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Author Topic: Omnism  (Read 6866 times)

Shaker

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Omnism
« on: June 21, 2017, 09:23:30 PM »
Hard to believe that I'd previously never even heard of this term until just now, but it's true.

Anyway:

Quote
Omnism is the recognition and respect of all religions; those who hold this belief are called omnists (or Omnists). The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) quotes as the term's earliest usage by English poet Philip J. Bailey: in 1839 "I am an omnist, and believe in all religions". In recent years, the term has been emerging anew, due to the interest of modern day self-described omnists who have rediscovered and begun to redefine the term. It can be thought of as syncretism taken to its logical extreme. However, it can also be seen as a way to accept the existence of various religions without believing in all that they profess to teach. Many omnists say that all religions contain truths, but that no one religion offers all that is truth ... omnism does not appear to be a form of theology, as it neither espouses nor opposes particular beliefs about God. Instead, it affirms the necessity of one arriving at an understanding of reality based on personal experience, engagement, and inquiry, and an acceptance of the validity and legitimacy of the differing understandings of others.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omnism

Seems entirely reasonable to me. A way of avoiding dogmatism, division, exclusion and interreligious strife, or a statement of the bleeding obvious (or both)? Some religious traditions, such as the Bahá'í faith and Unitarian Universalism, have omnism built into them at their core; the rock on which it founders - inevitably - is the attitude that my (it's always my, funnily enough ...) religious tradition is in possession of the full and final absolute truth and anybody who thinks otherwise is simply wrong.
« Last Edit: June 21, 2017, 09:55:58 PM by Shaker »
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Nearly Sane

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Re: Omnism
« Reply #1 on: June 21, 2017, 10:03:43 PM »
Not heard of it either though I had heard of Chris Martin's all theism. Not sure if it isn't just another use of the idea of spiritual as being valid but avoiding any definition.
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Robbie

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Re: Omnism
« Reply #2 on: June 21, 2017, 11:06:44 PM »
Didn't Gandhi say he was a Hindu, a CHristian, a Muslim & Jew?
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Udayana

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Re: Omnism
« Reply #3 on: June 21, 2017, 11:29:33 PM »
Wasn't that the universal soldier?
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Ah, but I was so much older then ... I'm younger than that now

Robbie

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Re: Omnism
« Reply #4 on: June 21, 2017, 11:37:20 PM »
Yes, Buffy (not vampire) someone. Quoted from Gandhi.
Don't really think he meant it literally, more that he empathised with & saw integrity in all faiths.
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Sriram

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Re: Omnism
« Reply #5 on: June 22, 2017, 05:35:44 AM »
Quote from: Robinson on June 21, 2017, 11:06:44 PM
Didn't Gandhi say he was a Hindu, a CHristian, a Muslim & Jew?


Most Hindus are natural Omnists. They could easily walk into a church or mosque (if allowed) or gurudwara without any problem. All deities and all rituals and all prayers are a means to self development.
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Udayana

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Re: Omnism
« Reply #6 on: June 22, 2017, 08:05:11 AM »
Is there anything that is NOT "a means to self development" ?
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Ah, but I was so much older then ... I'm younger than that now

Sriram

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Re: Omnism
« Reply #7 on: June 22, 2017, 08:14:07 AM »
Quote from: Udayana on June 22, 2017, 08:05:11 AM
Is there anything that is NOT "a means to self development" ?


Anything that encourages indiscipline,  disorder and destruction will not be a means to self development. That is what is called negative karma.

It will eventually get corrected due to natural forces but in the short term it is regressive.
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Rhiannon

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Re: Omnism
« Reply #8 on: June 22, 2017, 09:21:04 AM »
There's an element of Omnism in New Age, and it crops up in Interfaith a lot - we are all on our own journey up the same mountain etc.

I can see how it's possible to bring Eastern beliefs in with paganism and New Age - in fact the Goddess movement has Hindu deities and there are quite a few pagan Buddhists - but I can't see how *all* faiths are compatible, simply because of the clash between dual and non-dual thought.
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Shaker

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Re: Omnism
« Reply #9 on: June 22, 2017, 12:57:28 PM »
Quote from: Rhiannon on June 22, 2017, 09:21:04 AM
There's an element of Omnism in New Age, and it crops up in Interfaith a lot - we are all on our own journey up the same mountain etc.

