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'''Pantheism''' is the belief that the [[universe]] (or [[nature]] as the totality of everything) is identical with [[divinity]],<ref>{{Cite book | title = The New Oxford Dictionary Of English | publisher = Clarendon Press|year = 1998 | location = Oxford | pages = 1341|isbn = 0-19-861263-X}}</ref> or that everything composes an all-encompassing, [[immanence|immanent]] God.<ref name="Edwards">{{Cite book|title = Encyclopedia of Philosophy ed. Paul Edwards |publisher=Macmillan and Free Press |year = 1967 |location = New York|pages=34}}</ref> Pantheists thus do not believe in a distinct [[personal god|personal]] or [[anthropomorphic]] god.<ref>A Companion to Philosophy of Religion edited by Charles Taliaferro, Paul Draper, Philip L. Quinn, p.340 "They deny that God is "totally other" than the world or ontologically distinct from it."</ref> Some Eastern religions are considered to be pantheistically inclined.

Pantheism was popularized in the West as both a theology and philosophy based on the work of the 17th-century philosopher [[Baruch Spinoza]],<ref name=Picton/>{{rp|p.7}} whose ''[[Ethics (book)|Ethics]]'' was an answer to [[Descartes]]' famous [[Dualism|dualist]] theory that the body and spirit are separate.<ref name=Plumptre /> Spinoza held the [[Monism|monist]] view that the two are the same, and monism is a fundamental part of his philosophy. He was described as a "God-intoxicated man," and used the word God to describe the unity of all substance.<ref name=Plumptre>{{cite book|last=Plumptre|first=Constance|title=General sketch of the history of pantheism, Volume 2|year=1879|publisher=Samuel Deacon and Co|location=London|isbn=9780766155022|pages=3–5, 8, 29}}</ref> Although the term pantheism was not coined until after his death, Spinoza is regarded as its most celebrated advocate.<ref>{{cite book|last=Shoham|first=Schlomo Giora|title=To Test the Limits of Our Endurance|year=2010|publisher=Cambridge Scholars|isbn=1443820687|pages=111}}</ref>

==Definitions==
Pantheism is derived from the Greek roots ''[[wikt:pan-|pan]]'' (meaning "all") and ''[[wikt:theos|theos]]'' (meaning "God"). There are a variety of definitions of pantheism. Some consider it a theological and philosophical [[Conceptions of god|position concerning God]].<ref name=Picton>{{cite book|last=Picton|first=James Allanson|title=Pantheism: its story and significance|year=1905|publisher=Archibald Constable & CO LTD.|location=Chicago|isbn=978-1419140082|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=-_yjarZwEhoC&pg=PP8}}</ref>{{rp|p.8}}

As a religious position, some describe pantheism as the polar opposite of [[atheism]].<ref name=Plumptre>{{cite book|last=Plumptre|first=Constance|title=General sketch of the history of pantheism, Volume 2|year=1879|publisher=Samuel Deacon and Co|location=London|isbn=9780766155022|p 7}}</ref> From this standpoint, pantheism is the view that everything is part of an all-encompassing, immanent God.<ref name="Edwards"/> All forms of reality may then be considered either modes of that Being, or identical with it.<ref name="Deity">Owen, H. P. ''Concepts of Deity''. London: Macmillan, 1971, p. 65.</ref> Others hold that pantheism is a non-religious philosophical position. To them, pantheism is the view that the Universe and God are identical.;<ref>{{Cite book |title = The New Oxford Dictionary Of English|publisher = Clarendon Press|year = 1998|location = Oxford|pages=1341|isbn=0-19-861263-X}}</ref> in other words: that the Universe (with all its divine extensions, planets, suns, galaxies, thrones and creatures) is what people and religions call "God".

