Monism

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Monism

Monism is any philosophical view which holds that there is unity in a given field of inquiry, where this is not to be expected. Thus, some philosophers may hold that the Universe

Universe

The universe is defined as everything that physically exists: the entirety of space and time, all forms of matter, energy and momentum, and the physical laws and physical constants that govern them....
is really just one thing, despite its many appearances and diversities; or theology may support the view that there is one God, with many manifestations in different religions.

Philosophical monism
Monism in philosophy can be defined according to four kinds:

Idealism
Idealism

Idealism is the philosophical theory which maintains that the ultimate nature of reality is based on mind or ideas. It holds that the so-called external or "real world" is inseparable from mind, consciousness, or perception....
, phenomenalism, or mentalistic monism which holds that only mind is real.
Neutral monism
Neutral monism

Neutral monism, in philosophy, is the metaphysics view that the mental and the physical are two ways of organizing or describing the very same elements, which are themselves "neutral," that is, neither physical nor mental....
, which holds that both the mental and the physical can be reduced to some sort of third substance, or energy.
Physicalism
Physicalism

Physicalism is a philosophical position holding that everything which exists is no more extensive than its physical properties; that is, that there are no kinds of things other than physical things....
or materialism
Materialism

The philosophy of materialism holds that the only thing that can be truly proven to existence is matter, and is considered a form of physicalism....
, which holds that only the physical is real, and that the mental can be reduced
Reduction (philosophy)

Reduction is the process by which one object, property, concept, theory, etc., is shown to be explicable in terms of another, lower level, concept, object, property, etc....
to the physical.

Holistic

Holism

Holism is the idea that all the properties of a given system cannot be determined or explained by its component parts alone. Instead, the system as a whole determines in an important way how the parts behave....
gnoseology, which holds that only a global approach to reality, by means of a global knowledge, is able to get the truth.

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Encyclopedia

Monism is any philosophical view which holds that there is unity in a given field of inquiry, where this is not to be expected. Thus, some philosophers may hold that the Universe

Universe

Philosophical monism

Monism in philosophy can be defined according to four kinds:

Idealism
Idealism

Idealism is the philosophical theory which maintains that the ultimate nature of reality is based on mind or ideas. It holds that the so-called external or "real world" is inseparable from mind, consciousness, or perception....
, phenomenalism, or mentalistic monism which holds that only mind is real.
Neutral monism
Neutral monism

Neutral monism, in philosophy, is the metaphysics view that the mental and the physical are two ways of organizing or describing the very same elements, which are themselves "neutral," that is, neither physical nor mental....
, which holds that both the mental and the physical can be reduced to some sort of third substance, or energy.
Physicalism
Physicalism

Physicalism is a philosophical position holding that everything which exists is no more extensive than its physical properties; that is, that there are no kinds of things other than physical things....
or materialism
Materialism

The philosophy of materialism holds that the only thing that can be truly proven to existence is matter, and is considered a form of physicalism....
, which holds that only the physical is real, and that the mental can be reduced
Reduction (philosophy)

Reduction is the process by which one object, property, concept, theory, etc., is shown to be explicable in terms of another, lower level, concept, object, property, etc....
to the physical.
Holistic
Holism

Holism is the idea that all the properties of a given system cannot be determined or explained by its component parts alone. Instead, the system as a whole determines in an important way how the parts behave....
gnoseology, which holds that only a global approach to reality, by means of a global knowledge, is able to get the truth. Holistic gnoseology is therefore an anti-specialist way to get a supposed deeper and comprehensive reality.

Certain other positions are hard to pigeonhole into the above categories, see links below.

