Panentheism -- All in God

There are two directions for consciousness: outward looking, in which case the content is phenomenal form; and inward looking, in which case there is mental content or phenomena, but this inward direction is ultimately leading towards the pureness of consciousness itself - transcendental to any form or content. Most important to remember, though, is that its always possible to go either outward or inward, and much of the time we might alternate back and forth in these two directions. If we go inward, and go very deep, deeper and deeper, consciousness is actually going ever-deeper inside itself - until it reaches an ultimate purity of Light - which is ultimately the One Self. In other words, one is going inside oneself, or delving deeper inside oneself, to finally reach (or dissolve into) the One Self (of all beings). So by going inward, the Universal Self is discovered. But now if we go outward, with an open consciousness to the whole world around us, we find the very same Universal Self (as found within), yet we find the outer aspect of The Self, rather than the inner aspect. We only find the inner aspect within ourself, or within our own consciousness; while the outer aspect of The Self is found by directing consciousness outward, or looking outward and all around. But when we look outward and around, we do not find a singular Unity (as can be found when going deeply inward); rather, we find multiplicity, pluralism, diversity, variety, differences and even discord at times. This outer world is still One-Self, or One Light so to speak, but the Self/Light has refracted and fragmented into this 'world of color and diversity'

Whatever we find in the outer world (every-thing we know and every-thing that is) is but a portion, a fragment, or a limited version of the One Self. No one event or person or phenomena could be the Whole Complete Self. So whatever we find in the world, be it an event, a person, or whatever; is not, in its outer form, the Whole Complete Self, but rather it is a limited, partial, incomplete expression of the One Self, or we could say it is part of the gradual unfoldment of the One Self (incomplete and partial at this time). Though in its inner essence, each particular being is in fact the Whole Complete Self (holo-graphically reflected in that point). Thus, the inner aspect of our being (and of others) is, in its essence, Complete, Whole, Pure and Perfect. If we could realize (with our mind of knowing) the very inner of our inner, the most inner essence of our being, we would be realizing the Divine Self. We would be realizing God 'Himself'(Herself'), if we could go so very deep into conscious being; for God is right here, right at the centre point of our own being, right at the centre point of every being. Divine Being (The One Self) is at the centre of every point in the whole universe, particularly at every point in this world. That is how it is in this dimension of time and space. God is not out there somewhere, out beyond space, and calling to us as though He and we were in different places. This image, this model must be abandoned in order to understand Truth and Divinity in a deeper and more profound way. Take a moment and reverse-shift your thinking about God and your relationship with God. Instead of God 'out-there', realize that God is 'in-here'. Instead of God being outside of the world, realize that God is inside of the world. Instead of God being outside or above people, realize that God is inside people. God is hiding in there. Every once in while God peeks out and smiles and waves and laughs, and sometimes cries. If we keep awake, we can sometimes see this through people. God is trying to come out of hiding, but so much of the time we are not letting God come out, not letting the inner Divine Being come out to dance, to share, to reveal. We suppress this inner divine because we are afraid; we are afraid to lose our conditioned personality stuff, or maybe afraid of the divine spontaneity, or maybe we suppress the inner because we have no time for it in our busy schedule, and we don't want divine spontaneity to get in the way of the many practical matters that are always so important. Anyways, God is hiding inside us, or we should more truthfully say that we are hiding God.

God is coming out. The inner Being is coming out. This is what it's all about; that is the very purpose of existence. It's all about the hidden Treasure being revealed. There may be obstacles along the way; sometimes set by world circumstances and sometimes set by our own personality-ego self. And even when there is a greater opening and allowing for the inner Divine to come out, this expression of the Divine will often be somewhat distorted or say, less than perfect. Distortions happen because the lens or the windows or the medium for expression is not yet so clear. This is why the spiritual path calls for transformative practices that help purify our energies and clear the medium of our being. At any rate, the goal is Self-realization and the outward expression of this inner Self. But we should be forewarned that even the best intentions for divine expression or the best of our divine spontaneity is limited and may fall short of what we might call a "10 out of 10". Not that we should be always judging ourselves and others, as though we were always in a contest for goodness, harmony and beauty; but if we have a higher goal for ourselves, and challenge ourselves by setting 'the bar' a bit higher (so to speak) and to jump a bit higher, then we also need to acknowledge that we will not always be reaching the best of what we could be, and neither will others. So even though it is good to have higher intentions for ourselves, or have a spiritual Goal to express the very fullness of inner Divinity, or the highest possible love, goodness, wisdom, harmony and beauty; we still need to accept that these 'higher expressions' will often not be as great as we might have hoped. Basically, Divine expression (how the inner Divine Self expresses outward) will always be limited to some degree, and the very notion of 'perfection' must always be relative (to some degree) in this world of existence and expression. So in this world, and even through ourselves, we find a lack of perfection (though some people say it is all perfect the way it is; but this becomes a complete-relativist attitude), or we might say a lack of harmony. Certainly many expressions and interactions in our world are wonderfully beautiful and harmonious, most beautifully loving and good. We can find this, for example, in many expressions of music. So we all have experiences of great beauty and harmony; and if just think about how the world is, it would be so nice if the world were as beautiful and harmonious as some of our best music and art. So, the point here is that expression can range in its beauty, its harmony, its wisdom, its love and its goodness; and that even the 'highest' or 'most perfect' of expressions is still a limited expression of the Divine Self. Any particular expression the Divine Self, even the highest or the best, is limited; because it is simply metaphysically impossible for any particular expression to be All-encompassing or All-complete of the One Divine Self. That is, the One Divine Self cannot possibly reveal all its completeness or all its Truth in any single person or expression.

