Issue 13 Autumn 2004
Religion as
Therapy
F reud considered religion a “universal obsessional neurosis,”
with close similarities between ritual and compulsive
behaviors such as repeated cleansing. There are also echoes
between some beliefs of some traditional religions and some
kinds of paranoid, grandiose or wish-fulfilling delusions.
However, dismissing religion as a kind of collective insanity
cannot explain its perennial appeal. It may be more helpful to
regard it as a type of psychotherapy and sometimes physical
therapy too. Religions satisfy a range of deep needs, and that is
what explains their hold. In most Western societies today people
choose a religion - or choose to remain with their religion of
upbringing - because it satisfies enough of those needs to make it
worth while buying into the rest of the package. Indeed many
people, leaving one religion, promptly go looking for another.
The need may be simply for a community that is mutually
supportive. It may be for a solution to the existential anxiety of
finding ourselves alone in the face of a mysterious Universe.
Often we may need help with fears or stresses or moods where
conventional medicine or psychiatry has no answer.
Many religions offer something very similar to therapy, and
some of these elements come without great psychological cost. In
shamanism, and in most forms of theism, the priest acts as a
counsellor at times of overwhelming stress or grief. The
meditation techniques of Yoga, Zen or Transcendental Meditation
aim to empty the mind, or to focus it on the simplest of objects or
operations, temporarily freeing it from obsessive troubles.
Meditation works, and can be used independently of any
particular belief system.
Another valuable resource is what one might call Acceptance.
Judaism, Christianity and Islam all urge people to accept the
“will of God.” After natural disasters, serious accidents, or the
death of loved ones, resignation to what has happened is a less
stressful response than denial or anger. Of course, the theist
approach leaves people with the troubling question of how a
good and loving God could afflict innocent people without any
Features Regulars
Nature Medicine Shared Journeys
Therapy & beliefs Almanac & Calendar
Spiritual Sanity News
Personal therapies
WPM at UU General Assembly
What Pantheism means for me Googling the WPM
Editor: Paul Harrison Managing Editor: Rene Lawrence
good reason. So theist acceptance does involve an element of
cognitive dissonance or denial.
Some religion therapies come along with serious costs. Belief
in heaven offers some relief from the fear of death that affects us
all so deeply, and it may soften the trauma we experience when a
loved one dies. But it gives relief at the price of accepting a
fantasy that can seriously distract us from enjoying the only life
we will ever get. In some cases that fantasy can act as an
incentive to suicide bombings.
In the Roman Catholic church, confessional echoes the
Freudian couch (or is it vice-versa?). Confessing one’s “sins” to
the priest and receiving absolution is similar to uncovering the
suppressed roots of one’s neuroses to the analyst, and finding
release from them. But it comes at the price of subjection to the
priest’s mind and behavior control.
“Born again” conversions provide something like cognitive
therapy, which allows people to “reframe” negative feelings and
self-concepts in a positive way. In the midst of unhappiness and
failure, the believer pulls herself together, reprograms herself,
develops a new conception of herself and her potential, and
changes her own life. The threat of damnation and the promise of
salvation provide a dramatic incentive to change, but once again
it’s done at the price of accepting a negative view of humans as
born sinners, doomed unless they accept salvation.
Religions also offer techniques that modern medicine and
psychiatry have not really caught on to yet. Prayer for mental or
physical wellness, for example, awakens the mind’s ability to
heal itself and the body. The only time this is consciously
reckoned with in modern medicine is during drug trials, when a
control group gets only an inactive pill. These placebos can
produce “cures” in 30-40% of cases, when compared to no
treatment at all.
Some doctors use the placebo effect informally, especially in
cases where they think the ailment is psychosomatic or even
imaginary. If a thought brought the ailment on, a different
thought can drive it away. But there is no systematic use of
placebos in modern medicine, and there couldn’t be - as soon as
the practice was uncovered it would stop working, and would
give rise to lawsuits.
The placebo effect relies on an untruth: it depends on the
Printing: Blessed Bee & First Image
1
Pan Magazine Autumn 2004
patient believing that they are being given
a genuine medicine. Yet paradoxically, it is
also a truth, since placebos can be as
effective as some real drugs. Placebos are
genuine medicines, of a kind.
Prayer is a psychological placebo: an
appeal for cure to an imaginary being.
When prayer works, and when it’s not due
to coincidence, then it’s almost certainly
due to the placebo effect.
One reason why atheism and humanism
are not, in themselves, sufficient is that
they do not offer the kinds of therapies
we’ve been talking about. So can
pantheism fill the gaps? Can we offer
helpful approaches to psychological
problems, without recourse to fantasy or
mind control? Can we use these approaches
while keeping our feet firmly in reality
- perhaps even enhancing our ability to
appreciate real life in the real world?