Ancient Western Philosophers

The following pre-Socratic philosophers

Pre-Socratic philosophy

The Pre-Socratic Greek philosophy were active before Socrates or contemporaneously, but expounding knowledge developed earlier. The popularity of the term originates with Hermann Diels' work Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker ....
described reality as being monistic:

Thales
Thales

Thales of Miletus , was a Pre-Socratic philosophy Greek philosophy from Miletus in Asia Minor, and one of the Seven Sages of Greece. Many, most notably Aristotle, regard him as the first philosopher in the Greek philosophy....
: Water.
Anaximander
Anaximander

Anaximander was a pre-Socratic Ancient Greece philosopher who lived in Miletus, a city of Ionia. He belonged to the Milesian school and learned the teachings of his master Thales....
: Apeiron (meaning 'the undefined infinite'). Reality is some, one thing, but we cannot know what.
Anaximenes
Anaximenes of Miletus

Anaximenes of Miletus was a Greece Pre-Socratic philosopher from the latter half of the 6th century BC, probably a younger contemporary of Anaximander, whose pupil or friend he is said to have been....
: Air.
Heraclitus
Heraclitus

Heraclitus of Ephesus was a Pre-Socratic philosophy Greeks philosopher, a native of Ephesus, Ionia, on the coast of Asia Minor.Heraclitus is known for his doctrine of change being central to the universe, and that the Logos is the fundamental order of all....
: Fire (in that everything is in constant flux).
Parmenides
Parmenides

Parmenides of Elea was an ancient Greek philosopher born in Elea, a Greek city on the southern coast of Italy. He was the founder of the Eleatic school of philosophy....
: Being. Reality is an unmoving perfect sphere, unchanging, undivided.

And post-Socrates:

Neopythagorians such as Apollonius of Tyana
Apollonius of Tyana

Apollonius of Tyana was a Greece Neopythagorean philosopher and teacher. He hailed from the town of Tyana in the Roman Empire province of Cappadocia in Asia Minor....
centered their cosmologies on the Monad or One.
Middle Platonism under such works as Numenius
Numenius of Apamea

Numenius of Apamea was a Greek philosopher, who lived in Apamea in Syria and flourished during the latter half of the 2nd century AD. He was a Neopythagorean and forerunner of the Neoplatonists....
express the Universe emanating from the Monad or One.
Neoplatonism
Neoplatonism

Neoplatonism is the modern term for a school of religious and mystical philosophy that took shape in the 3rd century AD, founded by Plotinus and based on the teachings of Plato and earlier Platonism....
is Monistic. Plotinus
Plotinus

Plotinus was a major Philosophy of the ancient world who is widely considered the founder of Neoplatonism . Much of our biographical information about him comes from Porphyry 's preface to his edition of Plotinus' Enneads....
taught that there was an ineffable transcendent God, 'The One,' of which subsequent realities were emanations. From The One emanates the Divine Mind (Nous
Nous

Nous is a philosophical term for mind or intellect. Outside of a philosophical context, it is used, in English, to denote "common sense," with a different pronunciation ....
), the Cosmic Soul (Psyche
Psyche (psychology)

In psychoanalysis, the psyche refers to the forces in an individual that influence cognition, behavior and Personality psychology. The word is borrowed from ancient Greek, and refers to the concept of the self, encompassing the modern ideas of soul, Self , and mind....
), and the World (Cosmos
Cosmos

In its most general sense, a cosmos is an orderly or harmonious system. It originates from a Greek language term ??s??? meaning "order, orderly arrangement, ornaments," and is the antithetical concept of chaos....
).

Monism, pantheism, and panentheism

Following a long and still current tradition H.P. Owen (1971: 65) claimed that

"Pantheists are ‘monists’...they believe that there is only one Being, and that all other forms of reality are either modes (or appearances) of it or identical with it."

Although almost all pantheists are monists, some pantheists may also be not-monists, but undeniably monists were the most famous pantheisms as that of Stoics, Plotinus

Plotinus

Plotinus was a major Philosophy of the ancient world who is widely considered the founder of Neoplatonism . Much of our biographical information about him comes from Porphyry 's preface to his edition of Plotinus' Enneads....
and Spinoza

Baruch Spinoza

Baruch or Benedict de Spinoza was a Netherlands Philosophy of Iberian Jews origin. Revealing considerable scientific aptitude, the breadth and importance of Spinoza's work was not fully realized until years after his death....
. Exclusive Monists believe that the universe, the "God" of naturalistic pantheism, simply does not exist. In addition, monists can be Deists

