing from the sun to a grain of sand, from a giant sequoia to a bacterium, partakes of the divinity. Every natural thing has the numinous quality of being an incarnation of reality, a distinctive organization of matter with its own unique character and dignity. Some natural things - like the sun, or the ocean, or trees - possess that numinous quality in larger measure.
Only animals have nervous systems. But all living things have communication systems, through which information about the external world is transmitted by way of chemical and electrical messages. In this sense they have "spirits." Even inanimate objects are shaped by and shape their environment and in that sense are responsive.
The pantheist attitude to all individual natural phenomena is one of appreciation of beauty, quiet and respectful observation, love and care. Since it is impossible for us to perceive or grasp the whole universe or the whole of nature at once, we can revere it in and through its constituent parts.