The counselling function of religious
“specialists” can be served by many
types of people. For most people friends
serve this purpose. The specialist can
offer bonuses such as confidentiality and
impartiality, though without the kind of
partisan sympathy that a friend provides.
Pantheist celebrants could do the same.
Small encounter-type groups can serve
the confession/absolution function. These
are spreading rapidly with the Unitarian
Universalist movement. Typically five to
fifteen people take turns to make personal
statements about their life, their problems
and their joys. It’s conventional not to
offer to “fix” other people’s problems or
psyches - a “lsitening” approach that is
similar to some contemporary forms of
psychotherapy.
There is nothing especially religious
about these measures: they could be
secular, neighborhood-based, job-based.
Many people pay for them in the form of
professional therapy. However, a religious
community does offer a very safe, and
in the case of Pantheism or Unitarian
Universalism, non-judgemental context in
which to operate.
Although meditation techniques were
most evolved in the Eastern religions,
they are resources available to everyone,
regardless of their beliefs. For pantheists
meditation may take the form of emptying
the mind, or focussing on simple activities
like breathing, drinking or running, or
focussing close-up on simple facets of
nature such as clouds and moving water.
Acceptance is available to pantheists,
too, and perhaps more fully than with
2
theistic religions. We accept that the
Universe is what it is, and that it does what
it does without malice. We know we are
part of the game and that the game is a
risky contact sport. We accept that disease,
earthquakes, volcanoes, hurricanes,
tornadoes and so on are a part of the
Water: Freeing the future
natural order. So if any of these events hit Water was the element from which I first
us we don’t start getting angry at a personal learned pantheism, on a wooded path by
deity. We can cultivate acceptance more Windermere in England’s Lake District.
whole-heartedly, with fewer doubts. The day was sunny but windy, and
We have our own approach to dealing through the trees I could see the choppy
with death anxiety. Death was not waters on the lake reflecting the light in
introduced as an extraordinary collective bright glints that danced exuberantly. I
have always been entranced by this fire
punishment for Adam and Eve’s mistakes.
dance for its vigor and unpredictability - I
Death is not a cog in some some disturbing
imagine it is like the dance that proceeds
engine of “salvation history,” it too is a part invisibly at quantum level. Water in its
of the natural order. Most Pantheists have a many moods can be used in therapy, to
desire for some form of persistence after induce calm and reflection, or dynamic
death, but they locate this in the memory of motion and change.
those who survive them, in the
consequences of their actions, in the genes
of their children and relatives, and in the
re-absorption of their elements into nature.
The placebo effect is perhaps toughest
for us to elicit. Because naturalistic
Pantheists are often empirical and
scientific-minded, most of them would
never place faith in magical methods. And Clouds: Releasing Pain
yet we know that the placebo effect works At troubled times I would sometimes
- it’s not fantasy, it’s real. Can we get it lie on my back in a meadow or forest
working for us, as pantheists? Can we learn clearing. It worked best on a humid
to use the mind part of our bodies to heal summer’s day with rapidly changing
itself and other parts of our bodies? white wispy cumulus. I would watch how
We could call on the whole Universe or tiny clouds formed out of nothing, and
grew and developed, as moisture rose up
Nature to heal us, but most of us probably
from the ground and met the dew point.
wouldn’t believe it could hear us. Here’s a
I would choose a cloud and imagine that
possible approach. I sometimes think about my pain was emerging from me, like
Einstein’s formula e=mc2, as applied to the water vapor, rising up into the cloud,
human body. The mass of each of our building into its formation. As the cloud
bodies, if converted with 100% efficiency, rode on its way, I would imagine that it
enfolds an amount of energy equivalent to was carrying my pain away with it.
1650 hurricanes, or one volcanic eruption
comparable to Krakatoa, the biggest in
recent times. We can’t of course explode
ourselves, but can we visualize summoning
just a small part of that energy positively,
to heal ourselves? Would we need to
believe that it would work, scientifically, in
order for it to work physically? Why
shouldn’t we believe it would work, since Fire: Harnessing energy
the Placebo Effect does work? If we Fire is even more fluid than water. It is
carried this thought around with us in our beautiful and destructive and sometimes,
daily lives, could it help us to be more in volcanoes, creative too. It speaks of
energetic, more alive, more capable? the immense energy that lies at the root
The special articles in this issue explore of all things, an energy that each one
of us has inside us and that we can tap
other pantheist approaches to therapy. As
into. It is useful for inducing active drive,
always, signed pieces represent personal
acceptance of change, and contact with
viewpoints and are copyright of the the underlying energy of the universe .
authors.