Deism

Deism is a religious and philosophical belief that a supreme natural God exists and created the physical universe, and that religious truths can be arrived at by the application of reason and observation of the natural world....
, Pandeists

Pandeism

Pandeism or Pan-Deism , is a term used at various times to describe religious beliefs. Since at least as early as 1859, it has delineated syncretism concepts incorporating or mixing elements of pantheism and deism ....
, Theists

Theism

Theism, in its most inclusive usage, is the belief in at least one deity. Less inclusive usages specify that the deity believed in be a distinct identifiable entity, thereby contrasted with pantheism....
or Panentheists

Panentheism

Panentheism is a belief system which posits that God exists and interpenetrates every part of nature, and timelessly extends beyond as well. Panentheism is distinguished from pantheism, which holds that God is synonymous with the material universe....
; believing in a monotheistic

Monotheism

In theology, monotheism is the belief that only one god exists. The concept of "monotheism" tends to be dominated by the concept of God in the Abrahamic religions, such as Judaism, Christianity and Islam, and the Neoplatonism concept of God as put forward by Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite....
God that is omnipotent and all-pervading, and both transcendent and immanent. There are monist pantheists and panentheists in Hinduism

Hinduism

'Hinduism' is the predominant religion of the Indian subcontinent. Hinduism is often referred to as , a Sanskrit phrase meaning "the eternal dharma", by its practitioners....
(particularly in Advaita and Vishistadvaita respectively), Judaism

Judaism

Judaism is a set of beliefs and practices originating in the Hebrew Bible , as later further explored and explained in the Talmud and other texts....
(monistic panentheism is especially found in Kabbalah

Kabbalah

Kabbalah is a discipline and school of thought discussing the mysticism aspect of Judaism. It is a set of esoteric teachings that are meant to explain the relationship between an infinite, eternal and essentially unknowable Creator deity with the finite and mortal universe of His creation....
and Hasidic philosophy

Hasidic philosophy

Hasidic Philosophy or Hasidus are the teachings, interpretations of Judaism, and philosophy underlying the modern Hasidic movement.The word derives from the Hebrew "hesed" , and the appellation "hasid" has a history in Judaism for a person who has sincere motives in serving God and helping others....
), in Christianity

Christianity

Christianity is a Monotheistic religion #Christian view religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus as New Testament view on Jesus' life....
(especially among Oriental Orthodox, Eastern Orthodox

Eastern Orthodox Church

The Eastern Orthodox Church is the second largest single Christian communion in the world with an estimated 225 million members worldwide. It is considered by its adherents to be the Four Marks of the Church established by Jesus Christ and his Apostles nearly 2000 years ago....
, and Anglicans

Anglicanism

Anglicanism is a tradition of Christianity faith. Churches in this tradition either have historical connections to the Church of England or have similar beliefs, worship and church structures....
) and in Islam

Islam

Islam is a Monotheism, Abrahamic religion originating with the teachings of the Prophets of Islam Muhammad, a 7th century Arab religious and political figure....
(among the Sufis, especially the Bektashi

Bektashi

Bektashism is an Islamic Sufi order , considered to be a distinct branch of Twelver Shi'a Islam. It was founded in the 13th century by the Islamic saint Hajji Bektash Wali....
).

Monism in religious and spiritual systems

Hinduism

Monism is found in the Nasadiya Sukta

Nasadiya Sukta

The Nasadiya Sukta is the 129th hymn of the RV 10 of the Rigveda. It is concerned with cosmology and talks about the origin of the universe. It is an important example for the emergence of Advaita thought in the Vedic period of Iron Age India....
of the Rigveda

Rigveda

The Rigveda is an ancient Indian subcontinent sacred collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns dedicated to the Rigvedic deities . It is counted among the four canonical sacred texts of Hinduism known as the Vedas....
, which speaks of the One