The world in general, and each individual specifically, is in process of awakening wisdom and love. The world is in process of learning, and each individual in the world is in process of learning. Each is in process of spiritual evolution, and this spiritual evolution is a development and refinement of wisdom and love. The goal of each soul is greater wisdom and love. That’s what it’s all about, to have greater wisdom and love, and to manifest greater wisdom and love. That’s the journey, that’s the process. Each is on a way to wisdom and love, on a process of learning wisdom and love. No learning way is absolutely perfect, for along every learning process there are inevitable mistakes and mis-directions. So along this evolutionary process there are various stages awakening, and so there are various levels of wisdom and love, some points being lower and some points being higher. These are levels of spiritual maturity.

There is nothing preplanned about this learning process of the world and individuals; nothing preplanned or predetermined from on High. It is not being determined from the top down. Instead, it is an organic process of learning and spiritual growth. What is given from on High (so to speak) is the potential-capacity and motivation-desire for wisdom and love that is within each individual, a divine seed within everyone, but how this seed unfolds to maturity is not determined from on High. The divine seed is inherent within, but its actual growth depends on its own organic efforts and the circumstances of its environment. So the process of divine unfoldment is not manipulated from Above; it is not from God’s Hand to this world. A different model is needed. The unfoldment is an unfoldment of the inherent divine seed. This seed has divine structure and quality-essences within it, but these are potentials that may or may not get actualized, depending on people and circumstances, not depending on God’s will or decision.

The divine seed is our true will-essence, our true spiritual will, but not to be confused with the egocentric will which manifests along the spiritual learning process. Our true spiritual will leads us out from the boundaries of egocentric will. The spiritual unfoldment is an expansion of perspective. Our true spiritual will motivates the process of learning wisdom and love, while the egocentric will merely seeks after smaller self gratifications. Our true spiritual will is always seeking to expand consciousness beyond the present limitations, to be evermore inclusive of all life, seeking integration and synthesis.

Divine unfoldment is a process of limited consciousness waking up to greater consciousness. Individual manifestation and world manifestation stems from this process (of smaller to greater consciousness).

So, the process of divine unfoldment begins from a small consciousness of wisdom and love, and it proceeds to ever-greater levels of expansion and inclusiveness. Thus, in the world there are various levels of individual consciousness (levels of wisdom and love). This is quite different from the belief that everything is perfect or that everything is determined by God. Each individual is on its own learning path, its path of exploration and discovery. Along the way are mistakes, but hopefully we learn from our mistakes. Though it is possible to get stuck in mistakes and not learn from them. It is a hazardous and undetermined process.

‘dynamic and dramatic’, undetermined and unpredictable universe. Un-manipulated exploration and unpredictable diversification is allowed, and this creatively enriches the unfolding process of life. But if pockets of free autonomy get too astray or deviating from the larger Aims, then greater powers begin to effectively influence these devious pockets in order to re-connect them with greater Intelligence and Aim, and bring them back into alignment and integration with the larger system-context. This readjustment or healing work is mostly accomplished through interactions with other systems of the Whole. But readjustment and realignment are also accomplished through an inner-influence, whereby the potential for greater intelligence and love is arising from within. In other words, there are evolutionary influences arising from within each entity, which is expanding the individual’s intelligence and love. And as the intelligence and love expands, so does the connection and relationship to greater Aims and wider spheres of Being.

This is part of the metaphysical principle of General Influence; whereby there are general influences coming from the Levels closer to the Essence-Source, and from the Greater Whole, which have effect upon individuals both outwardly and inwardly. But these higher/greater influences are not fully and absolutely determining to the parts or to the lower levels - the metaphysical spheres further from the emanational Essence-Source. Much of the higher General Influences are efficacious from within individuals; that is, they are inner motivating influences or inspirations. Of course, outer general influences also effect individuals, such as influences from society, environment, and particular friends and teachers. This can be called Influences surrounding us. But we are not speaking here about any kind of influence, but rather only about higher spiritual Influences which expand the intelligence and love to include more of the greater whole. These higher Influences have to come through something, some pathway or vehicle; so they either emerge directly from within the individual, or they come through the guidance and action of others.

Another metaphysical principle is the organic evolution of intelligence. Within any particular living being, or individual, there is an inherent capacity for evolving intelligence, the capacity for intelligence to expand to include more of the whole, and then act more fitting with greater aims and needs of the whole. Remember that intelligence is two-sided; on one side it is related to knowing or knowledge, while on the other side it is related to one’s ability to act effectively. For example, if we speak about an intelligent animal, we are not only speaking about its knowledge of its environment, but also about its ability to act effectively in that environment to fulfill its own needs and the sustainable perpetuation of its progeny. Now, in relation to the fulfillment of greater spiritual purposes, the unfoldment of divine Intelligence [in the world] begins from each particular individual. Each individual has the capacity for a greater and wider intelligence, and this intelligence develops from small to larger, as it were.

