More or less, this is what I believe… I cut and pasted this from wikipedia, so I don’t claim credit for writing this.

~Jay

Omnitheism

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Omnitheism is a neologism from the Latin omni – “all or every” and the Greek theism– defined as “belief in the existence of a God or gods”. Omnitheism is the belief that every religion contains at its core an appreciation of the nature of the universe. Many Omnitheists are very interested in reconciling scientific understanding with religious beliefs from around the world, so as to develop a unifying religious understanding.

Core Beliefs of Omnitheism

Omnitheists believe that there is a spiritual dimension to all of existence. This concept is usually referred to as the “Creator”, the “Force”, or the “Universe”- depending on whether the person believes that said dimension is intelligent in and of itself. Either way, the entirety of this spiritual aspect is considered too vast and alien for human comprehension given present understanding.

Omnitheists believe that this spiritual dimension can take on intelligent forms, such as the human soul. They believe that these forms can manifest as “gods”, “spirits”, “kami”, etc. which are capable of communicating with human beings. These forms have a separate and distinct awareness, apart from the whole, but not entirely ignorant of it. Each of these forms is usually believed to be able to create other spiritual beings in some fashion.

Omnitheists believe in researching belief systems to identify key beliefs and to reconcile these with the key beliefs of other religions. Omnitheists eschew the assertion that mythology and moral codes are absolute truths, seeking instead to winnow symbolism and ethical systems that may be presently valuable from bygone cultural mores and traditions.

Omnitheists believe in tolerance, flexibility, reason, and individual understanding. Omnitheists may pray to specific deities or engage in certain forms of worship that they find personally fulfilling; however, they carefully avoid the assertion that any given path is the “only” way. Absolutism is anathema to them.

Generation/Creation Beliefs

These beliefs deal with the origins of life, the universe, and everything:

Sentience Omnitheism – The belief that an intelligent spiritual force guides all of existence. Regardless of whether this force is the “Creator” or simply the “Universe”, it is usually believed to be remote and alien. Its goals and methods are believed to be beyond the ken of humankind. Even those spiritual beings we call “gods” may not really understand the nature of this force.

Intervention Beliefs

These beliefs seek to address the question of unexplained phoenomena, i.e.- miracles, magic, etc.:

Mystical Omnitheism – The belief that all spiritual beings can affect physical reality, usually through the control of random events, such as those occurring on a quantum level. Citing scientific experiments using random number generators, Omnitheist mystics, like Animists, believe that the spirits inhabiting everyday objects can affect reality to help or hinder other physical beings. Likewise, many of these mystics believe that it is theoretically possible for human beings to affect the physical world through spiritual belief.

Spiritual/Death Beliefs

These beliefs attempt to address the question of what happens to the “self” after physical death:

Reincarnation Omnitheism – The belief that spiritual beings which are associated with physical bodies will generally continue to inhabit similar bodies in the future. For instance, human souls will generally be reborn into future human bodies after the body dies. Sometimes connected to Transcendent beliefs, i.e.- reincarnation occurs until some understanding is reached, as in Buddhism.

Transcendent Omnitheism – The belief that after a physical body dies, the spiritual being associated with it may choose to be freed from the material world and thereafter be capable of a purely spiritual existence.

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