PSYCHOLOGY
QUALIFIED
MONISM
A Deeper Philosophy is Needed
As our mind matures in understanding we're willing
to acknowledge that we're all parts of God or
parts of the Creative Source (Buddha Nature,
or however we define it). This Divine Source
isn't separate from the universe. How could it be? The universe
is acknowledged as the body of
a Transcendent Source.
And it's quite natural that we have to
develop a new spiritual practice in response to this deeper approach.
Swami Vivekananda
"Next comes the higher Vedantic philosophy
(a more inclusive perception of life) which
says,
God is both the material and the efficient
(intelligent) cause of this universe. If
you say there's a God who's an infinite
Being, a soul which is also infinite, and
a nature which is also infinite, you can
go on multiplying infinites without limit
which is absurd; you smash all logic. So
God is both the material and the efficient
cause of the universe; He projects this
universe out of Himself."
"Soul and nature form the body of God,
and, therefore, these three form one unit.
It represents a higher stage of religious
development and goes by the name of qualified
monism. In dualism, the universe is conceived
as a large machine set going by God, while
in qualified monism, it's conceived as an
organism, interpenetrated by the Divine
Self."
How Has God Become Everything
"Then how is it that God has become
these walls and this table, that God has
become the pig, and the murderer, and all
the evil things in the world?
We say that God is pure. How can He become
all these degenerate things? Our answer
is: just as I'm a soul and have a body,
and in a sense, this body isn't different
from me, yet I, the real I, in fact, am
not the body. For instance, I say, I am
a child, a young man, or an old man, but
my soul hasn't changed. It remains the same.
Similarly, the whole universe, comprising
all nature and an infinite number of souls,
is, as it were, the infinite body of God.
He is interpenetrating the whole of it.
He alone is unchangeable, but nature changes,
and soul changes. He is unaffected by changes
in nature and soul."
Swami Vivekananda
EXAMPLES OF QUALIFIED MONISM FROM VARIOUS
RELIGIONS
Jalaluddin Rumi
"What do we mean by saying that God is not
in heaven? We don't mean that He is not in heaven,
but that heaven cannot encompass Him. He encompasses
heaven. He has an ineffable connection with heaven
just as He has an ineffable connection with you.
Everything is in His omnipotent hands; everything
is a manifestation of Him and subject to His control.
So, He's not outside the heavens and universe,
but is not totally inside them either, that is,
they don't encompass Him but He encompasses them
totally."
Angela of Foligno
"... in a vision I beheld the fullness
of God in which I beheld and comprehended
the whole creation, that is, what is on
this side and what is beyond the sea, the
abyss, the sea itself, and everything else.
And in everything I saw, I could perceive
nothing except the presence of the power
of God, and in a manner totally indescribable.
And my soul in an excess of wonder cried
out: "This world is pregnant with God!"
Wherefore I understood how small is the
whole of creation -- that is, what is on
this side and what is beyond the sea, the
abyss, the sea itself, and everything else
- but the power of God fills it all to overflowing."
-
Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn al-`Arabi
"His creation springs, not from nothingness,
from something other than Himself, from
a not-Him, but from His fundamental being,
from the potencies and virtualities latent
in His own unrevealed being."
Shvetashvatara Upanishad
"Meditate and realize this world is
filled with the presence of God. - The Lord
of Love is one. There is indeed no other.
He is the inner ruler in all beings. He
projects the cosmos from himself, maintains
and withdraws it back into himself at the
end of time. His eyes, mouths, arms, and
feet are everywhere. Projecting the cosmos
out of himself, he holds it together. He
is the source of all the powers of life.
He is the lord of all, the great seer who
dwells forever in the cosmic womb. May he
purify our consciousness!"
But even here, as the mind
matures, one is able to admit to an ultimate
unity-
This deepest perception is captured in
the philosophy of Monism.