Spiritual intelligence, and a sense of connection to spiritual aims, is inherent in individuals as capacity/potential, but its actualization is a developing process over time. Individuals, as living parts within the greater Whole of Being, do not just immediately possess expanded, spiritual intelligence. Rather, the actualized intelligence begins as small, then gradually expands to include more and more of the spiritual and natural whole of life. In different terms, particularized intelligences gradually evolve-expand-develop to include more of the universal context, and they also expand in their cooperation and integration with others – such that individual intelligences group to form greater systems of intelligence. {Though it is also true that any individual intelligence is derivative from its existential group intelligence from whence it was born; that is, any individual intelligence must have emerged as a semi-autonomous function derived from some wider group intelligence or social environmental context}

So within the Unity of Being there is process, whereby spiritual wisdom, love and goodness is incomplete in the world of manifestation because the process is unfolding in stages. Thus, many beings in the world are still at beginning stages of spiritual unfoldment, though all beings have the possibility of coming into completion and fulfilling their inherent potential. Human consciousness and character gradually grows into maturity, like a grape vine at various stages until it finally produces the fruit. Plants and trees have their own inner ‘will’ (or impulse) to grow to final completion, guided by the design inherent in their seed. Our own human spiritual will is just as natural as the plant’s inner impulse for growing, but we obviously have more freedom in deciding how to accomplish our growing to completion.

The design inherent in the seed is the blueprint or ‘plan’ for this being. It is the being’s true destiny. But a few points need to be clarified about this blueprint or plan. First, it is general rather than specific. For example, the human spiritual plan is to grow into an ever-greater wisdom and love, with goodness and beauty of action. Yet the specifics of this are left open, which allows creative diversity in the overall process of spiritual manifestation. The degree of generality in the design plan and the degree of openness in what is specifically possible, is the degree of freedom within the process or system.

The second point to clarify is that this general design plan, or ‘destiny’, is not necessarily determined to work out. If all goes well, and if the environment is sufficiently nurturing, then this ‘plan’ may work out to completion. It all depends on two main factors. One is internal and the other external. The internal factor is the extent of effort produced by our spiritual-will. The inner power of our true spiritual-will needs to be at work. And this is no small feat, because our mechanical conditioning and egocentric-will have precluded and obscured the spiritual will. The external factor has to do with the nurturing quality of our social-world environment. External circumstances and the various forces of the external world play a crucial role how the spiritual plan will unfold (and if it actually does). So what can we do to help the process of unfoldment? We can help make our environment a nurturing factor, and we can take responsibility for producing the necessary inner effort.

In the process of Divine Will coming into manifestation, specifics of love and goodness come from General Ideals. Divine Will and Guidance is general. General Aims and Directives guide specific visions and goals. So the actual decisions at the social and physical level are specific to each worker, each envisioning and deciding how to bring forth the General Ideals of Divine Will. This envisioning or understanding of what best to do is dependent on two aspects of the human being.

On the one hand, it is dependent on how well the person can intuit or realize the General Divine Will (or Ideals). On the other hand, it is dependent on the particular development and understandings of the person's lower mind (the regular intelligence). In other words, even if two people had the same intuitions about Divine Will, their specific decisions of what best to do could still differ, because of the differences in what they each particularly know in the worldly sense. And of course their decisions may also differ due to their respective differences in local context, their unique perspective in the world, and what they each encounter in a particular moment.

Because of these contingent aspects in any specific decisions, there is no direct top-down manipulation of the Divine Will. Thus, Divine Power, Divine Will is not merely a top-down manipulation. Because of this, there are uncertainties as to how Divine Will unfolds specifically in the world. There are even chances for mistakes, just as one might make logical mistakes in deducing right conclusions based on general principles.

The Divine Reality, which is the Reality of all existence and pre-existence, is One Being, yet this Oneness distinguishes into plurality and diversity. And thus, Reality includes plurality and diversity; it includes differences and conflict as well. Unity is still maintained as the connective substratum beneath difference and conflict, in that everything is interrelated and interdependent in some way (to some degree or another). The Unity does not have to imply that everything is directly controlled or mandated from one managing Intelligent Power (God), nor does it have to imply that everything occurring is a perfect reflective emergence of God, nor that everything is a necessary part of an intricately intelligent Plan. The Unity is much more loose and flexible than such rigid models tend to suggest. There is much more freedom, uncertainty, and indeterminism.

Yet there are subtle forces holding everything in a flexible Unity and interrelatedness. The Unity of creation works in a process, which is a gradual unfoldment of potential perfection in humanity and in the world. This is the gradual unfoldment of love, harmony, beauty and intelligent activity throughout the world. In other words, there is a gradual evolvement towards ‘manifest unity’.

