“That of God” from a pretheist perspective
It is perhaps the most basic tenet of Quakerism that there is “that of God” in each and every one of us. Quakers believe we can seek out and nurture that of God in ourselves and in others by quiet reflection and deep listening to the “still, small voice” within.
It is not necessary to believe in God, or in a particular understanding of God, in order to believe we all have “that of God” within us. Whatever we may or may not believe about God acting independently of us in the world, the idea that there is that of God within us is simply a recognition that we all have within us something that makes us special, unique and holy.
But for a pretheist, understanding that there is that of God in each one of us takes on a new meaning. In order for any new level of complexity to emerge from a less complex form of existence, the potential for that new level of complexity must have already existed in some form or other at that lower level. Life could not have emerged from the organic soup of already highly complex macro-molecules, unless those macro-molecules somehow already had the possibility of coming together in such a way as to form living cells.
Human intelligence could not have emerged from mere animal consciousness unless within other highly evolved mammals there were already brains able to function and develop into the unique capacity for conscious intelligence that is the human brain.
Pretheism posits the possibility of a supra-human form of existence we could call God, evolving out of what is currently the most highly complex form of existence on this planet so far, ie. human intelligence. In such a scenario, the possibility of God would have to exist somehow already, within human beings. So the idea that there is that of God in each one of us is actually a precondition for such a God to emerge in the pretheist sense.
It is perhaps the most basic tenet of Quakerism that there is “that of God” in each and every one of us. Quakers believe we can seek out and nurture that of God in ourselves and in others by quiet reflection and deep listening to the “still, small voice” within.
It is not necessary to believe in God, or in a particular understanding of God, in order to believe we all have “that of God” within us. Whatever we may or may not believe about God acting independently of us in the world, the idea that there is that of God within us is simply a recognition that we all have within us something that makes us special, unique and holy.
But for a pretheist, understanding that there is that of God in each one of us takes on a new meaning. In order for any new level of complexity to emerge from a less complex form of existence, the potential for that new level of complexity must have already existed in some form or other at that lower level. Life could not have emerged from the organic soup of already highly complex macro-molecules, unless those macro-molecules somehow already had the possibility of coming together in such a way as to form living cells.
Human intelligence could not have emerged from mere animal consciousness unless within other highly evolved mammals there were already brains able to function and develop into the unique capacity for conscious intelligence that is the human brain.
Pretheism posits the possibility of a supra-human form of existence we could call God, evolving out of what is currently the most highly complex form of existence on this planet so far, ie. human intelligence. In such a scenario, the possibility of God would have to exist somehow already, within human beings. So the idea that there is that of God in each one of us is actually a precondition for such a God to emerge in the pretheist sense.