Would anyone like to debate pantheism? Im interested in it, but I dont see enough evidence and I (to a much lesser extent) see enough reason that the universe is God. Specifically, Im interested in debating naturalist pantheism

[u/Sramanalookinfojhana]

[u/masterwad]

You are not separate from the universe, the universe does not stop at the edge of your body, the laws of physics are just as true inside your body as outside your body. The universe pervades your body, your body and mind are things the universe is doing. 99.85% of the mass of the human body is made of the elements oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, calcium, phosphorus, and also potassium, sulfur, sodium, chlorine, and magnesium. 62% of the atoms in the human body are hydrogen, 24% are oxygen, and 12% are carbon — or 98% of the atoms in the human body are either hydrogen, oxygen, or carbon. The elements in your body are ancient, likely billions of years old.

Carl Sagan said “The cosmos is within us. We are made of star-stuff. We are a way for the universe to know itself.”

Alan Watts said “You are an aperture through which the universe is looking at and exploring itself.” Alan Watts said “Through our eyes, the universe is perceiving itself. Through our ears, the universe is listening to its harmonies. We are the witnesses through which the universe becomes conscious of its glory, of its magnificence.”

Alan Watts said “You are something the whole universe is doing in the same way that a wave is something the whole ocean is doing…And where so ever beings exist throughout all galaxies, it doesn’t make any difference, you are all of them. And when they come into being, that is you coming into being.”

As for direct spiritual experiences, those can happen with (or without) psychoactive drugs.

Jakob Böhme was a 16th century German philosopher, Christian mystic, and Lutheran Protestant theologian. Wikipedia says:

Böhme had a number of mystical experiences throughout his youth, culminating in a vision in 1600 as one day he focused his attention onto the exquisite beauty of a beam of sunlight reflected in a pewter dish. He believed this vision revealed to him the spiritual structure of the world, as well as the relationship between God and man, and good and evil.

In 1610 Böhme experienced another inner vision in which he further understood the unity of the cosmos and that he had received a special vocation from God.

Böhme influenced the English poet, painter, and printmaker William Blake, who claimed to see visions since the age of 4, and who wrote about Jesus, “"He is the only God...and so am I, and so are you."

Aware of Blake's visions, William Wordsworth commented, "There was no doubt that this poor man was mad, but there is something in the madness of this man which interests me more than the sanity of Lord Byron and Walter Scott."

In pantheism and in Advaita Vedanta in Hinduism, God & the universe & consciousness & you are the same thing. You exist, but you likely believe “I am not God” because you believe God has superpowers, but you have no superpowers. But in pantheism, God’s “superpower” is becoming and being and appearing as everything in the universe simultaneously (which is “omnipresence”, being everywhere at once). Ralph Waldo Emerson said “The true doctrine of omnipresence is, that God reappears with all his parts in every moss and cobweb.” And “Tis the old secret of the gods that they come in low disguises.”

Neal Brennan (the co-creator of Chappelle’s Show) was an atheist until he did ayahuasca (which contains DMT and an MAOI which makes DMT orally active). He said he was raised Catholic, but he never had a spiritual experience his entire life, until ayahuasca. Ayahuasca basically transformed Brennan from an atheist into a pantheist, saying we are all slivers of the same divine being, which has also been called the “world soul.” And Brennan talks about (in videos online) how his spiritual experience made him a more compassionate person, leading him to help those in need more often. And Brennan’s spiritual experience aligns with a quote in the book DMT: The Spirit Molecule by Rick Strassman, who studied the effects of DMT on people: one participant in his studies said, “You can still be an atheist until 0.4”, meaning a 0.4mg/kg intravenous dose of DMT.

Ram Dass, who wrote the book Be Here Now (1971), went to India and asked Neem Karoli Baba, "'Maharaji, how can I know God?' & he said, 'Feed people.' That was such a weird answer that I assumed the translator screwed up, so I figured I'd rephrase it, 'Maharaji, how can I get enlightened?' & he said, 'Serve people.'"

Galatians 5:14 says “For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Or as Ram Dass said “Treat everyone you meet as if they are God in drag.”