 Pan Magazine Autumn 2004

Nature is
by Paul Harrison
the Best Medicine
One of my fond dreams is to develop a therapy system based totally on nature and reality. It would stress full
acceptance of reality. Griefs would never be denied but fully expressed and worked through. It would stress
human freedom to reprogram our brains, to refuse to be confined by old channels of thought or action, to
choose new directions. Independence and self-transformation would be fostered, not dependency or therapist-
imposed solutions. I’m still working on the details.
One feature I apply to myself, during times of severe stress, is to use natural aspects of human life to alter
mood and focus, such as exercise to release endorphins, slow breathing to induce calm., massage for relaxation
into the body, or animal friends for unconditional acceptance. Another is the use of natural objects and
settings - trees, clouds, water, fire - as a guide for meditation, reflection, learning and self-transformation.

Trees: Strength and flexibility at dusk: they just stood there, persisting, like a line of quiet wait-
ing watchers, having stood through many nights and winds and
Trees can be wonderful therapists that cooperate with you to frosts and storms.
develop strength and flexibility. The more mature trees have The last tree on the western end of the grove was a beech with
survived the worst that Nature has hurled at them. They have a hollow about three feet from the ground. She was large enough
achieved this partly through the strength of their trunks, but for people to climb in and shelter, and many did so. I have seen
partly also through the flexibility of limbs bending gracefully to people having champagne parties and picnics inside, I have seen
let gales pass. many lovers, and many many children. One day I found a little
In my walks on Hampstead Heath in London various trees tiny embroidered flowered dress with a note pinned to it: it was
helped during difficult times. There was one ancient sweet chest- from a young girl offering a gift to the elves who, she imagined,
nut tree I called “The Ancestor.” I guess she was three hundred lived there. One autumn equinox we tried to cram as many peo-
years old or more. I looked to her for wisdom in longevity, and ple in as we could, and got six inside.
endurance through severe hardship. Her circumference was thirty This tree I called “The Mother.” Her hollow was like a womb,
feet or more, her bark dark and striated. She had several missing and there was a distinctly vagina-like opening on one side.
limbs, torn off in storms or fallen through their own weight, and During hard times I would sit inside this tree and admire the
at the base was a huge cavity where fires had been lit at times. Yet polished grain which flowed and curved in waves and swirls,
she was still prolific and protective. Her upper limbs extended smoothed by the many people who had sat there.. There was a
sixty feet above. Squirrels rustled high up in the canopy, while wonderful healing feeling that nature was holding you to her, and
debris from their nibblings would trickle down in a slow rain of would always be there to do so.
hulls. In late summer her trunk was surrounded by prickly green
fruits, in autumn by layers of
discarded lance-shaped leaves.
One copper beech stood on
the brink of a slope, his curl-
ing roots protruding from the
ground like enormous octopus
arms. He was very tall with a
trunk as straight as a telegraph
pole. This tree I called “The Fa-
ther.” He was a wonderful role
model, as a father at his best
might be to a small boy. A sym-
bol of gentle but almost invul-
nerable strength, he nourishing-
ly sustained dozens of branches
forking into thousands of stems
and myriad leaves.
Close by was a
place I called “The
Grove”, a row of
beeches and wayfar-
ing trees and English
oak, most leaning
slightly southwards
towards the sun. They
were close together, so
their higher branches
spread into each other.
Their presence was
particularly powerul
3
Pan Magazine Autumn 2004
Towards a Reality-based Psychotherapy
C lients (or patients) who are pantheists may benefit
from psychotherapy to help them deal with life’s
vicissitudes, reduce or manage symptoms of anxiety
or depression, understand themselves better, change
dysfunctional behavior, and improve the quality of their
relationships. And they may wish to be treated by a
therapist who is either a pantheist, or at least aware of
pantheist values.
If the therapist is a pantheist, it is likely that their
pantheism will subtly, or not so subtly, influence what
they emphasize in a therapeutic relationship.
In particular certain pantheist values will come into play
and may facilitate the therapy. Let us look at the the
Belief Statement of the World Pantheist Movement to
see how this belief system might influence a pantheist
therapist’s approach.
1. We revere and celebrate the Universe as the
totality of being, past, present and future. It is
self-organizing, ever-evolving and inexhaustibly
diverse. Its overwhelming power, beauty and
fundamental mystery compel the deepest human
reverence and wonder.