This manifest unity is not completely present throughout the world at this time. Even in our own selves, there may not be a manifest unity of self purpose or a conscious unity of being. The manifest unity is evolving, it is unfolding, it is becoming; but it’s not completely manifest as yet. Yet there is an ‘implicit Unity’ nonetheless at work, which is the inner nature of things, the inner truth underneath or implicit within the manifest. And it is the power of this implicit Unity which influences and subtly inspires the evolution towards manifest unity. This influence happens from within life, from within people. It is because implicit Unity is the true inner nature of all things. Implicit Unity is the true inner nature of our humanness so this inner nature must eventually emerge. It is like seeds; many can be suppressed or destroyed, but eventually seeds come to their fulfillment.

In time, differences will remain and diversity will flourish; yet conflict will transform into cooperation. Divisiveness will transform into compassionate acceptance. One should keep in mind that the evolvement towards manifest unity will not mean the end of differences and diversity. Unity must include diversity and difference. So the vision of manifest unity is not a monolithic template for all people. It does not mean that everyone will finally be the same. It does not even mean that everyone will finally agree on everything. For in the manifest unity of diversity, there will be differences of perspective and different ways of understanding life and its purpose, and different life-styles as well.

What makes manifest unity is an evolvement of compassionate acceptance and cooperation in relation to higher purposes. Yet even though unity involves compassionate acceptance, there may still be disagreement and differences in belief. So basically, the challenge of manifest unity is how to be accepting of difference and diversity, while not necessarily agreeing on the value or rightness of everything.

Everything is in process of becoming; becoming ever better, complete and wonderful. There may be setbacks and pubescent tantrums along the way, but we need to perceive a wider and longer view of any activity, attempting to see everyone and everything in larger process of development.

We and the whole world are meant to be the becoming of God. The world is God in the process of expression, and we are in the process of expressing God. Our potential and spiritual Aim is to express God and manifest the eternal Values. Christ-beings actualize the ideal Aim, Vision and Values of God. We are God in the Child/Growing aspect of this evolving dimension of Being. In sequential time, God evolves through individual experience and through the overall world process. God is experientially and experimentally becoming actualized in sequential time and space.

God is the Absolute Total Experiencer, and there is no lack of God’s Consciousness and Experience. God Immanent is experiencing the process, the entities and events as they occur. Everything and everyone in all of life is the content of God’s Immanent experience. Though God’s Transcendental Experience of independent absolute Being is simultaneously present as well. On one hand, God is the Emanating Source: the Creator, Sustainer and Giver. This is God’s primordial emanating aspect. On the other hand, God is also the full experiencer, experiencing the intersection of Emanation and Reception. Here, God is the most empathetic, who both feels and understands the sincere experience of everything, which the true meaning of God’s omniscience.

The content of the Divine’s world experience, which is God’s physical and circumstantial experience (as opposed to God’s purely Noetic and Independent experience in the Absolute dimension), depends on the manifest creativity or choice/behavior of living individuals. That is, God’s experience in this relative dimension depends on the actions and experiences of individuals within the world as a whole_. It is contingent on, and limited by, the events and processes of sequential time. God experiences the world exactly as the world happens, and God experiences individual entities exactly as they feel and know themselves. At the same time, God Absolute remains in Singular Gnosis and exists untouched at the core of every individual being and event/process. Analogous to the human experience of both mind and body, God experiences an absolute Subjective Self intent and quality, but also, God experiences the whole Objective Body of creation including its parts/events. There is only One Being but experiencing in different ways, the absolute and the contingent.

In the absolute mode, there is only the transcendental experience of Being Itself, which has no consciousness of diversity but only singular unity. Yet simultaneously and without contradiction, the One Being has the infinite capacity to experience the multiple and diverse events of every moment in manifest creation, experiencing both the subjective and objective reality of each living thing in its ongoing interactive relations. All moments, all events, and all loci are experientially known by the One Being. Creation is simultaneously experienced as a whole unity and as a multiplicity. At every moment God experiences creation as a whole and also its diverse parts, which is a mode of experience that is contingent on the experimental creative process in sequential time, so this experience is ever changing as the world is always in a process of change and succession. God allows freedom, even allowing illusions, and does not force or determine choices and events; yet God remains everpresent at the essence of every being, for God is omnipresent in all creation and also conscious in all parts of the world/body.

Also, God grows with the world. The Absolute and Necessary Essence (of Love and the Aim for Integrative Beauty and Aesthetic Experience) remains eternally the same; but as the world grows in content, diversity and integration, so does God’s Manifest/World Experience. God’s Sensitivity, Feeling, Joy, and Knowledge (or all qualities contingent on the world) expands and enriches with world expansion and enrichment. Expansion of diversity along with enrichment in the quality of life is an eternal Value of God. The actualized expansion/enrichment gives God a greater and richer experience of Being-in-the-world and Becoming.

Throughout the world we find varying degrees of Divine Light reflecting through people, actions, and events. Sometimes or in some places or in some people the Light of God is stronger, clearer, brighter, more full and complete. This is the Light of Wisdom and Love. The degree of Light shining through depends on how many layers of veiling there is between someone and God the Source. The more veiling, the less Light is revealed. The degree of Light also depends on the person’s degree of spiritual evolution, which is related to the amount of veiling that has been dissolved and to the inner work one has done to come closer to God the Divine Light. In the greater picture of things, we can use the model of the Radiant Sun – which is to picture the Source of Divine Light as radiating and expanding outward through all levels of creation. In this model, the further away one is from the Light-Source, the less intense is the Light radiance. Thus, in picturing a continuum in the degree of Light radiance through space, some forms of creative expression are further away from the Light-Source, metaphysically speaking.