==History==
The first known use of the term pantheism was by the English mathematician [[Joseph Raphson]] in his work ''De spatio reali'', written in Latin and published in 1697.<ref>Ann Thomson; Bodies of Thought: Science, Religion, and the Soul in the Early Enlightenment, 2008, page 54.</ref> In ''De spatio reali'', Raphson begins with a distinction between atheistic ‘panhylists’ (from the Greek roots ''[[wikt:pan-|pan]]'', "all", and ''[[wikt:hyle|hyle]]'', "matter"), who believe everything is matter, and ‘pantheists’ who believe in “a certain universal substance, material as well as intelligent, that fashions all things that exist out of its own essence.”<ref>{{cite book|last=Raphson|first=Joseph|title=De spatio reali|year=1697|publisher=Londini|pages=2|language=Latin}}</ref>
<ref>{{cite web|last=Suttle|first=Gary|title=Joseph Raphson: 1648–1715|url=http://naturepantheist.org/raph-son.html|publisher=Pantheist Association for Nature|accessdate=7 September 2012}}</ref> Raphson found the universe to be immeasurable in respect to a human's capacity of understanding, and believed that humans would never be able to comprehend it.<ref>{{cite book|last=Koyré|first=Alexander|title=From the Closed World to the Infinite Universe|year=1957|publisher=Johns Hopkins Press|location=Baltimore, Md.|isbn=0801803470|pages=190–204|url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/astro/cwiu/cwiu11.htm#page_190}}</ref>

The term was borrowed and first used in English by the [[Irish people|Irish]] writer [[John Toland]] in his work of 1705 ''Socinianism Truly Stated, by a pantheist''. [[John Toland]] was influenced by both Spinoza and Bruno, and used the terms 'pantheist' and '[[Spinozist]]' interchangeably.<ref>R.E. Sullivan, "John Toland and the Deist controversy: A Study in Adaptations", Harvard University Press, 1982, p. 193</ref> In 1720 he wrote the ''Pantheisticon: or The Form of Celebrating the Socratic-Society'' in Latin, envisioning a pantheist society which believed, "all things in the world are one, and one is all in all things ... what is all in all things is God, eternal and immense, neither born nor ever to perish."<ref>{{cite web|last=Harrison|first=Paul|title=Toland: The father of modern pantheism|url=http://www.pantheism.net/paul/history/toland.htm|work=Pantheist History|publisher=World Pantheist Movement|accessdate=5 September 2012}}</ref><ref>Toland, John, Pantheisticon, 1720; reprint of the 1751 edition, New York and London: Garland, 1976, p 54</ref> He clarified his idea of pantheism in a letter to [[Gottfried Leibniz]] in 1710 when he referred to "the pantheistic opinion of those who believe in no other eternal being but the universe".<ref>Honderich, Ted, ''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995, p.641: "First used by John Toland in 1705, the term 'pantheist' designates one who holds both that everything there is constitutes a unity and that this unity is divine."</ref><ref>Thompson, Ann, ''Bodies of Thought: Science, Religion, and the Soul in the Early Enlightenment'', Oxford University Press, 2008, p 133, ISBN 9780199236190</ref><ref name="ReferenceA">Paul Harrison, ''Elements of Pantheism'', 1999.</ref>

Although the term "pantheism" did not exist before the 17th century, various pre-Christian religions and philosophies can be regarded as pantheistic. Pantheism is similar to the ancient Hindu philosophy of [[Advaita]] (non-dualism) to the extent that the 19th-century German Sanskritist Theodore Goldstücker remarked that Spinoza's thought was "... a western system of philosophy which occupies a foremost rank amongst the philosophies of all nations and ages, and which is so exact a representation of the ideas of the Vedanta, that we might have suspected its founder to have borrowed the fundamental principles of his system from the Hindus."<ref>Literary Remains of the Late Professor Theodore Goldstucker, W. H. Allen, 1879. p32.</ref>

Others include some of the [[Presocratics]], such as [[Heraclitus]] and [[Anaximander]].<ref>Thilly, Frank, "Pantheism", in ''Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, Part 18'', Hastings, James (Ed.), Kessinger Publishing, 2003 (reprint, originally published 1908), p 614, ISBN 9780766136953.</ref> The [[Stoics]] were pantheists, beginning with [[Zeno of Citium]] and culminating in the emperor-philosopher [[Marcus Aurelius]]. During the pre-Christian Roman Empire, [[Stoicism]] was one of the three dominant schools of philosophy, along with [[Epicureanism]] and [[Neoplatonism]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Armstrong|first=AH|title=The Cambridge History of Later Greek and Early Medieval Philosophy|year=1967|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978052104-0549|pages=57, 60, 161, 186, 222}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=McLynn|first=Frank|title=Marcus Aurelius: A Life|year=2010|publisher=Da Capo Press|isbn=9780306819162|pages=232}}</ref> The early [[Daoism|Taoism]] of [[Lao Zi]] and [[Zhuangzi]] is also sometimes considered pantheistic.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

