| PANTHEISM |
| Frequently Asked Questions |
| How can we pray to the universe and nature? The short answer is that we can't. But can we pray to a God and realistically hope that out of nearly six billion humans in an immense universe he will come to our personal assistance? Could we really expect any kind of just God to alter his decisions and laws simply because we asked him to do us a favor? Apart from outside forces, it is we ourselves - our thoughts, our feelings, our determination, our action - who decide what happens to us. So Pantheists can meditate on the right course of action, and pray to themselves, to summon up the determination to act. They can also meditate on nature, and achieve states of mental union with nature and the universe akin to mystical states. Isn't it idolatry to worship the creation and not the Creator? It is not idolatry at all if there is no Creator. Even supposing there was a Creator who has left no visible trace of himself, if he were just then surely he would not punish us for worshipping his visible works? Creation itself cannot be an idol or a graven image. But pantheists believe that the universe created itself [see The Self-existent Cosmos] and designed itself [see The Self-organizing Cosmos. If this is the case then the true idolatry is to worship an imaginary Creator rather than the visible and vibrant reality that surrounds us. |