The therapist might stress that there is much beyond
the individual client’s control. After all, he cannot control
the universe, just some of his actions, choices, and
social interactions. Striving to reconcile the client to this
basic fact, while pointing out that the world is a place of
overwhelming beauty, and wonder, and helping the client
reawaken his sense of wonder and appreciation, may play
a role in the healing process.
2. All matter, energy, and life are an interconnected
unity of which we are an inseparable part. We
rejoice in our existence and seek to participate
ever more deeply in this unity through knowledge,
celebration, meditation, empathy, love, ethical
action and art.
Pointing out to the isolated patient that he/she is not
nearly so isolated, and indeed in fact cannot possibly be
completely isolated, may at times be helpful. Striving to
reawaken a sense of connectedness through actions such
as getting the client to become involved in volunteer
work, calling old friends, reestablishing ties with
estranged relatives, and for some clients getting a pet,
may play a big role in therapy. Meditation has much to
contribute to the therapy of anxiety disorders, depression,
and impulse problems. There are particularly pantheistic
4
By Walt Mandell
forms of meditation such as
walking meditations and sensory
awareness meditations that can
be done while in a natural setting.
For some clients, group therapy
can increase ability to empathize.
Activism - ‘ethical action’ in
support of social justice, equal
rights, or environmental causes
- can be deeply satisfying for
many, and help provide a sense
of meaning and life purpose.
Encouraging clients to try their
hand at various arts is life changing for some clients.
3. We are an integral part of Nature, which we
should cherish, revere and preserve in all its
magnificent beauty and diversity. We should
strive to live in harmony with Nature locally and
globally. We acknowledge the inherent value of all
life, human and non-human, and strive to treat all
living beings with compassion and respect.
A goal of therapy is harmony. Harmony with oneself,
ones family, ones peers, and the natural world. Respect
for self depends on respect for life. A pantheist therapist
might pay particular attention to the patients ‘biophilia’
- need to live in a more or less natural setting, with plants
and animals around.
4. All humans are equal centers of awareness of the
Universe and nature, and all deserve a life of equal
dignity and mutual respect. To this end we support
and work towards freedom, democracy, justice, and
nondiscrimination, and a world community based
on peace, sustainable ways of life, full respect for
human rights and an end to poverty.
The therapist would be interested in the client’s values,
would treat the client with respect and dignity, and would
be concerned with the social issues confronting the
patient. This is especially important when dealing with
the handicapped, the aged, the poor, and members of
minority groups facing discrimination.
5. There is a single kind of substance, energy/
matter, which is vibrant and infinitely creative in
all its forms. Body and mind are indivisibly united.
The therapist would take a holistic approach, not
regarding the patient’s psyche as separate from the

patient’s body. Issues of health would be investigated as
well as medical conditions impinging on emotional state;
e.g., endocrine problems, poor diet, chronic pain, sleep
disorders etc. would be looked for, and the patient/client
referred to appropriate specialists to deal with these.
6. We see death as the return to nature of
our elements, and the end of our existence as
individuals. The forms of “afterlife” available to
humans are natural ones, in the natural world.
Our actions, our ideas and memories of us live on,
according to what we do in our lives. Our genes live
on in our families, and our elements are endlessly
recycled in nature.
Any therapist will at times deal with clients who are
grieving, or dying. Investigating the client’s beliefs and
fears regarding an afterlife will undoubtedly play an
important role. Where appropriate, the therapist may
point out to the patient that in some ways the dead live on
in their genes, the lasting impact of their actions, and the
memories others have of them.
7. We honor reality, and keep our minds open to
the evidence of the senses and of science’s unending
quest for deeper understanding. These are our best
means of coming to know the Universe, and on them
we base our aesthetic and religious feelings about
reality.
Therapy must be reality based, and open to scientific
evidence of what works and what does not. The therapist
will strive for both rational understanding and empathy
in dealing with the client, and will encourage the client
to strive for rational understanding of their problems,
options, and abilities, and will seek to improve the
patients ability to be empathetic.
8. Every individual has direct access through
perception, emotion and meditation to ultimate
reality, which is the Universe and Nature. There is
no need for mediation by priests, gurus or revealed
scriptures.
The therapist will not hold himself up as guru, will
not accept anyone’s theory as holy writ, will not seek to
become a cult figure, but will instead help the client to
take responsibility for their own lives, honor their own
perception, tune into their own emotions, and where
appropriate will teach the client how to meditate.
Walt is a retired psychiatrist.
Pan Magazine Autumn 2004
I have been taking myself too seriously, and once
again my body knows this before my mind.
My lower back is tight, my head aches more than it
doesn’t, and if I turn my head just so and life my left
arm, it gets stuck - this from driving too long, too
frequently, in the stressful dark rush hour.
