Pantheistic Satanism | Forum

I hate my computer today. I was writing a response to this topic when the computer froze, the page refreshed and I lost it all. So here we go. Take two.

First of all, thank you for the replies.

Second. I do not see my view of a god as being stuck in the Christian way of thinking as pretty much all deities in human history and pre-history have interacted with or in some other way affected humanity. It's what they do. It's why they were created - to cater to us.

Anyways...

I think I have cleared up some of my confusion on the topic of pantheism. In a video I saw on youtube, the traditional view of pantheism was laid out in simple terms, that being that the universe is a manifestation of god, not a god in and of itself. I believe. But this video was by a guy who claims to be a pantheistic atheist.

So basically I have come to see pantheism in much the same way Sarte saw existentialism: two sides of the same coin. Where Sarte describes theistic and atheistic existentialism - the former believing humans were created with a specific purpose in mind and the latter believing we have no purpose other than that which we make for ourselves - it makes sense to me that pantheism, too, may have a theistic and atheistic side to it.

Where the theistic pantheist views the universe as a manifestation of god, or even as an all powerful deity in and of itself, the pantheistic atheist views the universe as the closest thing to a deity or "higher power" that exists.

As much as the technical language definition expresses that pantheism believes "all is god" or some similar statement, I think atheism can indeed coexist with pantheistic views. All that needs to be done is to de-anthropomorphize the concept of deity and redefine the term "god", as I believe has been suggested by Kitty in an earlier post by suggesting my thought of deities was limited to a Christian perspective. If we redefine god as simply a "higher power" that the entirety of existence is subjected to then we can seemingly make these two terms coexist by applying the term "god" (in this new sense) to the universe, as pantheistic atheists seem to do.

Questions? Comments? Concerns?

Thanks for engaging my brain and making me think, yet again, SIN.

Alright, here's the thing. I thought I was done with all this metaphysical BS years ago. But for some reason this pantheism idea piqued my interest. Sometimes people with mental illness grasp on to the most random shit and our minds just run with it. With that said...

After careful reconsideration and much effort in clearing the cobwebs in my mind I have come to see this subject in a clearer light.

"Pantheistic atheism" doesn't seem to be much more than general atheism with an extra, unneeded term attached to it. Atheism Lite, if you will. I wouldn't consider it deism because deists don't believe that their god interacts with humanity at all, but nature interacts with us ever day. But that doesn't make it anywhere near "divine."

Satanic Kitty, thanks for keeping on my ass about all this. As life goes on, I have lost all my friends I used to talk about this stuff with and the process appears to go much slower when it is just me and or a message board discussion as opposed to an actual in person conversation.

Anyways, sorry for wasting your time with all this. It's just easier sometimes to listen to what other people have to say on subjects like this in order to clear things up.

Though I can accept that there are people out there who will continue to use the term "pantheistic atheism" to describe themselves, I am not one of them. Simple atheism will suffice for me.

Once again, my apologies if I wasted your time. Like I said, occasionally our minds just act up a bit and we have to wait it out. Thanks for all your replies!

I consider myself pantheistic Satanist. I believe that Satan is the universe and I look to the forest as a place of spirituality.