[[File:Spinoza.jpg|thumb|160px|The philosophy of [[Baruch Spinoza]] is often regarded as pantheism, although he did not use that term.<ref name=Picton/><ref>*Fraser, Alexander Campbell "Philosophy of Theism", William Blackwood and Sons, 1895, p 163.</ref>]]
The [[Catholic church]] regarded pantheism as heresy.<ref>Collinge, William, ''Historical Dictionary of Catholicism'', Scarecrow Press, 2012, p 188, ISBN 9780810879799.</ref> [[Giordano Bruno]], an Italian monk who was burned at the stake in 1600 for heresy, is considered by some to be a pantheist.<ref>McIntyre, James Lewis, ''Giordano Bruno'', Macmillan, 1903, p 316.</ref> [[Baruch Spinoza]]'s ''Ethics'', finished in 1675, was the major source from which pantheism spread.<ref>Genevieve Lloyd, Routledge Philosophy GuideBook to Spinoza and The Ethics (Routledge Philosophy Guidebooks), Routledge; 1 edition (2 October 1996), ISBN 978-0-415-10782-2, Page: 24</ref>

In 1785, a major controversy about Spinoza's philosophy between [[Friedrich Jacobi]], a critic, and [[Moses Mendelssohn]], a defender, known in German as the ''[[Pantheism controversy|Pantheismus-Streit]]'', helped to spread pantheism to many German thinkers in the late 18th and 19th centuries.<ref>Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi, in [http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/friedrich-jacobi/ ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' (plato.stanford.edu)].</ref>

For a time during the 19th century pantheism was the theological viewpoint of many leading writers and philosophers, attracting figures such as [[William Wordsworth]] and [[Samuel Coleridge]] in Britain; [[Johann Gottlieb Fichte]], [[Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling]] and [[Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel]] in Germany; and [[Walt Whitman]], [[Ralph Waldo Emerson]] and [[Henry David Thoreau]] in the United States. Seen as a growing threat by the Vatican, it came under attack 1862 in the [[Syllabus of Errors]] of [[Pope Pius XI|Pius IX]].<ref>[http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Pius09/p9syll.htm Syllabus of Errors 1.1 (papalencyclicals.net)].</ref>

In the mid-eighteenth century, the English theologian [[Daniel Waterland]] defined pantheism as: "It supposes God and nature, or God and the whole universe, to be one and the same substance—one universal being; insomuch that men's souls are only modifications of the divine substance."<ref name=Worman>Worman, J. H., "Pantheism", in ''Cyclopædia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature, Volume 1'', John McClintock, James Strong (Eds), Harper & Brothers, 1896, pp 616&ndash;624.</ref><ref>Worman cites Waterland, Works, viii, p 81.</ref> In the early nineteenth century, the German theologian [[Julius Wegscheider]] defined pantheism as the belief that God and the world established by God are one and the same.<ref name=Worman/><ref>Worman cites Wegscheider, Inst 57, p 250.</ref>

In the late 20th century, pantheism was often declared to be the underlying theology of [[Neopaganism]],<ref>Margot Adler, Drawing Down the Moon, Beacon Press, 1986.</ref> and Pantheists began forming organizations devoted specifically to Pantheism and treating it as a separate religion.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

===Recent developments===
[[File:Einstein 1921 portrait2.jpg|thumb|160px|[[Albert Einstein]] is considered to be a pantheist by some commentators.]]

In 2008, one of [[Albert Einstein]]'s letters, written in 1954 in German, in which he dismissed belief in a personal God, was sold at auction for more than US$330,000. Einstein wrote, "We followers of Spinoza see our God in the wonderful order and lawfulness of all that exists and in its soul ["Beseeltheit"] as it reveals itself in man and animal," in a letter to Eduard Büsching (25 October 1929) after Büsching sent Einstein a copy of his book ''Es gibt keinen Gott''. Einstein responded that the book only dealt with the concept of a personal God and not the impersonal God of pantheism. "I do not believe in a personal God and I have never denied this but have expressed it clearly," he wrote in another letter in 1954.<ref>{{cite web| title=Belief in God a 'product of human weaknesses': Einstein letter| publisher=CBC Canada| date=2008-05-13 | url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2008/05/13/einstein-religion.html| accessdate=2011-08-31}}</ref>