Ekam

Ekam Tamil language: - "the supreme oneness") is the term used in Akilattirattu Ammanai, the holy book of Ayyavazhi, to represent The Ultimate Henosis....
being-non-being that 'breathed without breath'. The first system in Hinduism that unequivocally explicated absolute monism was the non-dualist philosophy of Advaita Vedanta

Vedanta

Vedanta is a spiritual tradition explained in the Upanishads that is concerned with the self-realisation by which one understands the ultimate nature of reality and teaches the believer's goal is to transcend the limitations of self-identity and realize one's unity with Brahman....
as expounded by Shankara. In short, Advaita declares - All is Brahman

Brahman

Brahman is a concept of Hinduism. Brahman is the unchanging, infinite, Immanence, and transcendence reality which is the Divine Ground of all matter, energy, time, space, being, and everything beyond in this Universe....
. It is part of the six Hindu systems of philosophy

Philosophy

Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence, knowledge, truth, beauty, justice, validity, mind, and language....
, based on the Upanishads, and posits that the ultimate monad

Monad

Monad may refer to:In philosophy:*Monad a term used by ancient philosophers Pythagoras, Parmenides, Xenophanes, Plato, Aristotle, and Plotinus as a term for God or the first being, or the totality of all being....
is a formless, ineffable divine ground of all being.

Vishishtadvaita

Vishishtadvaita

VishishtAdvaita Vedanta ) is a sub-school of the Vedanta school of Hindu philosophy, the other major sub-schools of Vedanta being Advaita and Dvaita....
, qualified monism, is from the school of Ramanuja

Ramanuja

Ramanuja , also known as Ramanujacharya, was a theologian, philosopher, and scriptural exegete. He is seen by Sri Vaishnavism as the third and most important teacher of their tradition, and by Hindus as the leading expounder of Vishishtadvaita, one of the classical interpretations of the dominant Vedanta school of Hindu philosophy....
. Shuddhadvaita

Shuddhadvaita

Shuddadvaita , also known as the ' or ' , is a Hinduism Vaishnava tradition, established by Vallabhacharya in the fifteenth century. The tradition is focused on the worship of Krishna and preaches a pure form philosophy different from Advaita....
, in-essence monism, is the school of Vallabha. Dvaitadvaita

Dvaitadvaita

Dvaitadvaita was proposed by Nimbarka, a Vaishnava Philosopher who hailed from Andhra Region. Nimbarka?s philosophical position is known as Dvaitadvaita ....
, differential monism, is a school founded by Nimbarka

Nimbarka

Nimbarka , is known for propagating the Vaishnava Theology of Dvaitadvaita, duality in unity. According to scholars headed by Prof. Roma Bose, he lived in the 13th Century, though she bases this on the assumption that Sri Nimbarkacarya was the author of the work Madhvamukhamardana, which is erroneous as the said work is the product of lat...
. Dvaita

Dvaita

Dvaita is a dualist school of Vedanta Hindu philosophy. The Sanskrit word dvaita means "dualism". This school was established as a new development in the Vedanta exegetical tradition in the thirteenth century CE with the south Indian Vaishnavism theologian Madhvacharya, who wrote commentaries on a number of Hindu scriptures....
, dualist monism, is a school founded by Madhvacharya

Madhvacharya

Shri Madhvacharya was the chief proponent of Tattvavada , popularly known as Dvaita or dualism school of Hindu philosophy. It is one of the three most influential Vedanta philosophies....
. All Vaishnava schools are panentheistic and view the universe as part of Krishna

Krishna

Krishna is a deity worshiped across many traditions in Hinduism in a variety of different perspectives. While many Vaishnava groups recognize him as an avatar of Vishnu, other traditions within Krishnaism consider Krishna to be svayam bhagavan, or the supreme being....
or Narayana

Narayana

Narayana or Narayan is an important Sanskrit name for Vishnu, and in many contemporary vernaculars a common Indian name. Narayana is also identified as the original man, Purusha....
, but see a plurality of souls and substances within Brahman

Brahman

Universality (philosophy)

In philosophy, universalism is a doctrine or school claiming universal facts can be discovered and is therefore understood as being in opposition to relativism....
, omnipotent Supreme Being

