Entheism Explained

Entheism = En- (within) + theism (belief in God)

Do you believe in God? How about believing in yourself?

Welcome to Entheism.org, a secular non-profit organization ‘devoted’ to study of the “God” within. 

The word entheism is used to consolidate the various ideas that “God” is within (“God” used as a metaphor for ‘universe, nature, being, consciousness, ‘higher power’, etc..’), which typically fall under the concepts of pantheism or panentheism. This notion of God is reflected in many systems of thought such as Gnostic Christianity, American Transcendentalism, Mahayana Buddhism, and New Age beliefs. The idea that we are “part god” is also a common feature of depth psychology, in that we seem to be the only animal acutely aware of our own mortality and can realize a higher purpose by projecting ourselves beyond our own lives. Entheism’s goal is to facilitate the spread of knowledge about these concepts, in order to encourage the free and open construction of new systems of existential meaning which complement human rights and our symbiosis with the Earth.

Our mission is to encourage the spiritual sovereignty of individuals all over the world. This way of thinking holds some abstract religious principles as true (ie. the golden rule) while confronting the status-quo of institutional religion. It also challenges the intransigence of neo-atheism, which rejects the inevitability of faith, myth, and narrative in some form (they want to throw the baby out with the bathwater of religion). Spiritual equality requires recognition of the fact that our religious identities are socially constructed, and that their constant reification and infringement on politics threatens social progress. True freedom of religion is only possible in a secular environment, where the social construction of rituals, symbols, and beliefs, is acknowledged as participatory and interactive, and thus not constrained by the orthodoxy of conventional faiths and traditional authority. Real ‘human rights’ relies on the naked truth that we are all human beings, born with a blank slate, and should not be condemned with ideology.

There are abundant examples of ‘entheist’ (belief in self; power within) themes in popular culture, as such as in hero myths, ie. Star Wars, The Matrix etc., where the protagonist completes a mythical journey analogous to religious narratives. Yet, the salience of this idea is often ignored or denied in the persistent debate between theism vs. atheism. While there are many alternative positions or ontologies, such as pantheism, polytheism, nontheism, agnosticism, (i)gnosticism, irreligion, anti-theism, etc. there is no word on equal footing to help triangulate with theism and atheism, and help locate the meaning of “God.” One recent and popular neologism, although extremely facile, is David Eagleman’s “possibilianism.” While it is well-meaning, and has the same intention as entheism, to transcend the theism/atheism dichotomy, it has no theoretical framework whatsoever; it’s pitch is almost sales-y: ‘Anything is possible in all possible worlds!’

Nevertheless, the prospect for truth and reconciliation between theism and atheism does exist. They are usually defined in contrast to each other, but it is a false dichotomy. Atheism and Theism are not mutually exclusive, since a theist is typically an atheist of other gods. By seeing these terms as semantic constructions, we can understand how they can both be true and/or false depending on how we define them. As a metareligion, entheism is a template to understand the structure and function of religions. One can cut out the middleman (or toll both) of organized religion and engage deep questions of existence and consciousness through education and reflection. Entheism provides examples of how personal religion can be viable, and how we can attempt bridge the science-spirituality divide through philosophy and mythology, contrary to the “non-overlapping magisteria” hypothesis. Perhaps most importantly, entheism focuses the crux of the ‘God debate’ on the semantics of religion and divinity.

In entheism, spiritual hierarchies are nullified. There is no dogma, except that ‘dogma’ backwards conveniently spells “Am God.” There is no divine-right-of-kings, but divine rights for all. A temple is one’s body, not a supposedly sacred building one visits. All individuals have the power to say “I am” which potentially carries the same profundity with which all messiahs meant. As we will see, with this deep revelation of human’s part-god status, comes a heavy personal responsibility; a responsibility that most people shirk by following a traditional religion, guru, zealot, demagogue, etc. “Heavy lies the crown,” as it were. Entheism’s purpose is not to challenge all forms of authority, or to raise the subscriber onto a pedestal, but rather to question the real basis of spiritual authority, which ultimately must come from within. Because sometimes the hardest thing to believe in is your self, let alone to see the ‘other’ as self. And as we gaze into the infinite night sky or our infinity within we can still respect a higher power. We can acknowledge the patent falsehood that gods we invented actually exist, and recognize the figurative truth that we are gods with immense collective power, and that its high time we start acting like it, as a species. We are seven billion mini-gods, and counting, carrying out “God’s will,” whatever that is…

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"Not only are we in the universe, the universe is in us. I don't know of any deeper spiritual feeling than what that brings upon me."

"We are not forced to take wings to find Him, but only to seek solitude and to look within ourselves."

"If I am to know God directly, I must become completely He and He I, so that this He and this I become and are one I."

"The Kingdom of God is within you."

"I am in them and Thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one." 

"Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?"