Pantheism is mentioned in a [[Papal encyclical]] in 2009<ref name=Caritas>Caritas In Veritate, 7 July 2009.</ref> and a statement on New Year's Day in 2010,<ref>{{cite web|title=Message of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI For The Celebration Of The World Day Of Peace|url=http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/messages/peace/documents/hf_ben-xvi_mes_20111208_xlv-world-day-peace_en.html}}</ref> criticizing pantheism for denying the superiority of humans over nature and "seeing the source of man{{'s}} salvation in nature".<ref name=Caritas/> In a review of the 2009 film ''[[Avatar (2009 film)|Avatar]]'', [[Ross Douthat]], an author, described pantheism as "Hollywood’s religion of choice for a generation now".<ref>Heaven and Nature, Ross Douthat, New York Times, 20 December 2009</ref>

In 2011, a letter written in 1886 by [[William Herndon (lawyer)|William Herndon]], [[Abraham Lincoln|Abraham Lincoln's]] law partner, was sold at auction for US$30,000.<ref name=Letter>{{cite web|title=Sold – Herndon's Revelations on Lincoln’s Religion|url=http://www.raabcollection.com/abraham-lincoln-autograph/Abraham-Lincoln-Autograph-Religion/|publisher=Raab Collection|accessdate=5 June 2012|first=William|last=Herndon|format=Excerpt and review|date=4 February 1866}}</ref> In it, Herndon writes of the U.S. President's [[Abraham Lincoln and religion|evolving religious views]], which included pantheism.
{{quote|
"Mr. Lincoln’s religion is too well known to me to allow of even a shadow of a doubt; he is or was a Theist and a Rationalist, denying all extraordinary – supernatural inspiration or revelation. At one time in his life, to say the least, he was an elevated Pantheist, doubting the immortality of the soul as the Christian world understands that term. He believed that the soul lost its identity and was immortal as a force. Subsequent to this he rose to the belief of a God, and this is all the change he ever underwent."<ref name=Letter /><ref name=Lincoln>{{cite news|last=Adams|first=Guy|title='Pantheist' Lincoln would be unelectable today|url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/pantheist-lincoln-would-be-unelectable-today-2269024.html|accessdate=5 June 2012|newspaper=The Independent|date=17 April 2011|authorlink=http://www.independent.co.uk/biography/guy-adams-6255066.html|location=Los Angeles}}</ref>}}

The subject is understandably controversial, but the contents of the letter is consistent with Lincoln's fairly lukewarm approach to organized religion.<ref name=Lincoln />

==Categorizations==
<!--Where in the source does it suggest "There are several ways to categorize pantheism."?-->
There are multiple varieties of pantheism<ref name="Stanford">{{cite web|last=Levine|first=Michael|title=Pantheism|url=http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/pantheism/|work=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy}}</ref>{{rp|3}} which have been placed along various spectra or in discrete categories.

