Introducing PanenDeism
Larry Copling
www.PanenDeism.com
�2004, Larry Copling
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Continuing with Part 5...
Introducing PanenDeism...
On my small, but focused, website (www.PanenDeism.com), I define PanenDeism very broadly as:
�The doctrine that all reality exists within Deity (God), which first set the laws of "Process Evolution"... in motion, allowing It's Creation to self-evolve in varying degrees of complete freedom; a process that continues to this day."[iv]
Obviously, this overly broad definition is incomplete. It points to the Deistic nature of evolution, but does not go far enough to distinguish PanenDeism from Panentheism; thus the need for this article. PanenDeism is not just another type of �Process Theology�- It openly rejects any attempt at expressing traditional Christianity, as well as rejecting the basis of Process Thought, as offered by A.N. Whitehead. PanenDeism can be described as a Process Deology; a modern, re-vamped Deism that attempts to unite modern science with modern and ancient spirituality.
PanenDeism is a Deistic application of a whole new type of �Process Thought�. It is openly based on the �Evolutionary Theory of Process� of Arthur Middleton Young. Arthur M. Young (1905-1995) was a brilliant mathematician and engineer who graduated from Princeton and made a name for himself in the business world by inventing the Bell Helicopter. His real passion, however, was spiritual philosophy and cosmology. His extensive investigation into the areas of consciousness studies, ancient mysticism, mythology, and astrology, as well as in the application of these ways of knowing to modern physics and mathematics, resulted in two major books- The Reflexive Universe and The Geometry of Meaning. It was in the pages of these two books that his Theory of Process (TOP) was introduced and developed. The result was an incredibly coherent and elegantly rigorous foundation that is now available from which to build upon.
PanenDeism is the result of an attempt to develop a PanenDeistic language for the proper application of Young�s Theory of Process; producing a coherent, Deistic, spiritual approach to understanding the Divine. As of this writing, our work is far from finished, but what I can offer here is a short overview of a developing PanenDeistic cosmology.
As in the beginning, I want to make a distinction between the teachings of a particular faith tradition and the underlying philosophy (or cosmology) that it is built upon. We are also working on an actual application of PanenDeistic thought in the form of a �faith tradition� called TransDeism (Transcendent Deism), but what we are discussing in this article is limited to the philosophy it is built upon- PanenDeism.
PanenDeism�s Process Evolution
In this zero-dimensional stratum (mathematically- point-like, or having infinite angle, but zero extension into space-time), the Divine is referred to here as Alpha, and can be described as Unmanifest Being. One might say, at this level, that God is potentially everything, but actually nothing (as concerning manifest or physical reality).
Purpose and Freedom
PanenDeism explains that there are two key correspondent features of reality that are inherently present in all levels or stages of matter and life in the universe- Divine Purpose and Complete Freedom. It is in the administering of Divine Purpose, as well as in the corresponding availability of Complete Freedom (in varying degrees), that Co-Creation occurs; introducing true novelty into nature, life and the human condition.
Continue to Part 6...