Pantheism vs. Panentheism
The human mind, in its quest to make sense of the universe, constructs models of reality that involve clear distinctions. One of the most common in religious circles is the separation between a Creator—a divine entity existing independently of the universe—who brings creation into being. While this dualistic framework may provide a sense of comfort, other perspectives, like pantheism and panentheism, offer a more unifying view. The nondual understanding aligns with the latter.
A traditional analogy for creation is that of a potter separate from the clay. By extending this analogy to the universe, we imagine a God who is separate from creation, an infinite God who stands at a distance. But as we’ve previously explored, in what larger reality would these two entities, God and creation, exist? And how can that which is finite exist apart from that which is infinite? Wouldn’t the infinite, by definition, necessarily include the finite?
Pantheism asserts that God is everything, and everything is God. In this view, God is identical with the universe; there is no existence of God outside or beyond the cosmos. The universe, in its totality, is the divine. While this is a move towards monism, it can imply that if the universe were to cease to exist, God would also cease to be. So pantheism does not fully account for a transcendent aspect of the divine, a potentiality that is not exhausted by manifestation.
Panentheism, however, holds that God is in everything, and everything is in God, but God also transcends everything. God is not merely identical with the universe, but contains the universe while simultaneously being more than the universe. Therefore, the distinction between the creator and the created is not a boundary between two separate entities, but a way of conceiving a single reality from different vantage points. The creator is consciousness in its infinite, unmanifest potential. The created is this same consciousness in its manifest, apparent forms—objective experience arising within and as universal awareness. So rather than a potter standing apart from the pot, a more accurate analogy is a body of water with ripples upon its surface. The ripples are only an appearance, an activity, of the water. The ripples appear, interact with one another, and disappear, yet the water remains, ever-present.
Panentheism, then, suggests that the divine is not somewhere “out there” to be found, but is the very essence of our being, the seamless reality of the entire cosmos. It is the fundamental reality that is both the container and the contained, the source and the expression, all within a boundless, self-aware whole of awareness.