Amalgamation vs Intersection

Pantheism: the idea that god is all things and all things are god.

Monism: there is one ultimate reality.

The two terms above could be used synonymously most of the time. Many Hindus believe in a monism where all things are Brahman. Atman (the soul) = Brahman which is the great sea of souls. Any perception of individuality is an illusion. Therefore, according to the Hindu, I am Brahman and Brahman is me. In fact, me and I are tenuous terms at best.

I must admit that I find this belief somewhat attractive. For one, we live in an extremely individualistic society, and at first glance, this way of thinking is a good remedy for a self centered world. There is also an inter-connectedness that I find rather alluring here. The film Avatar portrays an indigenous pantheism which demonstrates the harmony that ensues from the reality that all living things are adjoined.

Perhaps the reason these beliefs are attractive to me is that since modernity, western Christianity has cleanly cleaved God from his creation. I don't doubt that God is distinct from what he's made, but the modern view has had him living in a far away place on a far away throne, issuing judgments from his faraway field trip.

Interestingly enough, most basic (indigenous) religions believe in a supreme god who created things and then left us to interact with the local spirits, the ones who will actually hear us and act on our behalf. Monism is certainly an evolutionary step away from this belief among the Indian religions. It seems to me that it consists of a desire to be one with the divine; to reconnect with that deity who walked away from this god forsaken earth; in fact, a desire to be so close that there is no distiction.

I find it interesting that in Christian history we have a heresy that attempted as much when it came to the person of Jesus Christ. Eutyches (380-456 AD) essentially asserted that Jesus' human nature was swallowed up by his divine nature; the heresy was later called monphysitism (one nature). The reason this notion was rejected is because if Jesus didn't have a human nature, then he was not fully human as it had been asserted. The insidious nature of this heresy is that it denigrates humanity and gives way to a transcendentalism that seeks to escape this body and this world as opposed to being involved with its renewal.

Perhaps monism leads us down the same path. If all is one, and the purpose is to realize this oneness and escape this world, this body, these illusions, then how shall we live? Certainly, karma is part of the equation, but karma is a personal matter, and so again we enter the world of individualism. We strive individually to enter enlightenment and realize Brahman. Perhaps this isn't so different in it's strategy than many forms of Christianity today. Heaven and earth have been cleaved so cleanly in many denominations that salvation becomes merely a fire escape. Since the world and the flesh are passing away, the only thing to live for is the life to come. Humanity and the world are thereby denigrated and the purpose of salvation is lost in a sea of souls that seek liberation from this world and their dying bodies.

But if we view God as distinct, yet present in his creation; if we view Jesus as divine and human; if we see the world and the flesh as good but fallen; if we realize that salvation entails restoration which is more about bringing heaven to earth than it is about separating them, then we're more likely to move away from individualism and self centered ideology. We're more likely to live for the day, yet retain hope for the future. We're more likely to live in community and for community. I believe, in fact, that we're more likely to live in line with reality and more apt to see and live in the many places where heaven and earth intersect.