Ella S.
*temp banned*
I'm interested in comparing/contrasting some ideas here.
To me, I worship the Nature described by the ancient Stoics and by Spinoza, which was often called God. More specifically, the Stoics saw God as the animating force entangled within (but inseparable from) matter, and they called this animating force the "logic of God" or the Logos. This was because Nature was seen as being ordered rationally, given that it expresses itself through predictable patterns of motion, and determinism/fatalism was extracted from that.
Rather than having faith in a monotheistic God, I put my trust in the logic of Nature. Part of that is trying to cultivate a love of fate, sometimes called Amor Fati. Rather than seeing everyone as unified in an ultimate divinity, I see them as parts of an interconnected whole, which tends to be quite similar in practice.
I realize that this extends to spiritual practices as well. I partake in introspective meditation, for instance, in order to stay aligned with my ideals. When I want to affect change in the world, logic is my magic. Just as practitioners of magic believe that their spells and rituals will make the outcomes they seek more likely to occur, I believe that logic gives me strategies and solutions that make the outcomes I seek more likely to occur.
Which is something I find interesting. There's a similar psychospiritual need being fulfilled by my naturalistic worldview that is traditionally filled by more supernatural perspectives:
Instead of trusting in God when everything feels like it's going awry, I accept the outcomes of the logical processes of Nature, both of which sooth the mind of distress. Instead of praying when I need something, I turn to logic to figure out what I need to do in order to increase my chances of obtaining it, both of which can engender feelings of control. Instead of viewing myself as having a divine purpose in a greater cosmic plan, I believe that I was fated to be exactly as I am as a consequence of Nature's logical processes, both of which can be validating when one feels lost. Instead of gaining my morality from a God through divine command theory or moral supernaturalism, I gain my morality from logic through moral rationalism.
In a way, logic is my God.
I'm particularly interested in the perspectives of other naturalistic pantheists on whether they, too, have found satisfying replacements for spiritual practices and ideas that are normally exclusive to religion, but I'm also open to input from those who are more oriented towards supernatural panentheism or who might combine pantheism with spiritual panpsychism about how pantheism fills their spiritual needs.
To me, I worship the Nature described by the ancient Stoics and by Spinoza, which was often called God. More specifically, the Stoics saw God as the animating force entangled within (but inseparable from) matter, and they called this animating force the "logic of God" or the Logos. This was because Nature was seen as being ordered rationally, given that it expresses itself through predictable patterns of motion, and determinism/fatalism was extracted from that.
Rather than having faith in a monotheistic God, I put my trust in the logic of Nature. Part of that is trying to cultivate a love of fate, sometimes called Amor Fati. Rather than seeing everyone as unified in an ultimate divinity, I see them as parts of an interconnected whole, which tends to be quite similar in practice.
I realize that this extends to spiritual practices as well. I partake in introspective meditation, for instance, in order to stay aligned with my ideals. When I want to affect change in the world, logic is my magic. Just as practitioners of magic believe that their spells and rituals will make the outcomes they seek more likely to occur, I believe that logic gives me strategies and solutions that make the outcomes I seek more likely to occur.
Which is something I find interesting. There's a similar psychospiritual need being fulfilled by my naturalistic worldview that is traditionally filled by more supernatural perspectives:
Instead of trusting in God when everything feels like it's going awry, I accept the outcomes of the logical processes of Nature, both of which sooth the mind of distress. Instead of praying when I need something, I turn to logic to figure out what I need to do in order to increase my chances of obtaining it, both of which can engender feelings of control. Instead of viewing myself as having a divine purpose in a greater cosmic plan, I believe that I was fated to be exactly as I am as a consequence of Nature's logical processes, both of which can be validating when one feels lost. Instead of gaining my morality from a God through divine command theory or moral supernaturalism, I gain my morality from logic through moral rationalism.
In a way, logic is my God.
I'm particularly interested in the perspectives of other naturalistic pantheists on whether they, too, have found satisfying replacements for spiritual practices and ideas that are normally exclusive to religion, but I'm also open to input from those who are more oriented towards supernatural panentheism or who might combine pantheism with spiritual panpsychism about how pantheism fills their spiritual needs.