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For other uses, see Monist (disambiguation).
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The Monad was a symbol referred by the Greek philosophers as "The First", "The Seed", "The Essence", "The Builder", and "The Foundation"
Monism is the metaphysical and theological view that all is one, that there are no fundamental divisions, and a unified set of laws underlie nature.
Monism is to be distinguished from dualism, which holds that ultimately there are two kinds of substance, and from pluralism, which holds that ultimately there are many kinds of substance.
Monism is often erroneously seen in relation to pantheism, panentheism, and an immanent God. However, the concepts of absolutism, the monad, and the "Universal substrate" are closely related.
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The origins of the term and understanding for the term Monad historically have their roots in the Hellenic philosophical teachings of Pythagoras. Monad derives from the Greek word μόνος or Monos meaning single and without division.
Monism is often seen as partitioned into three basic types:
Monism is further defined according to three kinds:
Certain other positions are hard to pigeonhole into the above categories, including:
The following pre-Socratic philosophers described reality as being monistic:
And post-Socrates:
Following a long and still current tradition H.P. Owen (1971: 65) claimed that
Although, like Spinoza, some pantheists may also be monists, and monism may even be essential to some versions of pantheism (like Spinoza\'s), not all pantheists are monists. Some are polytheists and some are pluralists; they believe that there are many things and kinds of things and many different kinds of value. (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). Not all Monists are Pantheists. Exclusive Monists believe that the universe, the God of the Pantheist, simply does not exist. In addition, monists can be Deists, Pandeists, Theists or Panentheists; believing in a monotheistic God that is omnipotent and all-pervading, and both transcendent and immanent. There are monist polytheists and panentheists in Hinduism (particularly in Advaita and Vishistadvaita respectively), Judaism (monistic panentheism is especially found in Kabbalah and Hasidic philosophy), in Christianity (especially among Oriental Orthodox, Eastern Orthodox, and Anglicans) and in Islam (among the Sufis, especially the Bektashi).
Monism is found in the Nasadiya Sukta of the Rigveda, which speaks of the One being-non-being that \'breathed without breath\'. The first system in Hinduism that clearly, unequivocally explicated absolute monism was that of Advaita (or nondualist) Vedanta (see Advaita Vedanta) as expounded by Adi Shankaracharya. It is part of the six Hindu systems of philosophy, based on the Upanishads, and posits that the ultimate monad is a formless, ineffable Divine Ground called Brahman. Such monistic thought also extends to other Hindu systems like Yoga and non-dualist Tantra. Kashmir Shaivism.
Another type of monism, qualified monism, and from the school of Ramanuja or Vishishtadvaita, admits that the universe is part of God, or Narayana, a type of either pantheism or panentheism, but sees a plurality of souls and substances within this supreme Being. This type of monism, monistic theism, which includes the concept of a personal God as a universal, omnipotent Supreme Being who is both Immanent and Transcendent, is prevalent in Hinduism. (Monistic theism is not to be confused with absolute monotheism where God is viewed as transcendent only. In absolute monotheism, the notion of Immanence divinity (essence of God) present in all things is absent.)
Christianity, being monotheistic, can be said to combine both Monistic and Dualistic assumptions, akin to Neoplatonic thought such as expressed by Plotinus, ultimately concluding that there is one transcendent, immanent, omnipotent, ineffable God. See Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite. Another use of the term "monism" is in Christian anthropology to refer to the innate nature of mankind as being holistic, as opposed to bipartite and tripartite views.
In On Free Choice of the Will, Augustine argued, in the context of the problem of evil, that evil is not the opposite of good, but rather merely the absence of good, something that does not have existence in itself. Likewise, C. S. Lewis described evil as a "parasite" in Mere Christianity, as he viewed evil as something that cannot exist without good to provide it with existence. Lewis went on to argue against dualism from the basis of moral absolutism, and rejected the dualistic notion that God and Satan are opposites, arguing instead that God has no equal, hence no opposite. Lewis rather viewed Satan as the opposite of Michael the archangel.
Valentinianism was a religious doctrine named after the Gnostic theologian Valentinius who lived in the 2nd century. While Gnostic traditions are typically regarded as dualistic, "a standard element in the interpretation of Valentinianism and similar forms of Gnosticism is the recognition that they are fundamentally monistic" (Schoedel, William, "Gnostic Monism and the Gospel of Truth" in Bentley Layton (ed.) The Rediscovery of Gnosticism, Vol.1: The School of Valentinus, E.J. Brill, Leiden.).