===Degree of determinism===
The American philosopher [[Charles Hartshorne]] used the term [[Classical Pantheism]] to describe the [[deterministic]] philosophies of [[Baruch Spinoza]], [[the Stoics]], and other like-minded figures.<ref>{{cite book|title=Philosophers Speak of God|year=1953|publisher=University of Chicago Press|location=Chicago|pages=165–210|editor=Charles Hartshorne and William Reese}}</ref> Pantheism (All-is-God) is often associated with [[monism]] (All-is-One) and some have suggested that it logically implies determinism (All-is-Now).<ref name="Goldsmith">{{cite book|last=Goldsmith|first=Donald|title=E = Einstein: His Life, His Thought, and His Influence on Our Culture|year=2006|publisher=Stirling Publishing|location=New York|pages=187|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=zGzcV40b3IkC&pg=PA187|coauthors=Marcia Bartusiak}}</ref><ref>F.C. Copleston, "Pantheism in Spinoza and the German Idealists," Philosophy 21, 1946, p. 48</ref><ref>Literary and Philosophical Society of Liverpool, "Proceedings of the Liverpool Literary & Philosophical Society, Volumes 43–44", 1889, p 285</ref><ref>John Ferguson, "The Religions of the Roman Empire", Cornell University Press, 1970, p 193</ref> [[Albert Einstein]] explained [[theological determinism]] by stating,<ref>{{cite book|last=Isaacson|first=Walter|title=Einstein: His Life and Universe|year=2007|publisher=Simon and Schuster|pages=391|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=cdxWNE7NY6QC&pg=RA1-PA391&lpg=RA1-PA391 }} p. 391 "I am a determinist"</ref> "the past, present, and future are an 'illusion'". This form of pantheism has been referred to as "extreme monism", in which{{spaced ndash}} in the words of one commentator{{spaced ndash}} "God decides or determines everything, including our supposed decisions."<ref>{{cite book|title=Encyclopedia of Religion: Volume 10|year=2005|publisher=MacMillan|location=USA|isbn=0028657330|edition=2nd|editor=Lindsay Jones}}</ref> Other examples of determinism-inclined pantheisms include those of [[Ralph Waldo Emerson]],<ref>Dependence and Freedom: The Moral Thought of Horace Bushnell By David Wayne Haddorff [http://books.google.com/books?id=dL6_maZuNjYC&pg=PA156&lpg=PA156] Emerson's belief was "monistic determinism".
*Creatures of Prometheus: Gender and the Politics of Technology By Timothy Vance Kaufman-Osborn, Prometheus ((Writer)) [http://books.google.com/books?id=PZiLIEQzgHcC&pg=PA28&lpg=PA28] "Things are in a saddle, and ride mankind."
*Emerson's position is "soft determinism" (a variant of determinism) [http://books.google.com/books?id=ud2ZDts0RHsC&pg=PA145&lpg=PA145]
*"The 'fate' Emerson identifies is an underlying determinism." (Fate is one of Emerson's essays) [http://books.google.com/books?id=E1XhhYR2W6cC&pg=PA443&lpg=PA443]</ref> and [[Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel]].<ref>"Hegel was a determinist" (also called a combatibilist a.k.a. soft determinist) [http://books.google.com/books?id=7tu1ZAJzl-sC&pg=PA226&lpg=PA226]
*"Hegel and Marx are usually cited as the greatest proponents of historical determinism" [http://books.google.com/books?id=OF_0c51R_VUC&pg=PA238&lpg=PA238]</ref>

However, some have argued against treating every meaning of "unity" as an aspect of pantheism,<ref>{{cite journal|last=Levine|first=Michael P.|title=Pantheism, substance and unity|journal=International Journal for Philosophy of Religion|date=August 1992|volume=32|pages=1–23|url=http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/40036697|accessdate=25 September 2012}}</ref> and there exist versions of pantheism that regard determinism as an inaccurate or incomplete view of nature. Examples include the beliefs of [[Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling]] and [[William James]].<ref>
*Theories of the will in the history of philosophy By Archibald Alexander p 307 Schelling holds "that the will is not determined but self-determined." [http://books.google.com/books?id=6cV9AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA305&lpg=PA305]
*The Dynamic Individualism of William James by James O. Pawelski p 17 "[His] fight against determinism" "My first act of free will shall be to believe in free will." [http://books.google.com/books?id=-21UjntpjFkC&pg=PA17&lpg=PA17]
</ref>

===Degree of belief===
It may also be possible to distinguish two types of pantheism, one being more religious and the other being more philosophical. The Columbia Encyclopedia writes of the distinction:

:"If the pantheist starts with the belief that the one great reality, eternal and infinite, is God, he sees everything finite and temporal as but some part of God. There is nothing separate or distinct from God, for God is the universe. If, on the other hand, the conception taken as the foundation of the system is that the great inclusive unity is the world itself, or the universe, God is swallowed up in that unity, which may be designated nature."<ref>{{cite web|title=Pantheism|url=http://www.answers.com/topic/pantheism|work=The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition|publisher=Columbia University Press|accessdate=13 June 2012|year=2012}}</ref>
Religious inclined pantheisms include some forms of Hinduism while philosophical inclined pantheisms include Stoicism.