Now the same general model can be used in relation to God’s Will. The Power of God’s Will, which is really the same as the Power of God’s Light and Love, is reflective-expressive in the world in varying degrees. In some places or in some people, the Will of God is stronger, clearer, brighter, more full and complete; while in other places or in other people, it is weaker and somewhat distorted. Thus, it is not true to say that God’s Will is equally present everywhere, just as the Light of God is not equally present everywhere. In some situations there is more of God’s Will present, while in other situations there is less of God’s Will, and in some cases there is so little of God’s Will present that we might as well say there is none – except for the gift of life of which any kind of expression depends.

The degree of Divine Will and Light that is present in any particular action or expression is dependent on the degree of divine realization of that particular being. Or in other words, the quality of any action depends on the state of consciousness from which the action proceeds. So when a person’s consciousness is expansive and radiant with Divine Light – when there is greater realization of Divine Being; the action proceeding from this state will be more full of Divine Light and Divine Will. Thus there will be a greater expression of Divine Light and Divine Will in the world. But if there is less divine realization in a particular being, then their actions will have less of Divine Light and less of Divine Will. Most likely this will be so, and we can see the logic in this. So when someone is more veiled, or trapped in an ego illusion of separation from the Divine, they will most likely act in accordance with this limited and separative state of consciousness, and thus their actions will lack in Divine Light and Divine Will. Generally, the degree of Divine Will that comes through an action (or event) will depend on the degree of Divine Light that is realized by the agent of such action. If the consciousness is quite small and enclosed in on its own limited view of truth and rightness, then the actions proceeding from this limited bubble of consciousness will tend to have a lesser portion of Divine Will and Light. Therefore, in the world we find action-created-events that lack in God’s Will, such as actions-events that are harmful to others and the environment. Now it seems rather silly or misleading to say that all of these harmful events as much God’s Will as actions-events that are life-encouraging. We need to avoid this theological mistake which neglects levels of value and levels of God’s Will present in the world.

Each living entity is a centre of consciousness and feeling, each is a subject in itself, not a mere object as one would perceive from outside. But the consciousness and feeling of each entity, the subjective self, is not apprehended by ordinary senses. Still, we each have this subject-centre of I am, through the medium of consciousness and feeling, which gives each being their very own intrinsic value. And because everything is conscious and sentient to some degree, everything deserves some ethical respect.

Now, we can go even deeper into truth and realize that every entity is a medium of experience for God, the One Inclusive Conscious Being in which we all exist. God is experiencing through each entity, and the totality of all experiences is how God experiences the unfolding process of life. Why would life be created from God, if God were not able and intending to experience this life, not merely as an objective observer, as though God were looking down on us with power eyes or a telescope, but rather experiencing life from the inside, from the subjective-side from how we ourselves experience life. In other words, God experiences life and who we are through us, through how we experience life and our being. And because life is a process of divine unfoldment, God is discovery this through us. If we really consider this, it changes how we understand God and also ourselves.

God Immanent experiences through us, through all of creation. God experiences through us and through nature, and therefore experience our joys and also our sufferings. This has more implication than the traditional notion that God can observe us. It is much more radical and intense. Unlike traditional Judaic-Christian-Islamic religious views, the panentheistic God is not a mere observer and judge of creation; but rather feels all the particular joys and sufferings of creation, in any and every moment. All of nature is considered sentient, and God is experiencing nature through its awareness and sentience. Therefore, any hurt inflicted upon a natural being is also a hurt inflicted on God, because God is experiencing life through all the beings of nature.

There is also a practical ethical stance related to this, which is that each being should be regarded as a medium of God, since God is experiencing through each. And if God is experiencing through each person, and even through each animal, then the most inner conscious and feeling subject of each is really God. What you and I experience, about ourselves and about others and the world, is what God experiences through us. So the kind of experience we have and the kind of experience we give to others, is what God is given in experience. Of course fortunately for God, each single experience is not the sum of all God’s life experiences. Yet nonetheless, each single experience is something felt and known, whether on the joyful side or on the painful side.

Included in this ethical attitude is that our enemies, if we have any, should also be treated with divine consideration, for they too are mediums for God’s experience; so we would not want to cause harm or pain on them. Even the worse people, those who have harmed others, deserve divine respect, because thy too are mediums for God. So instead of handing them wrath or revenge, we should be trying to heal them of their ignorance or sickness that was cause of their misdeeds. In fact, probably everyone needs some healing, some learning, and some maturing; because everyone is in a greater process of perfection.

Also, if we take all of this to heart, then we might ask ourselves, in relation to any decision or action: Is this an experience that I want to share with God? Is this a positive experience for God? Or in relation to how one affects other’s experience: Is their experience a positive experience for God? Asking these questions might change what we do to create experience, for ourselves and for others.

We could use the term panexperientialism: existence is experience, not passive stuff, whether considered matter or mind.

