In the Sixties, among hippies, the talk was often of “transcending the bullshit”. Unfortunately, it remains immanent though there may be individual progress. The terms transcendence and immanence are grounded in religious philosophy. They refer to God being removed from his creation as opposed to being a part of it. On a colloquial level, people experience transcendence as going beyond their habitual state of consciousness. This is achieved through prayer, meditation, contemplation, dance, song, music, visions or psychedelics.
Immanence doesn’t necessitate any of this. If, like me, you are a pantheist, you believe that God or the absolute is an intrinsic part of all that is, and you don’t have to strive to be a part of It, Him, Her or Them. Accordingly, I see meditation and the like as measures of spiritual hygiene, which is certainly not wrong.
In the biblical parable of Moses and the burning bush (Ex 3,1– 4,17), the classical argument for transcendence is made when Moses first encounters God. He tells him to take his shoes off, since Moses is standing on holy ground. People like me argue that we’re always standing on holy ground.
Heavenly visions and advice from sources outside of us are not to be belittled. Immanence is universal, transcendence the vehicle that may take us to this realization. To transcend what ails us as a society, we need to reflect on what matters. The three most important issues are: Nature. Peace. Humanity. Nature refers to the stewardship of the creation we are entrusted with. Peace means the achievement of less war and strife all over the globe. Humanity is synonymous with compassion, to improve our mutual well-being on an individual and collective level.
I didn’t say it was easy. However, the painful beauty of our world deserves our best efforts.
Yours,
Susanne G. Seiler
P.S. You’ll find us at the gaialounge, Hochstrasse 70 (behind Basel’s SBB station, tram stop Peter Merian), every Thursday afternoon from 14 – 18 h. Welcome!