Supreme Being

The term wiktionary:Supreme Being is often defined simply as "God", and it is used with this meaning by theologians of many religious faiths, including, but not limited to, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Deism....
who is both immanent

Immanence

Immanence, derived from the Latin in manere "to remain within", refers to philosophical and metaphysical theories of the divine as existing and acting within the mind or the world....
and transcendent

Transcendence (religion)

In religion, transcendence is a condition or state of being that surpasses physical existence and in one form is also independent of it. It is affirmed in the concept of the divinity in the major religious traditions, and contrasts with the notion of God, or the Absolute , existing exclusively in the physical order , or indistinguishable fro...
, is prevalent within many other schools of Hinduism as well.

Monistic theism is not to be confused with monotheism where God is viewed as transcendent-only. In monotheism, the notion of immanence

Immanence

Buddhism

Buddhist philosophy is generally suspicious of ontology

Ontology

Ontology in philosophy is the study of the nature of being, existence or reality in general, as well as of the basic category of being and their relations....
. The Buddha himself, and some of his prominent disciples such as Nagarjuna

Nagarjuna

File:Nagarjuna at Samye Ling Monastery.JPGFile:Nagarjuna.JPGAcharya Nagarjuna was an Indian philosophy and the founder of the Madhyamaka school of Mahayana Buddhism....
, discouraged ontological theorizing for its own sake.

According to the Pali Canon

Pali Canon

The Pali Canon is the standard collection of scriptures in the Theravada Buddhism tradition, as preserved in the Pali. It is the only completely surviving Early Buddhist schools canon, and one of the first to be written down....
, both pluralism (naanatta) and monism (ekatta) are speculative views

View (Buddhism)

View or position is a central concept in Buddhism. In Buddhist thought a view is not a simple, abstract collection of propositions, but a charged interpretation of experience which intensely shapes and effects thought, sensation, and action....
. A Theravada

Theravada

Theravada...
commentary notes that the former is similar to or associated with nihilism (ucchedavada), and the latter is similar to or associated with eternalism (sassatavada

Sassatavada

Sassatavada is a kind of thinking rejected by the Buddha in the nikayas . One example of it is the belief that the individual has an unchanging Atman ....
). See middle way

Middle way

In general, the Middle Way or Middle Path is the Buddhist practice of non-extremism.More specifically, in Theravada Buddhism's Pali Canon, the Middle Way crystallizes the Gautama Buddha's Nirvana-bound path of moderation away from the extremes of sensual indulgence and self-mortification and toward the practice of wisdom, morality an...
.

Among the Madhyamaka

Madhyamaka

Madhyamaka is a Buddhist Mahayana tradition systematized by Nagarjuna. Nagarjuna may have arrived at his positions from a desire to achieve a consistent exegesis of Gautama Buddha's doctrine as recorded in the Nikayas....
school of Mahayana Buddhist philosophy, the ultimate nature of the world is described as emptiness, which is indistinguishable from material form. That appears to be a monist position, but the Madhyamaka views - including variations like Prasangika and Yogacara

Yogacara

Yogacara The orientation of the Yogacara school is largely consistent with the thinking of the Pali Nikayas. It frequently treats later developments in a way that realigns them earlier versions of Buddhist doctrines....
and the more modern shentong

Shentong

Shentong is a philosophical sub-school found in Tibetan Buddhism whose adherents generally hold that the nature of mind, the substratum of the mindstream, is 'empty' of 'other' , in contrast to the ?Rangtong? view of the followers of Prasangika, who hold that all phenomena are unequivocally empty of self-nature, without positing anything be...
Tibetan position - will fail to assert in the ultimate nature any particular point of view. They instead deconstruct any assertions about ultimate existence as resulting in absurd consequences. The doctrine of emptiness is also found in earlier Theravada Buddhist literature.