So this pan-sentient view shows that God suffers along with our own sufferings and the sufferings of life.^¹ Yet we can remember that God is never fully identified with any single experience, nor consumed by any single emotion; so God’s suffering is always relative to the overall experience of life, including the joys and fascinations. God’s Being has an infinite depth, so any single experience is insufficient to consume God’s full experience. Each individual experience is only a piece of God’s total experience. So any suffering of individuals experienced by God is never a consuming experience for God, as it may be for the individual, because God is much more than this single experience; while a particular experience or emotion might be all consuming for a single person. Even in interpersonal relations, one person may empathize with their friend’s suffering over a tragedy; but even if that person actually felt the same suffering experience as the friend, the empathizing person would not be fully-consumed by the suffering as might the friend initially suffering. That is, a certain tragedy might feel to be an all-consuming world-collapse for a person very intimately involved with the tragedy; but for the friend in empathy the suffering is felt, but their whole world has not collapsed as it has with the other person.

Thus, we can envisage God as the omniscient Experiencer, who experiences and good along with the bad. But unlike reactive human beings, God cannot be merely crushed or fall into reactive depression over present occurrences, no matter how awful or evil. Instead of mere reaction, which we tend to fall into, God responds with some influencing love and guidance – which then helps shape the future. God’s immanent experience of people’s bad actions or terrible circumstances is balanced by future visioning and expectant hope in relation to the larger process of human evolution and divine unfoldment. So God does not merely get caught up in present events, as we tend to do, though there is still loving concern by the Divine rather than indifference and apathy. The Divine perspective adds hopeful vision of higher possibilities down the road, though simultaneously sharing in present experiences of suffering. Remember that the Divine experiences each moment or event of the whole Process; though simultaneously having a transcendental and longer/wider view of life. We have a possibility of sharing in this polar divine nature; for we too can simultaneously experience the intensity of the present along with a more transcendental and wider view of life, which helps us envision better possibilities and a hope in the future.

God’s Omnipotence is only in service to the Divine Nature of Love; and in love God patiently allows our freedom, empathetically suffering along with our sufferings and celebrating along with our achievements, but always offering love-wisdom suggestions along the way. This is the way the relationship has to be.

And if God is intimately involved in the world, sensitive and responsive to its joys and its suffering, then God can never be apathetic to the injustices in the world. If each of us is within the Divine, then our apprehension of injustice is part of God’s perception, and our striving for justice is part of the unfolding purposes of God.

The Divine can be thought of as a seed in creation or in the world. These seeds of divinity are scattered everywhere and in all things. Each seed has the inherent divinity and all the Divine Qualities of potential, such as Love and Goodness. If there is sufficient nurturance and a sufficient environment, the seed will grow to what it is meant to be. But in any particular circumstance, there is the chance that the seed will not grow, or that it will not grow well. The Divine, the Divine Qualities, are like seeds in life. The seeds are all around and within everything. They are here, just as God or the Divine is here. And these seeds have Intention to grow and manifest. They are ever-ready to grow and blossom, yet the environment may not be ready. So it is not the fault of the seed that it cannot grow, nor is this the intention of the seed. By analogy, it is not the fault of the Divine, nor the intention of the Divine, that the Divine is not realized and manifested. The Divine is ever-ready to be realized and manifested, but this is dependent on the cooperation and willingness of us. What is already in existence must allow and nurture that which is in potential to come into existence.

A seed is a fine analogy for understanding certain aspects of spiritual metaphysics. An oak seed contains a kind of blueprint for how it can grow and manifest. It contains the instructions for its own growth. The instructions or blueprint within the seed are fixed, like a hardwired program in a computer, though what is actually manifested is significantly dependent on the nurturing environment in which the seed grows to its fulfillment. For our spiritual analogy, consider two fundamental factors in how life (or we or the tree) manifests: one factor is the seed which is like the Divine Potential, and the other factor is the environment for growth which is like the existing world. In each of us is Divine Wisdom and all the great Qualities of Divine Being. The Divinity in us can be called our soul. Yet just because there is Divinity in us does Not mean, necessarily, that the Divinity is manifesting. Just because our soul is made of Love and Wisdom, does not mean that love and wisdom is always expressing through us. In other words, our inner Divinity or soul is our potential, which is ready to manifest, but the actual manifestation depends on factors other than the Divine itself. Like a seed, the Divinity within us holds a blueprint for how we can beautifully be, how we can beautifully express ourselves in the world. It holds the potential for beautiful love and wisdom. But we must remember this is potential, while the manifestation of this seed-potential will depend on our own efforts and decisions and also on the environment in which our potentials are developed and expressed.

So let us consider what this means in the question of how much of our lives are determined by Divine Wisdom. The divine factor in us, like the seed, determines what our potentials are, and it holds a general blueprint (or plan) for our most beautiful and complete fulfillment. This blueprint or plan within us could also be called our divine destiny. It is what we are meant to be, like the oak seed is meant to become a complete oak tree, an apple seed is intended to become an apple tree with lots of tasty apples. This is the factor in life which is determined for us from the realm of Divine Inception. But the Divine does not determine how the seed will be nourished, and it does not determine whether the seed will actually grow to fulfillment. The blueprint plan within the seed determines what is possible for the growing tree. It determines what the growing tree is meant to become. But neither the seed nor the blueprint within the seed can determine how the seed will be nourished and whether the seed will in fact grow to its completion. Because how seeds are nourished, and whether seeds actually grow to their potential completion, will depend on factors undetermined by the seed itself.