Earlier this week I lay awake in bed, blinking at
the ceiling, and wishing, wishing…for what? Once
again my attempt to find spiritual companionship in
a pagan circle has failed - the circle has decided it
wants to be Wiccan, and to revere a goddess and a
god. I just can’t do this, and yet I yearn for the kind
of comfort that comes with the interaction of like
minds. I am tossing and turning now, as much to
nudge Shane, my partner, awake, as to release my
anxiety and
trouble.
Shane makes a Just a Hint
sound and I take
this as a sign that of Happiness
he is available
for conversation. Julie Beman
“I’m troubled,” I
say, “Tell me once again about your faith.” Shane is
Roman Catholic. Not the churchish, moralish kind,
but the kind that comes from being steeped in a cul-
ture of it while growing up. I too was raised in it,
forced to it, by a desperate, unhappy mother. Even
now it has a grasp on me, propelling me to the edge
of feeling that there is a conscious, benevolent pres-
ence that creates us, guides us, punishes us, takes
our side. But there isn’t. I know this as well as I
know that I won’t fly off of the planet if I jump high
enough. Yet it troubles me, nibbles me, paws at me
like my pup - I’m here, I’m here, I’m here.
This spiritual sadness lingers for a few days, and
I half-heartedly search for solace. Shane brings
me Emerson to read. I pick it up and put it down.
Too many words. I want a connection. I want a
voice. I want to feel comfort, an embrace, a flash of
understanding. Why can’t I cry out these words to a
god who will hear them? Why can’t I find peace, or
some kind of faith?
It is time to take my pup for a walk. His name is
Murphy and he’s a challenge. Shane and I rescued
him from the Hartford Pound nine months ago and
he has yet to learn that his jaw is very strong and
that it doesn’t feel good when he nips me, even
though for him it is only play. I sigh deeply, resigned
to my responsibility to this creature whom I invited
5
Pan Magazine Autumn 2004
to live with us, rather than leave him to a certain death.
I clip his lead onto his collar and step outside into a
brilliant November day. The sky is blue, the sun is
burning white, and the autumn leaves are whirling in
a dance with the wind. Murphy and I set off down the
street. He turns the corner toward the park.
Murphy finds a stick. A stick! My heart lifts a bit
as I realize it is perfect for playing. It’s as long as my
arm, with just enough weight to fly far when thrown.
Murphy drops this stick as he finds another. Before
long we find four perfect sticks and I am throwing
them, one after another, inscribing a large circle in an
empty softball field. Murphy and I run to each stick as
it lands. He picks it up and drops it, looks at me with
his tongue hanging out and his body concentrated for
his next mad gallop. We play at this for a long time,
until Murphy collapses on the grass and rolls over,
inviting me to scratch his belly. The wind picks up
and yellow leaves swirl around us. It feels like we are
in one of those souvenir snow globes that someone
has just shaken wildly. We are at the very center of a
vortex of leaves. Me and Murphy, at the center. I start
to feel a little better.
The Road to Self-Acceptance
I was first diagnosed with schizophrenia in 1965 at
age 20. Since that time I have been hospitalized briefly
numerous times for psychotic episodes. For many years
I resisted the diagnosis and often neglected to take my
medication, usually resulting in hospitalization. It was
only about 20 years ago that I finally acknowledged
my illness and accepted the need to take medication
on a regular basis. Since that time, I have only been
hospitalized a couple of times, for very brief periods,
and not at all for the last 10 years or so.
We have a vast amount of knowledge of mental
illness, but relatively little about wellness. This is where
pantheism comes in. I had consciously been a pantheist
since high school biology class, my favorite subject.
Then in college, first at UC Santa Barbara, where I
again studied biology, and later at UC Berkeley, where
I briefly majored in philosophy and read Spinoza, my
pantheism was confirmed.
My first psychotic episode occurred in Santa Barbara
after I returned from my junior year in France. It was
partly a quasi-religious experience: I imagined that I
was a special incarnation of divine wisdom, rather like
an Indian Avatar. It was not until many years later
that I read about Indian religion and philosophy and
recognized many of the ideas that I was flirting with
6
On the walk home, we both step ankle-deep into a
pool of mud camouflaged under a pile of leaves. Water
seeps into my runners and I’m afraid if I pull my foot
out, the shoe will stay behind. Murphy is delighted.
He sticks his nose under the leaves and shnuffles
along. When he lifts up his head, his nose is covered
with mud. When he’s done with his mud, we continue
home, stopping to stand on top of each boulder that
marks the path in the park.