In Soto Zen teaching, it is said that "All is One and All is Different." Since non-dualism does not recognize a dualism between Oneness and Difference, or even between dualism and non-dualism, it is difficult to state the meaning of this doctrine. All discussion of this teaching by Soto Zen masters falls under the Buddhist concept of skill in means, which is to say, not literally correct, but suitable for leading others to the Truth. Chinese Soto (Cao-Dong) master Tozan (Tung Shan

Tung Shan

Tung Shan can refer to:*Medieval Chinese Zen teacher Tung-shan Liang-chieh;*Tung Shan , a hill in Hong Kong.See also*Dongshan...
, Dongshan) wrote the Verses of the Five Ranks

Verses of the Five Ranks

The Verses of the Five Ranks, by Chinese Soto master Tozan , are fundamental to Soto and Rinzai Zen teaching, expressing the fundamental Monism#Buddhism of Buddhist teaching, which rejects the duality of dualism and non-dualism....
(of the Ideal and the Actual), which is also important as a set of koans in the Rinzai school. Dongshan describes the Fifth Rank in part thus:

Unity Attained:
Who dares to equal him
Who falls into neither being nor non-being!

Shih-t'ou Hsi-ch'ien's poem "The Harmony of Difference and Sameness" Sandokai

Sandokai

The Sandokai or "Harmonious Song of Difference and Sameness" is a poem by the eighth Chinese Zen ancestor Shitou Xiqian and a fundamental text of the Soto school of Zen, chanted daily in temples throughout the world....
is an important early expression of Zen Buddhism and is chanted in Soto temples to this day. Another poem of Tung-shan Liang-chieh on these and related themes, "The Song of the Jewel Mirror Awareness", is also chanted in Soto temples daily.

Other expressions of this teaching include the koan

Koan

A koan is a narrative, dialogue, question, or statement in the history and lore of Ch?n Buddhism, generally containing aspects that are inaccessible to rationality understanding, yet may be accessible to intuition ....
:

A disciple asked, "What is the difference between the enlightened and the unenlightened man?"

The Master replied, "The unenlightened man sees a difference, but the enlightened man does not."

and Dogen

Dogen

Dogen Zenji was a Japanese people Zen Buddhism teacher born in Kyoto, and the founder of the Soto school of Zen in Japan. He was a leading religious figure of his time, as well as being an important philosopher....
Zenji's personal koan, "Why are training and enlightenment differentiated, since the Truth is universal?" (Fukanzazengi, Instructions for Meditation)

Christianity

In general, Christianity, particularly the Christian right

Christian right

The Christian right is a term used predominantly in the United States to describe a spectrum of right-wing politics Christian political and social movements and organizations characterized by their strong support of Conservatism social conservative and Republican Party values....
, strongly maintains the Creator-creature distinction, and so firmly rejects metaphysical monism. Christianity maintains that God created the universe ex nihilo and not from Himself, nor within Himself, so that the Creator is not to be confused with creation, but rather transcends it (metaphysical dualism). God is transcendent

Transcendence (religion)

In religion, transcendence is a condition or state of being that surpasses physical existence and in one form is also independent of it. It is affirmed in the concept of the divinity in the major religious traditions, and contrasts with the notion of God, or the Absolute , existing exclusively in the physical order , or indistinguishable fro...
. Immanence is defined as God's omnipotence, omnipresence and omniscience, due to God's desire for intimate contact with his own creation. Another use of the term "monism" is in Christian anthropology

Christian anthropology

In the context of Christian theology, theological anthropology refers to the study of the human as it relates to God. It differs from the social science of anthropology, which primarily deals with the comparative study of the physical and social characteristics of humanity across times and places....
to refer to the innate nature of mankind as being holistic, as opposed to bipartite

Bipartite (theology)

In Christian theology and anthropology, bipartite refers to the view that a human being is a composite of two distinct components, material and immaterial; for example, body and soul....
and tripartite

Tripartite (theology)

In Christian theology, the tripartite viewpoint holds that man is a composite of three distinct components: body, soul and spirit. It is less popular than the bipartite view, where "soul" and "spirit" are taken as different terms for the same entity....
views.

