Transcendent and Immanent

God is Transcendent & Immanent, Panentheism Deity is the inner spiritual essence of everything in the universe, but it exists beyond the universe as well.

The idea of an immanent God can be traced to both Judaism and Greek philosophers. The stories of the Old Testament depict a God who is very active in human affairs and the working of the universe.

Christians, especially mystics, have often described a God who works within them and whose presence they can perceive immediately and personally.

Philosophers have also discussed the idea of a God who is somehow united with our souls, such that this union can be understood and perceived by those who study and learn enough.

The idea of God being transcendent is very common when it comes to the mystical traditions within various religions. Mystics who seek a union or at least contact with God are seeking a transcendent God, a God so totally “other” and so totally different from what we normally experience that a special mode of experience and perception is required.

Isaiah was pointing to God's transcendence when he wrote,

To whom, then, will you compare God? What image will you compare him to? Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood since the earth was founded? He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in. He brings princes to naught and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing. “To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One. Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing. Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. [Isaiah 40:18-29]

Jesus tells us that God is Spirit (John 4:24). God is not limited by time and space. He is not bound by a body. We are created in God's image . . . We are fashioned according to His plan . . . and we have characteristics that reflect some of God's own (intelligence, compassion, a spiritual essence), but God does not have hands, feet, a body, and is not confined to a time and space continuum. God is not like us. He is Spirit.

God is Self-Existent. God's self-existence means that he is not answerable to us or to anybody.

God is eternal. He is not limited by time and space. He has no beginning and no end. He is changeless. He always has been and always will be.

We need to describe God carefully. We make a mistake when we seek to "paint a picture of God." Inevitably we will diminish Him even though we have the best of intentions.

God is immanent. The dictionary defines immanence as: "existing in, and extending into, all parts of the created world. This is the astounding thing about the Christian faith. We affirm that God is Creator, He is supreme, He is above us . . . and yet, "He walks with me and talks with me, and tells me that I am His own."

The immanence of God is important to us for several reasons. First, because God is Immanent, we can Know Him. C.S. Lewis before He was a believer commented. Because God is immanent we can depend on Him. God will always be available. He is always there when we need Him.

The Lord never fails. Nations will crumble, financial reserves can disappear, health can be snatched in a moment, friends may disappoint, but the Lord will never fail.

Four main beliefs about the nature of God:

Deism, Panentheism, Pantheism & Theism

Pantheism Deity is the inner spiritual essence of everything in the universe. God is Transcendent & Immanent God.

It is an inner Presence and Power that permeates, saturates, or infuses the universe and everything in it (including the world and humanity, nature and human nature) from within."

Deity is also transcendent: In addition to infusing the universe and everything in it, there is some aspect of deity that is external to the universe.

Pantheists: Agree with Panentheists that deity is immanent, and permeates the universe.

Assert that deity is not transcendent. It has no aspect that is beyond the universe.

Deity may be permanently beyond our ability to perceive and conceptualize.

 

Theists: Visualize deity as transcendent, being separate from creation. A common expression is that "God is not the universe and the universe is not God."

Believe that deity is immanent in the weak sense of the term: deity initially created the universe, and remains active in nature today. 

Generally believe that deity suspends the laws of nature from time to time in order to generate miracles.

Generally believe in prayer as a means of personal communing with the deity, offering thanks, and asking for special favors. 

Often assign infinite attributes to deity, such as omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresent, and all-loving. This inevitably leads to the apparently unsolvable problem of theodicy: how can an all-good, omnipotent deity tolerate the presence of evil and suffering?

The Vedanta religion focuses on Ultimate Reality. Not only does it lead aspirants to transcendental consciousness, beyond normal sense and mental awareness, but it also leads beyond the transcendental into pure spirit or absolute knowledge.

Many people think of the Vedanta religion as a form of Hinduism, but Vedanta is an intellectual form of yoga.