===Other===
In 1896, J. H. Worman, a theologian, identified seven categories of pantheism: Mechanical or materialistic (God the mechanical unity of existence); Ontological (fundamental unity, Spinoza); Dynamic; Psychical (God is the soul of the world); Ethical (God is the universal moral order, [[Johann Gottlieb Fichte]]); Logical ([[Hegel]]); and Pure (absorption of God into nature, which Worman equates with atheism).<ref name=Worman/>

More recently, [[Paul D. Feinberg]], professor of biblical and systematic theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, also identified seven categories of pantheism: Hylozoistic; Immanentistic; Absolutistic monistic; Relativistic monistic; Acosmic; Identity of opposites; and Neoplatonic or emanationistic.<ref>''[[Evangelical Dictionary of Theology]]'', edited by Walter A. Elwell, p. 887</ref>

==Pantheism in religion==
Philosopher Michael Levine has said that there may be more pantheists than theists worldwide.<ref name="Levine" />{{rp|p.14}} There are elements of pantheism in some forms of [[Christianity]],<ref>{{cite web|last=Harrison|first=Paul|title=The origins of Christian pantheism|url=http://www.pantheism.net/paul/history/gospel.htm|work=Pantheist history|publisher=World Pantheists Movement|accessdate=20 September 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Fox|first=Michael W.|title=Christianity and Pantheism|url=http://www.pantheist.net/society/christianity_and_pan_fox.html|publisher=Universal Pantheist Society|accessdate=20 September 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Zaleha|first=Bernard|title=Recovering Christian Pantheism as the Lost Gospel of Creation|url=http://www.christianecology.org/ConsiderLillies.html|publisher=Fund for Christian Ecology, Inc.|accessdate=20 September 2012}}</ref> [[Islam]] ([[Sufism]]), [[Buddhism]], [[Judaism]], [[Gnosticism]], [[Neopaganism]], and [[Theosophy]] as well as in several tendencies in many theistic religions. The Islamic religious tradition, in particular [[Sufism]] and [[Alevi]]sm, has a strong belief in the [[Monism#Islam|unitary nature]] of the universe and the concept that everything in it is an aspect of God itself, although their perspective, like many traditional perspectives, may lean closer to [[panentheism]]. Many other traditional and folk religions including [[African traditional religions]]<ref>{{cite journal|last=Parrinder|first=EG|title=Monotheism and Pantheism in Africa|journal=Journal of Religion in Africa|year=1970|volume=3|pages=81–88|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/1594816|accessdate=26 September 2012}}</ref> and [[Native American religions]]<ref name="Levine" />{{rp|p.67}}<ref>{{cite web|last=Harrison|first=Paul|title=North American Indians: the spirituality of nature|url=http://www.pantheism.net/paul/history/native-americans.htm|publisher=World Pantheist Movement|accessdate=7 September 2012}}</ref> can be seen as pantheistic, or a mixture of pantheism and other doctrines such as [[polytheism]] and [[animism]]. A variety of modern paganists also hold pantheistic views.<ref>Carpenter, Dennis D. (1996). "Emergent Nature Spirituality: An Examination of the Major Spiritual Contours of the Contemporary Pagan Worldview". In Lewis, James R.. Magical Religion and Modern Witchcraft. Albany: State University of New York Press. ISBN 978-0-7914-2890-0. p 50</ref>

===Hinduism===
It is generally regarded that Hindu religious texts are the oldest known literature containing pantheistic ideas.<ref name="Plumptre" /> The [[Advaita Vedanta]] school of Hinduism teaches that the [[Ātman (Hinduism)|Atman]] (true self; human soul) is indistinct from [[Brahman]] (the unknown reality of everything).<ref>Vivekananda, 1987</ref>

The branches of Hinduism teaching forms of pantheism are known as non-dualist schools.<ref>Bhaskarananda, Swami (1994), The Essentials of Hinduism: a comprehensive overview of the world's oldest religion, Seattle, WA: Viveka Press, ISBN 1-884852-02-5</ref> All [[Mahāvākyas|Mahāvākyas (Great Sayings)]] of the Upanishads, in one way or another, seem to indicate the unity of the world with the [[Brahman]].<ref>"A Survey of Hinduism: First Edition", by Klaus K. Klostermaier, p. 201</ref> It further says, "This whole universe is Brahman, from Brahman to a clod of earth."<ref>"Hindu Literature: Or the Ancient Books of India", P.115, by Elizabeth A. Reed</ref>