So this analogy helps us understand in what ways things are determined from the Divine, and in what ways things are indeterminable by the Divine. It also shows us how divine potentials are held within life; that is, the divine seeds are already spread about, the divine seeds are already here, within us and within everything. This is where the Divine Power is, in the seeds. And these seeds [of Divine Intelligence] are spread about everywhere in this existence. Each seed determines what is beautifully possible for creation, and each seed has the power to grow to completion. This is the extent of divine determinism; it is determinism within the seeds. But the Divine does not determine the actual events in the world. Nor does the Divine determine what actually happens or expresses in the world; except by way of what is determined in the seeds. Divine Power does not determine everything that happens, nor does it determine whether or not divine potentials will come to fruition, anymore than seeds determine all the details of how the tree will grow or whether it will grow at all.

Cosmically, time and space is the womb in which the Divine seed, or seeds, is planted and in which it will grow. every form of existence has a divine seed of within it that is in gradual process of evolution, unfoldment, and flowering. this gradual evolution can be intentionally accelerated.

Our destiny is to come into spiritual completion, such that the Divine Qualities are realized and manifested through us. But this destiny is not a guaranteed process. It is not that God or Universal Power will necessarily make this destiny a reality; for to believe this would entail that God is manipulating us to this destiny and that we are like puppets. In truth, our spiritual destiny depends on our own efforts, choices, and intentional sacrifices. God does inspire, for God is the spiritual impulse within us that is seeking to be actualized; yet our own efforts and decisions are necessary to move further towards our potential destiny. God says, “Take one step towards me, and I take ten steps toward you.” The Divine Power comes into play when the receptacle makes right effort. We need to keep on making efforts, from God’s inspiration, towards the greater purpose of manifesting God’s Qualities in service to life. And in every effort we make towards this destiny, the Power of God then comes through to serve this effort. Every aspiring effort on our part opens a channel for the Divine Power to freely flow to fulfill goodness and destiny.

The spirit of humanity is in everyone. We are all connected. We are all connected to humanity past, present and future. We are connected all the back to the very beginnings, all the way back to the first seed of humanity. Mythologically, we are all connected to Adam and Eve. These are our first seeds, the beginning conception of humanity, from the Mind of God as it were. In this beginning, all human potential is present, just as it is now, but in the beginning the actualization of this potential has just begun. It is only in the very future of humanity that these potentials actualize in greater and greater degrees.

In the beginning there could only be innocence and purity of heart. Understanding was simple, but also simplistic and undeveloped. There was no evil in heart, yet there was an ignorance. There was no sin in the heart, no ill-will, no impurity of soul; though there was a lack of complete knowledge in mind as to a complete understanding of the Divine. So we began as pure in heart, yet ignorant in mind. And as humanity evolved the mind began the process of understanding. But this process of understanding would take occasional wrong turns, and these wrong turns sometimes corrupted the heart. The mind would sometimes convince the heart that self pleasure and achievement is more important than sharing and caring. So an element of selfish-will soon entered humanity. This too has become part of our heritage.

Yet we always have the potential to re-establish connection with our original heart and re-take this original journey. We can consciously and intentionally make a new journey, from the alpha towards the omega – towards complete comprehension of Divine Reality with pure heart. So at the present stage on anyone’s journey, one could be anywhere along the line from the beginning to the end of humanity, anywhere from the alpha to the omega, anywhere from the beginning of growing grapes to a fine maturity of superb wine.

But is there ever really an end to spiritual evolution, or a final completion of human-ness? Maybe not. Maybe it is endless. So when we speak about an end or a completion, this could be understood figuratively, or one can understand this as an ultimate ideal. This ideal human-ness, or humanity, would involve a pure heart and perfectly understanding mind. It would involve an actualization of all of our highest spiritual potentials. We might vaguely imagine this as our ideal future. Yet this could just as well be the reality of our present moment, because this divine potential is always present within us, and so it could emerge into actualization at any time. In the dimension of potential, the alpha and omega are always present here in every moment. The normal dimension of time is like a string, and we move along that string from one end to the other. But in the dimension of potential, the beginning and the end are in every point of that string.

So the completion of humanity, or the completion of our own spiritual potential, can be right now; it can be anywhere along the string of time. That may seem as a very radical notion, or it may seem impossible, but at least we might see the possibility of quantum leaps in spiritual unfoldment. The Way does not have to be a plodding, snails pace; for great leaps in awakening and actualization can occur at any time. Thus, at any time in the history of humanity there have been individuals way ahead on the string of potential spiritual unfoldment. Maybe some even reached completion, or at least came closer than one can imagine. How is this possible? It is because the string between alpha and omega is, in one sense, like a wave, or one great wavelength. The beginning and end of this wave is intrinsically connected. Thus, in a quantum dimension there is no time between one end of the wave and the other. So from a vast quantum perspective, the omega of humanity and the omega of oneself is already here in every present moment. It is like a potential in hiding or in waiting; it is veiled, but waiting to be uncovered.