Once home I wash two Granny Smith apples, one
for me and one for Murphy. We bite into our apples at
the same time. They are crisp and sour. Murphy licks
the juice that wells up on the green skin. He bats the
apple around with his paws. I decide to write, and go
to the computer. Murphy follows with his apple and
lays down at my feet. Now he is sleeping in a puddle
of sunlight, a half-eaten apple on the floor near his
belly.
Brown dog. Green apples. Yellow leaves. Boulders.
Blue sky. Four perfect sticks. Wind. Bright white
sunshine. Emerson doesn’t sound too bad now, and
perhaps I feel a hint of happiness.
by Dave Kiebert
during that first psychotic episode.
My present belief system is a kind of mystical,
spiritual pantheism. The mysticism consists of the
identification of the individual self with the cosmos
- oneness with the universe, so to speak. The spiritual
aspect derives from my adaption of some of the
idealism of Plato into a materialistic worldview. I
don’t consider matter itself to be mundane or easily
understood. Matter is mysterious!! From the ghostlike
neutrinos to the wave/particle duality of electrons,
matter is bizarre and fantastic. I consider science a very
spiritual (read “imaginative”) activity.
Pantheism has been therapeutic for me because
it has led me to appreciate the natural world and to
understand my own place in it. As Max Ehrmann’s
Desiderata states, “You are a child of the universe, no
less than the trees and the stars, you have a right to be
here, and whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt
the universe is unfolding as it should.” Pantheism has
helped me to accept myself, mental illness and all, as
a legitimate part of nature. I feel a kinship with plants
and all other animals, based on our common DNA.
And the WPM has given me what the Buddhists call a
“Sangha,” or spiritual community in which to enjoy the
fellowship of other pantheists.

Spiritual Sanity
In the traditional pantheist worldview, why should
humans need therapy? Given the profound order, beauty,
and mathematical precision of the universe, why wouldn’t
optimal mental health unfold as naturally as the seed
becomes the rose? Or a disturbed mind heal as swiftly and
amazingly as the body closes a flesh wound? How could
anything as devastatingly wrong as mental disorder even
emerge?
Idealism aside however, there’s a clinical bible of sorts
entitled the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental
Disorders, detailing many dreadful things that can go
wrong with a human mind. All these human disorders
have something to do with human emotion - when sadness,
fear, or anger builds depression, paranoia, rage; and envy,
pride, or greed become pathological.
Although quick to declare what goes wrong, the
psychiatrist rarely tells us what goes right with the human
being - how optimal mental or spiritual order naturally
unfolds. Many shrinks are catching a new wave called
Positive Psychology where the long ignored good feelings
are being rediscovered as wellsprings of physical, mental,
social, and spiritual flourishing.
So is emotion good stuff or bad stuff? Does it help or
hinder one’s mental health? What greater role does it play
in the functioning of the human being? The newest sciences
provide intriguing links between good and bad feelings
and right states of self-organizing balance. Although in the
strictly Darwinian view, living things passively undergo
natural selection and activities beyond self-replication are
meaningless, the new perspective suggests that choice-
making behavior has played a key role in evolution from
very early on. Even the simplest living systems can sense
the electrochemical ebb and flow of their environment,
and use this crude sentience to behave in ways that
actively enhance their evolutionary fitness. This gives rise
to a universal approach/avoid pattern of self-regulated
behavior, observable from the single-celled amoeba right
up to the human being. In other words, natural selection
relies upon ancient electrochemical mechanisms that
animate the body while sparking, guiding and expanding
any emerging mind - uniting and regulating all parts
within the unified self-organizing expansive whole we call
the Universe.
Emotion is our ancient sensory link to this vital self-
organizing life force, offering the animation and guidance
long thought to spring from supernatural sources. It is
our perceptual window onto matter in motion, delivering
the core “feeling of what is happening” as our body
automatically restores its optimal self-balance in response
to electrochemical change. Feelings are elaborate partners
of our immune system, informing the emerging mind
how to right the system so that it can join in the adaptive
game. In a nutshell, emotion is how we and other “higher”
Pan Magazine Autumn 2004
By Katherine Peil
animals participate in
natural selection! But
the catch is that without
alignment with its
emotional guidance from
very early on, a mind has
little chance to blossom,
or even to play, since it
is sidelined each time it
misses its cue.
My view is that most
mental disorder springs
from a fundamental lack
of emotional and spiritual
development. The optimal
human blueprint is already
written within our genetic
code, and the wisdom it represents is accessible through
our emotional sense. Just like sounds, colors, and smells,
our spectrum of feeling tones offers precise guidance to
find and stay upon the right track. All we have to do is
honor the optimal responses which are spelled out within
the many unique tones of the emotional pallet.