While the Christian view of reality is dualistic (in regard to metaphysics) in that it holds to the Creator's transcendence of creation, it firmly rejects other types of dualism (or pluralism) such as the idea that God must compete with other (equal) powers such as Satan or Evil. In On Free Choice of the Will, Augustine argued, in the context of the problem of evil, that evil is not the opposite of good, but rather merely the absence of good, something that does not have existence in itself. Likewise, C. S. Lewis

C. S. Lewis

Clive Staples Lewis , commonly referred to as C. S. Lewis and known to his friends and family as Jack, was an academic, medievalist, literary critic, essayist, lay theologian and Christian apologist....
described evil as a "parasite" in Mere Christianity
Mere Christianity

Mere Christianity is a Theology book by C. S. Lewis, adapted from a series of BBC radio talks made between 1941 and 1944, while Lewis was at Oxford during World War II....
, as he viewed evil as something that cannot exist without good to provide it with existence. Lewis went on to argue against dualism from the basis of moral absolutism

Moral absolutism

Moral absolutism is the meta-ethical view that certain actions are absolutely right or wrong, devoid of the context of the act. Thus lying, for instance, might be considered to be always immoral, even if done to promote some other good ....
, and rejected the dualistic notion that God and Satan

Satan

Satan is a term that originates from the Abrahamic religions, being traditionally applied to an angel in Judeo-Christian belief, and to a Genie in Islamic belief....
are opposites, arguing instead that God has no equal, hence no opposite. Lewis rather viewed Satan as the opposite of Michael the archangel

Michael (archangel)

Saint Michael is an archangel in Christian and Islamic tradition. He is viewed as the field commander of the Army of God.He is mentioned by name in the Book of Daniel and the Book of Revelation....
.

Judaism

According to Chasidic Thought

Hasidic philosophy

Shneur Zalman of Liadi

Shneur Zalman of Liadi , was an Orthodox Judaism Rabbi, and the founder and first Rebbe of Chabad Lubavitch, a branch of Hasidic Judaism, then based in Liadi, Imperial Russia....
) of Chabad

Chabad

*Chabad is an acronym for Chochmah, Binah, and Da'at, the three levels of Sefirot related to cognition according to the Kabbalah.*Chabad-Strashelye, Strashelye is a branch of the Chabad school of Hasidic Judaism....
, God is held to be immanent

Immanence

Creation according to Genesis

Creation according to Genesis is the creation myth found in the Hebrew Bible, . It describes the making of the Firmament and the Earth and of the first humans by God in Abrahamic religions ....
for two interrelated reasons.

Firstly, a very strong Jewish belief is that "[t]he Divine life-force which brings [the universe] into existence must constantly be present... were this life-force to forsake [the universe] for even one brief moment, it would revert to a state of utter nothingness, as before the creation..." .

Secondly, and simultaneously, Judaism holds as axiom
Axiom

In traditional logic, an axiom or postulate is a proposition that is not proved or demonstrated but considered to be either self-evidence, or subject to necessary decision....
atic that God is an absolute unity, and that He is Perfectly Simple
Divine simplicity

In theology, the doctrine of divine simplicity says that God is without parts. The general idea of divine simplicity can be stated in this way: the being of God is identical to the attributes of God....
- thus if His sustaining power is within nature, then His essence is also within nature.

However the Vilna Gaon

Vilna Gaon

Rabbi Elijah ben Shlomo Zalman, known as the Vilna Gaon or Elijah of Vilna and simply by his Hebrew language acronym Gra , , was an exceptional Talmud, Halakha, Kabbalah, and the foremost leader of non-hasidic world Jewry of the past few centuries....
was very much against this philosophy, for he felt that it would lead to pantheism and heresy. According to some this is the main reason for the Gaon's ban on Chasidism.

