Cosmotheism is a monistic form of classical pantheism that identifies God with the cosmos; that is, with the universe as a unified whole. Etymologically, it differs from 'pan-theism' in that "pan" is Classical Greek for all, while the Greek word cosmos means an orderly and harmonious universe. Cosmotheists take this as meaning the the divine is immanent in reality and consciousness, an inseparable part of an orderly, harmonious, and whole universal system. Cosmotheism asserts that "all is within God and God is within all". It considers the nature of reality and existence to be mutable and destined to evolve towards a complete universal consciousness, or even godhood. In the broadest sense, it can be considered simply as another term for pantheism.
| Table of contents |
|
2 Mordekhay Nesiyahu's cosmotheism 3 Related articles 4 References 5 External links |
The foundation of Pierce's Cosmotheism was essentially similar to classical monistic pantheism -- he recognized no difference or separation between human and divine, between creator and created -- but with a few notable differences. Pierce described his form of Cosmotheism as being based on "[t]he idea of an evolutionary universe. . . with an evolution toward higher and higher states of self-consciousness", and his ideas were centered on racial purity and eugenics as the means of advancing the white race first to a superhuman state, then to godhood. In his view, the white race represented the pinnacle of human evolution and should be kept genetically separate from all other races in order to achieve its destined perfection.
In Cosmotheism - Israel, Zionism, Judaism and Humanity towards the 21st Century Nesiyahu proposed not to just assume the existence of God, being "prior to all that was created," but to consider God as only being a result of the development of the universe and the consciousness of all of humankind.
Divinity in this particular view is inherently a human invention.
The development of the divine (or what the believer would qualify as being "the revelation of the Divine") was, in Nesiyahu's opinion, both the condition for a more exalted human functioning and all that bears the fruit that comes out of it.
In Nesiyahu's universalist re-imagining of a secular divinity, the universal celebration of Cosmotheism is the basis for rebuilding the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem, and is also a secular ethnically Jewish and a Zionist contribution to all of humankind.
William Pierce's Cosmotheism
Origins
In the United States, cosmotheism refers to a religion started in 1978 by National Alliance founder Dr. William L. Pierce. This form of cosmotheism was influenced by several disparate factors: Pierce's readings of George Bernard Shaw's play Man and Superman; strains of German Romanticism; Darwinian concepts of natural selection and survival of the fittest, mixed with the related early 20th century eugenic ideals; and Ernst Haeckel's monism.
Religious aspects
Social aspects
Pierce believed in a hierarchical society governed by what he saw as the essential principles of nature, especially the survival of the fittest. In his social schema, the best-adapted genetic stock, which he believed to be the white race, should rule over, and remain separated from, other races; within white society, the most fit individuals should lead the rest. He thought that extensive programs of "racial cleansing" and eugenics, both in Europe and in the U.S., would be necessary to achieve his sociopolitical program. His National Alliance was to be the vanguard and priesthood of this program, which was designed ultimately to bring about "racial redemption". His Cosmotheist Community Church, which was to be the first step of this plan, was set up in 1978, alongside Pierce's other projects -- the National Alliance, Vanguard Press, and the monthly broadcast American Dissident Voices -- on a compound in West Virginia.
Critical assessments
Pierce's views have been characterized as a spiritual, rather than a scientific, version of early twentieth century racial anthropology, influenced by his early association with George Lincoln Rockwell's American Nazi Party. Others have noted the German Romantic roots that Pierce's ideas shared with Nazism and have observed similarities between the two ideologies: Pierce's plan for white divinity was similar to Adolf Hitler's vision for the Herrenvolk. Other criticisms have been harsher, if not as well-founded; the Southern Poverty Law Center has characterized Pierce's Cosmotheism as "an unsuccessful tax dodge". (Pierce's adherents call all of these characterizations erroneous, attributing them to "Marxist politically-correct dogmatism".)Mordekhay Nesiyahu's cosmotheism
In Israel, Cosmotheism was also described by Mordekhay Nesiyahu, one of the foremost ideologists of the Israeli Labor Movement and a lecturer in its college Beit Berl in Israel. Related articles
References
External links
Mordekhay Nesiyahu's cosmotheism
William Pierce's cosmotheism
Criticism
Advocacy