There are three levels of self-regulatory information
encoded within each feeling - one for the whole self
(the pleasure/pain hedonic code), one for the body (the
primary emotions: joy, sadness, disgust, anger, fear), and
one for mind (their complex blends and shades: trust,
mistrust, gratitude, resentment, envy, admiration, love and
hate). They reflect three levels of emotional processing and
their corresponding degree of behavioral control, which in
turn relate to three major layers of the brain (the reptilian
stem, the mammalian midbrain, and the primate prefrontal
cortex). This neural design produces three optimal levels of
spiritual consciousness along the path of self development
- Survival, Being, and Transcendent. There is a fourth level
- a maladaptive, imbalanced, and self-destructive condition
that I call spiritual insanity.
Traditional religions have fostered this insanity. They miss
the core meaning within our emotional messages. They
even negate, blame, and revile Nature’s own spiritual
messenger, telling us to suppress our “sinful” feelings and
actions. This can never work, because the self-system uses
the frequency and intensity of unanswered pain to measure
the mind’s adaptive success and trigger the removal of pain
from the control loop. Religious self-deception negates the
subjective “truth” and objective “reality” of our feelings
and generates new levels of suffering.
Perhaps even worse, instead of using the simple bottom-
up wisdom of our emotional sense to guide our personal
thoughts and actions, we use expressions of our own
negative feelings to gain manipulative control over each
other, to enforce our many convoluted, conflicting and
7
Pan Magazine Autumn 2004
often unsound cultural rules. The complex negative
emotions such as shame, hate, terror, despair, greed, rage,
envy, paranoia, guilt, resentment, or contempt have come
to dominate our minds. Yet they need never have done
so if we had discovered the spiritual sense long ago. They
are the flip side of the complex positive emotions such as
trust, courage, gratitude, admiration, love, compassion that
reflect a life on the right track.
To help promote spiritual sanity I have developed a ten-
step therapeutic system (see box) that is educational,
preventative, and self-corrective rather than reactive,
victim-driven, or dependency-creating. It fosters awareness
of our emotional sense. It aims to reduce the suppression
and misuse of negative emotion, and to enhance the entire
sphere of positive feelings, motives, and potentials. It helps
us to outgrow our unconscious dependence on the body’s
punitive stick of pain, and allows us to be pulled forward
by the carrot of complex joyous pleasures.
The system is not only therapeutic but also opens up
new realms of consciousness and levels of bliss. When
we are attuned to the emotional sense, life becomes a
delightfully new and wonderful game. There is peaceful
coexistence between the positive and the negative, between
individuality and unity, competition and cooperation, free
Ten Steps to Emotional and Spiritual Sanity
1. Awaken to the emotional sense as a tool of self-regulation.
Replace avoidance and suppression with curiosity and reverence
for every feeling. Build body awareness and contemplative
self-reflection into everyday experience. Honor the body with
optimal care, nutrition and activity for peak functioning.
2. Recognize and align with the ongoing trial and error
feedback cycle. All feelings signal moments of imbalance -
dissonance between expectations and outcomes. Bad feelings
are error messages, signalling the need for correction, while
good feelings signal opportunities for adaptive growth.
3. Recognize how feelings, motives, and behavioral
corrections relate to four levels of consciousness: Survival;
Being; Transcendence and Insanity. The more complex,
frequent, and intense the negative emotion, the less the
conscious mind is involved, and the more unconscious “fight
and flight” drivers will prevail.
4. Recognize pleasure and pain as signals of positive stress
and distress, linked to environmental opportunities and dangers.
Recognize how the common behavior pattern of approach and
avoidance embodies nature’s simple rules: the imperatives of
self-development and self-preservation. Reduce the mental
beliefs and physical conditions that produce pain and increase
the conditions that produce complex pleasures.
5. Develop emotional literacy. Recognize the difference
between compulsive desire and complex pleasures which pull
toward future development. Craving and aversion are often
rooted in past pain.
8
will and self-organizing predestiny.
We can enthusiastically greet each event that arrives at
our door as a treasured clue to the unfolding mystery,
and as direct feedback about the soundness of our mental
and cultural landscape. As we take each step in self-
transformation, we build ever broader self-concepts,
expand our boundaries of empathy, and widen our
adaptive niche. Basic pains will always punctuate our
lives to keep things real, but the predominant mode can
become one of meaningful happiness, freedom, cooperative
empowerment, connection, and creative contribution - the
full bloom of human being.
Clearly there is much work to do to reclaim our
birthright of spiritual sanity, but it will not occur through
religious indoctrination, nor by divine, governmental,
genetic, or pharmaceutical intervention. It will be through
the efforts of each individual to honor the self-regulatory
function of the emotional system and to design mindful
thoughts, actions and cultural enhancements that align
with nature’s grand flow.