Personal and Impersonal

"Sri Ramakrishna, in recent days, added that God can be personal as well as impersonal. That is a special stress given by Ramakrishna in this present age. Thereby, he harmonized the three different major systems obtained in Vedanta, the dualistic system, the qualified monistic system, and the monistic system. (Dualism holds that God, the universe, and individuals are separate, eternal entities. Qualified monism maintains God alone exists and individual souls exist as "cells" in God’s universal body. Monism views God, individual souls, and the universe as one Reality.) Ramakrishna harmonized these different viewpoints by telling us it is the same actuality which becomes the personalized God.

"Vivekananda, a disciple of Sri Ramakrishna, gave the definition of what God is in a very scientific way: ‘God is the highest reading of the Absolute,’ he said. So, Vedanta, and all religions have this major idea called ultimate existence, or oneness."

The Nature of Man

What is the nature of man? Man is of the same nature of God. But man’s nature can be approached from another viewpoint. One can start a search to find out what is the permanent thing that exists in this universe, which we understand as Existence, Consciousness and Bliss. When we begin the search from the perspective of existence, we have no doubt that we exist. Philosophers may come, scientists may come and try to argue, but we know that we exist. So we start our search from this position: who are we?

Unity of God

The unity of God is another idea. Different religious leaders say, ‘My God is like this, my God is like that.’ Hindus say, ‘God is like this.’ Muslims say, ‘God is like that.’ Christians say, ‘God is like this.’ Can all the people be right at the same time? Vedanta stresses the harmony of all religions.

The Goal

What is the goal of Vedanta?

The Vedantist’s ideal is to realize one’s spiritual nature. The ultimate position, as Shankara says: is to know that you are not the body, not the mind, but the spirit.

But there are intermediate stages, he added. In devotional language we call this quest the realization of God. In Vedantic language we call it the realization of one’s spiritual nature.

In our ordinary lives we human beings don’t represent the full spirit because it is mixed with the body and other mental/emotional aspects with defects. But, realization of one’s spiritual nature is the ultimate goal of life.

In the process samadhi (superconscious awareness) is the method. Through samadhi only can one have these experiences. To gain samadhi we practice the four major yogas, which are means of connecting the individual soul with the Supreme Soul. The four yoga paths are: the path of devotion, the path of knowledge, the path of action, and the path of meditation. These are the four major ways to gain samadhi and experience the ultimate goal of life.

Avidya (ignorance) has its seat in the human intellect. Avidya means not only absence of knowledge, but also erroneous knowledge. A man trapped in Avidya does not know what is real and thinks that the appearances are real. An individual identifies himself with the ego. He equates his existence with the physical body. Under the influence of Maya and Avidya, he dissociates himself from the Ultimate Reality. When the man acquires knowledge, the duality of the self and Brahman disappears. He realizes that the self is really one with Brahman. This realization of the self puts an end to the ignorance (avidya).

Knowledge and truth are of two kinds: the lower one and the higher one. The lower, conventional knowledge and truth is a product of the senses and the mind. The higher one is beyond words, thoughts, perception or conception. It is in no way, related to the senses and the sense mind. It is non-perceptual. It is a product of intuition and Divine vision. This higher knowledge and truth brings about radical transformation in an individual.

According to the Advaita (non duality), the soul and God are equal in every respect, and liberation entails realization of one's Godhood. Thus, one's mistaken sense of individuality is dissolved, and one merges into the all-pervading Supreme.

Perfection is characterized by one's ability to see the Self by the pure mind and to relish and rejoice in the Self. In that state, one is filled with boundless spiritual happiness. Established thus, one never departs from the truth, and upon gaining this he thinks there is no greater gain. Being Self realized, one is never shaken even in the midst of greatest difficulty. This indeed is actual freedom from all mis­eries arising from identification with material existence.

Theology

a. The concept that the world is ruled by the antagonistic forces of good and evil.

b. The concept that humans have two basic natures, the physical and the spiritual.