Valentinian sources regularly proclaim God (which is more akin to an indescribable Neoplatonist monad than the typical Orthodox Christian conception of a transcendent entity nevertheless possessed of a recognisable persona) to permeate all, and that the material universe is founded on error, as is our perception of it.
Materiality is occasionally described by the Valentinians as being exterior to the monad, and yet there are also passages that describe our experience in ignorance and in this world as a bad dream. And so variant interpretations are possible. Non-monistic as well as quasi-monistic interpretations are also suggested. The concept of \'monad\' may itself simply refer to the simplicity or unitary nature of the invisible hidden God. Similarly, the term \'monad\' may simply indicate the uniqueness of the spiritual principle. The depiction of differing states of knowledge or awareness in spatial terms is typical of Gnostic metaphor, especially within the Valentinian tradition.
According to Chasidic Thought (particularly as propounded by Shneur Zalman of Liadi) of Chabad, God is held to be immanent within creation for two interrelated reasons.
However the Vilna Gaon was very much against this philosophy, for they felt that it wouuld lead to pantheism and heresy. According to some this is the main reason for the Gaon\'s ban on Chasidism.
Note that, at the same time, Jewish Thought considers God as separate from all physical, created things (transcendent) and as existing outside of time (eternal). For a discussion of the resultant paradox; see Tzimtzum.
The later, modern Hasidic approach should be contrasted with that of the earlier scholars, more in pale with mainstream Jewish thought of the time, such as Maimonides. According to Maimonides, (see Foundations of the Law, Chapter 1), God is an incorporeal being that caused all other existence. In fact, God is defined as the necessary existent that caused all other existence. According to Maimonides, to admit corporeality to God is tantamount to admitting complexity to God, which is a contradiction to God as the First Cause and constitutes heresy. While Hasidic mystics considered the existence of the physical world a contradiction to God\'s simpleness, Maimonides saw no contradiction. See the Guide for the Perplexed, especially chapter I:50.
Many forms of Hinduism (including Vedanta, Yoga, and certain schools of Shaivism), Taoism, Pantheism, Rastafari and similar systems of thought explore the mystical and spiritual elements of a monistic philosophy. With increasing awareness of these systems of thought, western spiritual and philosophical climate has seen a growing understanding of monism. Moreover, the New Thought Movement has embraced many monistic concepts for over 100 years.
Monism can be said to oppose religious philosophy altogether by claiming that the idea of spirituality contradicts the monist principle of an indistinguishable mind and body. However, one might consider monism more fundamental than any religious philosophy while taking religion and spirituality as sources of wisdom.
A Course in Miracles, a spiritual self-study course published in 1975, represents a thought system of pure mentalistic monism or non-dualism.
In the Course, only God and His Creation, which is Spirit and has nothing to do with the world, are real. The physical universe is an illusion and does not exist. The Course compares the world of perception with a dream. It arises from the projection of the dreamer, i.e. the mind ("projection makes perception," T-21.in.1:1), according to its wishes (perception "is the outward picture of a wish; an image that you wanted to be true," T-24.VII.8:10). The purpose of the perceptual world is to ensure our separate, individual existence apart from God but avoid the responsibility and project the guilt onto others. As we learn to give the world another purpose and recognize our perceptual errors, we also learn to look past them or "forgive," as a way to awaken gradually from the dream and finally remember our true Identity in God.
The Course’s non-dualistic metaphysics is similar to Advaita Vedanta. What A Course in Miracles adds, is that it gives a motivation for the seeming though illusory existence of the perceptual world (for a further discussion, see Wapnick, Kenneth: The Message of A Course in Miracles, 1997, ISBN 0-933291-25-6).
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Several modern religious movements, for example the organizations within the New Thought Movement (of which Unity Church is numerically the largest), may be said to have a particularly mentalistic monism orientation. The theology of Christian Science is explicitly mentalistic monism: it teaches that all that exists is God and God\'s ideas; that the world as it appears to the senses is a distortion of the underlying spiritual reality.
Historically, monism has been promoted in spiritual terms on several occasions, notably by Ernst Haeckel. To the dismay of some modern observers, Haeckel\'s various ideas often had components of social Darwinism and scientific racism.[verification needed]
Paul Carus called himself "an atheist who loves God", and advocated "henotheism", which is often seen as monist or pantheist in nature.[verification needed]
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