Information AboutImmanent |
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IMMANENCE IN RELIGION In worship, a believer in immanence might say that one can find God wherever one seeks Him. This understanding is often used in Hinduism to describe the relationship of Brahman or the Cosmic Being, to the material world. (i.e., Monistic Theism .). Hinduism posits Brahman as both Transcendent and immanent - varying emphasis on either quality is made by the different philosophies/denominations within the religion. Immanence is one of the five key concepts in Druze , and is represented by the color white. Scholars such as Henry David Thoreau , who popularised the concept of immanence, were influenced by Hindu views. Ayyavazhi also asserts the same thing, that 'if one seeks himself he will seek his master(God)'. It also says that Humanity is the reflection of the rest or Ekam . ''Tzimtzum'' in the Kabbalistic theory See Also: Tzimtzum In theory of creation that God "contracted" his infinite essence in order to allow for a "conceptual space" in which a finite, independent world could exist. The concept of Tzimtzum contains a built-in Paradox , as it requires that God be simultaneously transcendent and immanent:
Dzogchen Tantric Buddhism and the pinnacle of the path, Dzogchen , posits a state free from Dualistic constrictions. The state of Non-dual awareness or '' Rigpa '' ( Tibetan -''vidya'' in Sanskrit ) - is the 'self perfected state' of all beings. It is a state that is free from any duality, but is not monistic as some Western philosphers mistakenly assume. The non-dual state is both immanent and transcendent, it is neither, nor both. This is the Madhyamaka refutation of extremes that the great philospher- Boddhisattva Nagarjuna spoke of with much eloquence. Rigpa is an experience that one must be introduced to by a qualified master, but there are practices that one can employ before such introduction to help in recognizing this state. For instance: tantric '' Ngondro '', '' Samatha '' and '' Vipassana '' practice, '' Yidam '' practice, Madhyamaka Dialectic s, and etc. Samatha or vipassana practice is found within all the various Buddhist schools, but the emphasis is different depending on the specific '' Yana '' or vehicle. Samatha is translated as 'calm abiding', and is described as 'finding one's presence of awareness in the abscence of thought'. One maintains awareness as thoughts arise and dissolve within the 'field' of Mind , one does not accept or reject them, rather one enjoys the play of mind. Vipassana or insight is the integration of one's 'presence of awareness' with that which arises in mind. That which arises in mind could be a thought, a feeling, a passing noise, and etc. The term has the connotation that one enters into such an arising of phenomena. Non-duality or rigpa is the recognition that both the quiet, calm abiding state as found in samatha and the movement or arising of phenemena as found in vipassana are not separate. In this way it could be stated that Dzogchen is a method or recognition of the 'pure immanence' that Deleuze sought out. It must be noted that within Dzogchen as well as all Buddhist schools, no notion of a Creator is postulated. Alternative Meaning (Contained) Another meaning of immanence is that it is something that is contained within, or remains within the boundaries of a person, of the world, or of the mind. This meaning is more common within Christian and other Monotheist theology, in which the one God is considered to transcend his creation. IMMANENCE IN PHILOSOPHY The term "immanence" is usually understood to mean that the divine force, or the divine being, pervades through all things that exist, and is able to influence them. Such a meaning is common in Pantheism & Panpsychism , and it implies that divinity is inseparably present in all things. In this meaning immanence is distinct from Transcendence , the latter being understood as the divinity being set apart from or transcending the World (an exception being Giovanni Gentile 's "'' Actual Idealism ''" wherein immanence of subject is considered identified with transcendence over the material world). Giordano Bruno , Baruch Spinoza and, it may be argued, Hegel 's philosophy were philosophies of immanence, as well as Stoicism , versus philosophies of transcendence such as Thomism or Aristotelian Tradition . Gilles Deleuze qualified Spinoza as the "prince of philosophers" for his theory of immanence, which Spinoza resumed by "'' Deus Sive Natura ''" ("God is Nature"). Such a theory considers that there is no Transcendent principle or external cause to the world, and that the process of life production is contained in life itself. When compounded with Idealism , the immanence theory qualifies itself away from "the world" to there being no external cause to one's mind. In the context of Kant 's theory of knowledge Immanence means to remain in the boundaries of possible experience. The French 20th century philosopher writes in ''The Coming Community'' (1993) : "There is an effect something that humans are and have to be, but this is not an essence nor properly a thing: It is the simple fact of one's own existence as possibility or potentiality". ETYMOLOGY It is derived from the Latin words, ''in'' and ''manere'', the original meaning being "to exist or remain within." ENDNOTES |
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