Panentheism Outlined

Man has no body distinct from his Soul: For what is called Body is a portion of the soul Discerned by the five senses, the chief inlets of Soul in this age.

William Blake Cited in Mystical Hours

Br. Teasdale assists us in the wider comprehension through his discussion of body and soul in these words:

“The great English mystical poet William Blake grasped what the mystic sages of India have always known: The body exists within the soul, and the soul is another way of speaking about consciousness.

The body is not distinct or separate from consciousness. It exists because of awareness and has no life in its own right. The body is saturated by the soul, by the vivifying principle that defines the nature of the body and how soul and body interact in this world.

The senses are portals to the soul of the perceiving person who looks out in awareness of all things on the path of experience. The body is, in Blake’s vision, a manifestation of the soul, an external concretization of its embodied state, but a more visual, tangible aspect of the soul’s reality.”

As a long time student of theology, right through and beyond the doctorate, the only approach to theology for me that truly includes the more mystical and metaphysical is panentheism.

I was first given this word in seminary from the writings of John Cobb and process theology, but it landed more convincingly and permanently as an expression of full affirmation, celebration, and realization from my reading of Matt Fox, and my work within Creation Spirituality

Most simply put, panentheism defines God and God’s omnipresence as being: in us, with us, among us, and beyond us!  It is not the removed and aloof god of Theism, nor is it the pantheistic imminent God of being in nature without a transcendent quality or dimension.

Panentheism includes all the various approaches: From the indwelling intimacy, to sacred sense of community, and also includes the marvelous and wondrous transcendence of God!

Blake’s vision of God was certainly before his time!