Note that, at the same time, Jewish Thought considers God as separate from all physical, created things (transcendent

Transcendence (religion)

In religion, transcendence is a condition or state of being that surpasses physical existence and in one form is also independent of it. It is affirmed in the concept of the divinity in the major religious traditions, and contrasts with the notion of God, or the Absolute , existing exclusively in the physical order , or indistinguishable fro...
) and as existing outside of time (eternal). For a discussion of the resultant paradox

Paradox

A paradox is a Proposition or group of statements that leads to a contradiction or a situation which defies intuition ; or, it can be an apparent contradiction that actually expresses a non-dual truth ....
; see Tzimtzum
Tzimtzum

In the kabbalah theory of creationism, Tzimtzum refers to the notion, based on the teachings of Isaac Luria , that God in Judaism "contracted" his Ein Sof light in order to allow for a "conceptual space" in which a wiktionary:finite, seemingly independent world could exist....
.

Islam

According to non-Sufi Islamic perspective, the creation and the creator cannot be equal, therefore Monism stands rejected in Islam. Islam claims that God created the universe from nothing, therefore the concept of anthropomorphism

Anthropomorphism

Anthropomorphism is the attribution of uniquely human characteristics to non-human creatures and beings, natural and supernatural phenomena, material states and objects or abstract concepts....
and viewing God himself as evolving or changing are forms of shirk (associating partners with God). The belief of God in Islam can be summarized by chapter 112 of the Qur'an "Say, he is God the one, God the eternal. He does not beget nor was he begotten, and there is nothing that is like him/equal to him."

Many followers of Sufism advocated monism. Most notably the 13th-century Persian poet Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Balkhi-Rumi (1207 -73) in his didactic poem Masnavi

Masnavi

The Masnavi or Masnavi-I Ma'navi , , also written Mathnawi or Mesnevi, written in Persian by Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi, the celebrated Persian Sufi saint and poet, is one of the best known and most influential works of both Sufism and Persian literature....
espouses monism. Rumi says Masnavi

Masnavi

Theological growth and breadth

Many forms of Hinduism

Hinduism

'Hinduism' is the predominant religion of the Indian subcontinent. Hinduism is often referred to as , a Sanskrit phrase meaning "the eternal dharma", by its practitioners....
(including Vedanta

Vedanta

Yoga

Yoga refers to traditional physical and mental disciplines originating in India. The word is associated with meditative practices in both Buddhism and Hinduism....
, and certain schools of Shaivism

Shaivism

Shaivism,names the oldest of the four sects of Hinduism. Followers of Shaivism, called "Shaivas," and also "Saivas" or "Saivites," revere Shiva as the Supreme Being....
), Taoism

Taoism

Taoism refers to a variety of related philosophical and religious traditions and concepts. These traditions have influenced East Asia for over two thousand years and some have spread to the West....
, Pantheism

Pantheism

Pantheism is the view that everything is part of an all-encompassing Immanence abstract God. In pantheism the Universe, or nature, and God are equivalent....
, Rastafari

Rastafari movement

The Rastafari movement is a monotheism, Abrahamic religions, new religious movement that accepts Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia, the former Emperor of Ethiopia, as the incarnation of God, called Jah or Jah Rastafari....
and similar systems of thought explore the mystical and spiritual

Spirituality

Spirituality, in a narrow sense, concerns itself with matters of the spirit, a concept closely tied to religion and faith, transcendence , or one or more Deity....
elements of a monistic philosophy. With increasing awareness of these systems of thought, western spiritual and philosophical climate has seen a growing understanding of monism. Moreover, the New Thought

New Thought

The New Thought Movement or New Thought is a spiritual movement which developed in the United States during the late 19th century and emphasizes metaphysics beliefs....
Movement has embraced many monistic concepts for over 100 years.

Monism can be said to oppose religious philosophy altogether by claiming that the idea of spirituality contradicts the monist principle of an indistinguishable mind and body. However, one might consider monism more fundamental than any religious philosophy while taking religion and spirituality as sources of wisdom.

Materialistic monism

Materialistic monism (or monistic materialism) is the philosophical concept which sees the unity of matter in its globality. For the materialistic monism the cosmos is “one” and comprehensive, then a “one-all” made up of parts such as its effects. The matter is then originary and cause of all reality.

External links

- Monism
- (search for Monism)
- Monism