Now this understanding would seem to be congruent with predestination; in that the future completion is already present. It is a predestination, but not a strict form of predestination. To explain, there is predestination in the basic structure of spiritual completion. By analogous example, the seed of an apple tree is predestined to become an apple tree. It cannot become something else. So there is a predestination of an apple tree and its fruits in every apple seed and in every step along the tree’s development. Yet this predestination, or we could call this a predisposition, is only binding in regards to basic structure. In other words, the basic structure or fundamental attributes of a living being is predestined (or predisposed). So predestination only applies to basic structure, or essential attributes, or to generality.

The mistake of theologians and their interpretation of figurative prophesy has been to consider predestination as either fully true or not. But the truth is in the middle ground, whereby there is predestination at the more general level of basic structure. So there is predestination in regards to generalities, or general attributes. Yet there is no predestination in regards to the more specific manifestations. If one can imagine a hierarchical model with gradations between the most general attributes and the most specific expressions; then predestination is more true the further one goes up levels of greater generality, while it is less true the further one goes down into levels of specifity.

Thus, predestination is true in general structures, but not fixed in specific occurrences.

Predestination is true for humanity, in this general moderate sense, because our inherent predisposition is derived from God, Divine Being Itself. We inherit the attributes of God, just as a child inherits the genes of its parents. These divine attributes can become corrupted and distorted in us by our false thinking, but they always remain pure in our potential. Eventually, in the long run of humanity, and because we are gradually waking up, the divine attributes inherent in us will gradually manifest; in the same way that seeds will eventually grow and actualize. Eventually the meadow will be full of flowers, for in this sense it is predestined. The divine attributes will eventually manifest in fullness, through humanity, because this is our true nature and heritage. These attributes are patiently determined to manifest. The general structure of the attributes are predestined and certain, though the exact details of this process are uncertain and not predestined.

The other factor that makes general predestination certain is the magnetic power of God.

This power of God is magnetically bringing us to divine truth. It is like an attraction of lover to beloved. Again, this is in our inherent nature. So ultimately there is no escaping this attraction, this predestination to return to God and the pure divine attributes.

Now it needs to be emphasized that this general predestination is not the same as strict predestination and determinism. There is no exact predestination and determinism of specific events. God is not micromanaging and exactly manipulating the affairs of the world, nor what we specifically decide and do. Degrees of freedom are inherent in us. Though there is also the ongoing influence of divine attraction and the determination of divine attributes to manifest. There is also a negative factor of mechanicalness that is oppositional to real freedom.

The theory of strict physical determinism is unacceptable, because it does not allow for any freedom. Theories of genetic or social determinism, in the strict sense, are also unacceptable for the same reason. The theory of astrological determinism is also unacceptable. Some degree of astrological influence can be accepted, in a similar way that social influences can influence us, but to believe that astrology determines exact events or specific behavior is contradictory to human freedom.

Man is determined to some extent by world factors. The man is also a creative actor and so can determine the world.

Free will is impossible to prove empirically, but it is known to be true by our subjective experience of feeling that we are free to choose this or that, if we wished. Though mostly we simply react, or do what we have been already routinely doing. The first fundamental act of a free will is to choose to be free, to make choices or not make choices.

Man is between God's will and natural laws. The awakened many can be free of lower compulsive mechanicalism, and be guided by divine wisdom.

**** God is actualizing freedom through creation. That is, creation is God's freedom in action. Man, as part of creation, has the greatest capacity for free.

Yet intelligence and knowledge of the greater ecosystem guides man to choose in favor of benefiting the greater whole, rather than merely a small part of the whole such as oneself alone or one's small group. The awakened person realizes themselves to be part of the greater wholeness or greater ecology; and thus chooses to serve this.

Greater knowledge gives a person more freedom, while ignorance and mechanicalness lessens freedom. So man has freedom, yet more knowledge guides man to choose a better way over worse ways.

Progress in society, or spiritual evolution, IS greater freedom and more choices. Thus fulfilling a divine purpose of freedom. Yet we have to learn how to live with freedom. Though of course some people do not want freedom and choices, because freedom can create anxiety due to personal responsibility and the possibility of making mistakes; so they would rather have a political society with less freedom and a religion which defines more strictly what to do.

We make mistakes. Everyone makes little mistakes. Yet some teachings make the bigger mistake of denying that there are any mistakes. They deny the possibility of accidents and mistakes, by claiming that everything and every event is measured out from God. They believe that God is deciding and doing everything, so whatever happens is the work of God. This is an incorrect view. We do learn from life, and we hopefully learn from our mistakes. Yet these mistakes and this learning are not set up by God, as if God were exactly manipulating everything in the world so that we will make x-mistake and learn y-lesson. Just think about the consequential absurdity of such a belief, if everything were this way. So instead of mistakenly accepting this anthropocentric view of God as the great micro-manager of life, or as the great puppet-master; try considering an overall view of life as a learning process, whereby each of us are learning from the facts and laws of life itself, and learning from natural karma (cause-effect). So when problems arise, or negative feedback from life, this is the effect of natural karma – which we can learn from or not learn from.

1 This is the meaning of the Christ’s crucifixion, that God Incarnate experiences all of our sufferings in the process of life, as well as our joys. Yet the indwelling Christ-Divine within, or the fundamental human soul, is ever seeking redemption and resurrection into eternal joy.