===Taoism===
In the tradition of its leading thinkers [[Lao Tzu]] and [[Zhuangzi]], [[Taoism]] is comparable with pantheism, as the [[Tao]] is always spoken of with profound religious reverence and respect, similar to the way that pantheism discusses the "God" that is everything. The [[Tao te Ching]] never speaks of a transcendent God, but of a mysterious and numinous ground of being underlying all things. Zhuangzi emphasized the pantheistic content of Taoism even more clearly: "Heaven and I were created together, and all things and I are one." When Tung Kuo Tzu asked Zhuangzi where the Tao was, he replied that it was in the ant, the grass, the clay tile, even in excrement: "There is nowhere where it is not… There is not a single thing without Tao."<ref>[http://www.pantheism.net/paul/chuang.htm Chuang Tzu – The butterfly philosopher (pantheism.net)].</ref>

===Organizations===
[[File:Panthéisme.JPG|thumb| Spiral image symbols favored by the World Pantheist Movement]]
Two organizations that specify the word pantheism in their title formed in the last quarter of the 20th century. The [[Universal Pantheist Society]], open to all varieties of pantheists and supportive of environmental causes, was founded in 1975.<ref>{{cite web|title=Home page|url=http://www.pantheist.net/|publisher=Universal Pantheist Society|accessdate=8 August 2012}}</ref> The [[World Pantheist Movement]] is headed by [[Paul Harrison (pantheist)|Paul Harrison]], an environmentalist, writer and a former vice president of the Universal Pantheist Society, from which he resigned in 1996. The World Pantheist Movement was incorporated in 1999 to focus exclusively on promoting a [[naturalism (philosophy)|naturalistic]] version of pantheism,<ref>{{cite web|last=World Pantheist Movement|title=Naturalism and Religion: can there be a naturalistic & scientific spirituality?|url=http://www.pantheism.net/natural.htm|accessdate=4 September 2012}}</ref> considered by some a form of [[religious naturalism]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Stone|first=Jerome Arthur|title=Religious Naturalism Today: The Rebirth of a Forgotten Alternative|year=2008|publisher=State University of New York Press|location=Albany|isbn=0791475379|pages=10}}</ref> It has been described as an example of "dark green religion" with a focus on environmental ethics.<ref name="Dark Green">Bron Raymond Taylor, "Dark Green Religion: Nature Spirituality and the Planetary Future", University of California Press 2010, pp 159–160.</ref>

== Related concepts ==
[[Nature worship]] or nature mysticism is often conflated and confused with pantheism. It is pointed out by at least one expert in pantheist philosophy that Spinoza’s identification of God with nature is very different from a recent idea of a self identifying pantheist with environmental ethical concerns, Harold Wood, founder of the [[Universal Pantheist Society]]. His use of the word [[nature]] to describe his worldview is suggested to be vastly different than the "nature" of modern sciences. He and other nature mystics who also identify as pantheists use "nature" to refer to the limited [[natural environment]] (as opposed to man-made [[built environment]]). This use of "nature" is different than the broader use from Spinoza and other pantheists describing natural laws and the overall phenomena of the physical world. Nature mysticism may be compatible with pantheism but it may also be compatible with [[theism]] and other views.<ref>Levine, Michael, Pantheism: A Non-Theistic Concept of Deity, Psychology Press, 1994, ISBN 9780415070645, pgs 44, 274-275. 
* "The idea that Unity that is rooted in nature is what types of nature mysticism (e.g. Wordsworth and Robinson Jeffers, Gary Snyder) have in common with more philosophically robust versions of pantheism. It is why nature mysticism and philosophical pantheism are often conflated and confused for one another."
* "[Wood's] pantheism is distant from Spinoza’s identification of God with nature, and much closer to nature mysticism. In fact it is nature mysticism
* "Nature mysticism, however, is as compatible with theism as it is with pantheism."
* "Surely what Wood understands by “nature,” its value etc., is vastly different from “nature” as seen by the natural sciences."
</ref>