I can see how it's possible to bring Eastern beliefs in with paganism and New Age - in fact the Goddess movement has Hindu deities and there are quite a few pagan Buddhists - but I can't see how *all* faiths are compatible, simply because of the clash between dual and non-dual thought.
What I got from the Wiki page is not so much that omnism is a belief that all religions are mutually compatible - clearly they're not - but that all religions can contain some truth rather than one religion being all truth.
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Rhiannon

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Re: Omnism
« Reply #10 on: June 22, 2017, 04:34:53 PM »
It says it can be both, surely?
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Nearly Sane

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Re: Omnism
« Reply #11 on: June 22, 2017, 04:35:57 PM »
Quote from: Rhiannon on June 22, 2017, 04:34:53 PM
It says it can be both, surely?
Or, indeed, all?
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Robbie

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Re: Omnism
« Reply #12 on: June 22, 2017, 04:56:54 PM »
Quote from: Shaker on June 22, 2017, 12:57:28 PM
What I got from the Wiki page is not so much that omnism is a belief that all religions are mutually compatible - clearly they're not - but that all religions can contain some truth rather than one religion being all truth.
Yep agree with wiki on that.
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Rhiannon

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Re: Omnism
« Reply #13 on: June 22, 2017, 05:11:47 PM »
From the entry in the OP:

 "I am an omnist, and believe in all religions".

I can believe that all religions exist, but belief in all their teachings? Especially dual/non dual thought?

The meaning seems to have shifted, maybe to accommodate the New Age tendency to borrow all the nice bits from different religions and mash them into Stevia-sweetened power smoothie. Hence you get the likes of Wayne Dyer pronouncing on everything from the Tao to the Bagahvad Gita to St Francis of Assisi. The idea that all religion contains ideas and practices that can be helpful makes sense - Buddhist meditation, yoga, pacifism - but are those things actually truths?
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Walt Zingmatilder

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Re: Omnism
« Reply #14 on: June 22, 2017, 06:21:05 PM »
Quote from: Rhiannon on June 22, 2017, 05:11:47 PM
From the entry in the OP:

 "I am an omnist, and believe in all religions".

I can believe that all religions exist, but belief in all their teachings? Especially dual/non dual thought?

The meaning seems to have shifted, maybe to accommodate the New Age tendency to borrow all the nice bits from different religions and mash them into Stevia-sweetened power smoothie. Hence you get the likes of Wayne Dyer pronouncing on everything from the Tao to the Bagahvad Gita to St Francis of Assisi. The idea that all religion contains ideas and practices that can be helpful makes sense - Buddhist meditation, yoga, pacifism - but are those things actually truths?
I liked this post.

Spike Milligan declared himself a Catholic Buddhist. There are contemporary Christian theologians who would argue that religions have, in fact, different goals and could all thus be true. Knitter, I believe has proposed such a thesis.
« Last Edit: June 22, 2017, 06:35:45 PM by Emergence-The Musical »
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Sebastian Toe

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Re: Omnism
« Reply #15 on: June 22, 2017, 10:51:45 PM »
Quote from: Emergence-The Musical on June 22, 2017, 06:21:05 PM
Knitter, I believe has proposed such a thesis.
He was only spinning a yarn!
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Robbie

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Re: Omnism
« Reply #16 on: June 22, 2017, 10:55:35 PM »
RD Laing tried that but ended up in knots.
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ad_orientem

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Re: Omnism
« Reply #17 on: June 22, 2017, 11:08:14 PM »
That's because it's bollocks.
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Shaker

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Re: Omnism
« Reply #18 on: June 22, 2017, 11:20:48 PM »
Quote from: ad_orientem on June 22, 2017, 11:08:14 PM
That's because it's bollocks.
Thus spake the expert.
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Gonnagle

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Re: Omnism
« Reply #19 on: June 23, 2017, 09:58:37 AM »
dear Shaker,

Another badge I can wear :) Thank you ;)

And be careful who you whisper it to "The Turtle Moves" :-X

Gonnagle.
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DaveM

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Re: Omnism
« Reply #20 on: June 23, 2017, 04:41:00 PM »
Omnism?  Sounds like syncretism taken to its (il)logical conclusion.  Hmmm.  Maybe Solomon got it right after all (Proverbs 14:12 & 16:25).
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ippy

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Re: Omnism
« Reply #21 on: June 24, 2017, 04:31:46 PM »
Quote from: Sriram on June 22, 2017, 05:35:44 AM

Most Hindus are natural Omnists. They could easily walk into a church or mosque (if allowed) or gurudwara without any problem. All deities and all rituals and all prayers are a means to self development.


Wow, how useful.

ippy
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Humph Warden Bennett

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Re: Omnism
« Reply #22 on: June 25, 2017, 11:29:39 PM »
Quote from: ippy on June 24, 2017, 04:31:46 PM

Wow, how useful.

ippy

One for you, Hippy.

On Mani pad me Hum

Its OK don't mention it.
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trippymonkey

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Re: Omnism
« Reply #23 on: June 26, 2017, 07:53:29 AM »
I WILL mention this though... it's

OM MANE PADME OM
 
It means the Jewel In The Lotus Blossom.
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Gonnagle

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Re: Omnism
« Reply #24 on: June 26, 2017, 06:58:08 PM »
Dear Tripp,

As a natural Omnists ( the turtle moves, you will only get that if you are a Pratchett fan ) what does,
Quote
It means the Jewel In The Lotus Blossom.
actually mean.

Gonnagle.
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