[[Panentheism]] (from Greek πᾶν (pân) "all"; ἐν (en) "in"; and θεός (theós) "God"; "all-in-God") was formally coined in Germany in the 19th century in an attempt to offer a philosophical synthesis between traditional theism and pantheism, stating that God is substantially [[omnipresent]] in the physical universe but also exists "apart from" or "beyond" it as its Creator and Sustainer.<ref name="Cooper">John W. Cooper, ''The Other God of the Philosophers'', Baker Academic, 2006</ref>{{rp|p.27}} Thus panentheism separates itself from pantheism, positing the extra claim that God exists above and beyond the world as we know it.<ref name="Levine">{{cite book|last=Levine|first=Michael Philip|title=Pantheism: A Non-Theistic Concept of Deity|year=1994|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=HtS2TR8859sC&pg=PR7&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=3#v=onepage&q&f=false}}</ref>{{rp|p.11}} The line between pantheism and panentheism can be blurred depending on varying definitions of God, so there have been disagreements when assigning particular notable figures to pantheism or panentheism.<ref name="Cooper" />{{rp|pp. 71–72, 87–88, 105}}<ref>Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Genealogy to Iqbal edited by Edward Craig, pg 100 [http://books.google.com/books?id=5m5z_ca-qDkC&printsec=frontcover].</ref>

[[Pandeism]] is another word derived from pantheism and is characterized as a combination of reconcilable elements of pantheism and [[deism]].<ref>{{cite book|title=The History of Science: A Beginner's Guide|pages =90|author=Sean F. Johnston|year=2009|isbn= 1-85168-681-9}}</ref> It assumes a Creator-deity which is at some point distinct from the universe and then merges with it, resulting in a universe similar to the pantheistic one in present essence, but differing in origin.

[[Panpsychism]] is the philosophical view held by many pantheists that consciousness, mind, or soul is a universal feature of all things.<ref>Seager, William and Allen-Hermanson, Sean, "Panpsychism", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2012 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = <http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2012/entries/panpsychism/
</ref> Some pantheists also subscribe to the distinct philosophical views [[hylozoism]] (or panvitalism), the view that everything is alive, and its close neighbor [[animism]], the view that everything has a soul or spirit.<ref>Haught, John F. (1990). What Is Religion?: An Introduction. Paulist Press. p. 19.</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of pantheists]]
* [[Monism]]
* [[Classical pantheism]]
* [[Naturalistic pantheism]]

==Footnotes==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
* Amryc, C. ''Pantheism: The Light and Hope of Modern Reason'', 1898. [http://archive.org/details/pantheismlighta02amrygoog online]
* Harrison, Paul, ''Elements of Pantheism'', Element Press, 1999. [http://books.google.com/books?id=7w4_zYPOVEcC preview]
* Hunt, John, ''Pantheism and Christianity'', William Isbister Limited, 1884. [http://archive.org/stream/pantheismandchr00huntgoog online]
* Levine, Michael, ''Pantheism: A Non-Theistic Concept of Deity'', Psychology Press, 1994, ISBN 9780415070645
* Picton, James Allanson, ''Pantheism: Its story and significance'', Archibald Constable & Co., 1905. [http://books.google.com/books?id=Yaw_AAAAYAAJ online].
* Plumptre, Constance E., ''General Sketch of the History of Pantheism'', Cambridge University Press, 2011 (reprint, originally published 1879), ISBN 9781108028028 [http://archive.org/details/generalsketchhi00plumgoog online]
* Russell, Sharman Apt, ''Standing in the Light: My Life as a Pantheist'', Basic Books, 2008, ISBN 0465005179
* Urquhart, W. S. ''Pantheism and the Value of Life'', 1919. [http://archive.org/stream/pantheismandthev032264mbp online]

==External links==
{{wikiquote}}
{{Wiktionary}}
* {{sep entry|pantheism|Pantheism|William Mander}}
* [http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2012/entries/pantheism/ '''Pantheism'''] entry by Michael Levine (earlier article on pantheism in the ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'')
* {{dmoz|Society/Religion_and_Spirituality/Pantheism/|Pantheism}}
* [http://www.pantheist-index.net/ The Pantheist Index], pantheist-index.net
* [http://www.wku.edu/~jan.garrett/panthesm.htm An Introduction to Pantheism (wku.edu)]
* {{CathEncy|wstitle=Pantheism}}
* [http://www.pantheist.net  The Universal Pantheist Society (pantheist.net)]
* [http://www.pantheism.net The World Pantheist Movement (pantheism.net)]
* [http://chabad.org/1807957 Pantheism and Judaism (chabad.org)]