Katherine directs EFS International in Kirkland, Washington and
crusades for the recognition of the role of emotion in evolution and
spirituality. www.emotionalfeedback.com
6. Add “Right” responses to the Fight and Flight repertoire,
with optimal responses that change and develop the mind and
the world. Aim for a 4:1 ratio between mindful growth and
bodily defence, by removing the faulty beliefs that trigger
the complex pains. Fight only when anger and disgust
are signalled, and even then only through co-operative
communication and negotiation. Take flight from toxic
relationships if sadness or fear persist. Learning and forgiveness
can then convert pain to compassion - or even mirth.
7. Recognize and disengage from the “Wrong” responses
rooted in suppression, self-deception, and negative emotional
dynamics. These include infatuations, compulsions, superiority,
rationalization, judgment, delusion, making excuses, lying,
aggression, blame, resentment, and revenge.
8. Cultivate a Perspective of “Personal Accountability.”
No matter who else may have played a role, all feelings are
messages delivering information from the self, to the self,
about the self. There’s no need for shame or blame - just
accept personal responsibility to respond correctively to every
emotional event.
9. Cultivate the “We” Perspective. Develop the optimal
balance between self and others, I and Thou. Give “We” it
priority over “Me only, Me first.” Expand the boundaries of the
self toward equality, empathy and unity, so as to build public
trust and social justice.
10. Cultivate the Big Picture. Think, plan, and act locally and
globally. Creatively embrace all realms of time, space, and self.
Cassini-Huygens arrives Pan Magazine Autumn 2004

at Saturn

S aturn is a gas giant, the only known planet that is

less dense than water. It has a stormy atmosphere,
with winds of 1,118 miles per hour near its equator.
The rings are believed to be made of billions of pieces
of ice and rock in all sizes up to boulders as big as
houses - fragments of comets, asteroids or moons
that broke up before they reached the planet. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a co-operative project of NASA’s Jet
Propulsion Laboratory, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. Launched in October 1997, the
spacecraft reached the Saturn region in July 2004. The Cassini orbiter will orbit Saturn and its moons for four years,
while the Huygens probe will land on the moon Titan, analyzing its atmosphere and surface. The big image above
was taken at 5.3 million miles from Saturn, the insets from 5.1 million miles (left) and 6.4 millions miles (right).
Keep up with the mission at http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/

9
Pan Magazine Autumn 2004
Journeys Shared
N ature has always been my first love as far back in my
life as I can remember. In the last seven years or so,
I have put myself in quiet natural places to take refuge
and enjoy the beauty and serenity found in nature. Sadly,
because those around me don’t feel as I do about nature, it
has been largely a solitary and at times, lonely activity. As
an exercise in observation and focus, and as an attempt to
preserve those beautiful inspiring images to be enjoyed at
a later date, I took up nature photography as a hobby. I see
nature as the original art, and art as we humans have come
to think of it, as man’s attempt to copy nature. Kim: The
sun light filtering through the leaves is my stained glass, a
rock outcroping from which I can observe a breath taking
view, is my altar, and water rippling in brooks or falling
as rain, the wind in the pines, and of course a cooperative
choir of birds, all sing appropriate hymns to me
In these last few years I have discovered that I do have a
sense of spirituality, and it comes straight from the same
source, as that which gave me such joy as a child. My
walks in Nature, the woods or along a deserted winter
beach, have now taken on a wonderful new meaning.
Nature IS my spiritual home. Ron Goldie, New Jersey
In a world where
bigots of conventional
theism, from the
hills of Afghanistan
to the corridors of
Washington, threaten
the very existence
of humanity there
is an urgent need to
promote Pantheism.
Pantheism is without
doubt the religion of
the future and indeed
the religion of the
present as I believe
that it is the way that
the majority of the
world’s moderate and
peace loving peoples
think but are unable
to affiliate to given it’s
lack of prominence. The promotion of unity with the one
God that we are all a part of, materially and spiritually, is
I believe the route to our salvation and perhaps the most
important cause of our generation.
Russell Razzaque, London, UK
I enjoy being a part of the natural world. I am fascinated by
it. I find that Atheism comes up cold and has “in your face”
connections. I need some way of feeling part of something
universal without being obligated to believe in some
10
When people join the WPM they get the
opportunity to say a few words about
their panheist beliefs. The offerings are
often inspiring. Photos by Ron Goldie
personal deity. I want the numinous without the “God
garbage.” Lowry Sandifer, Washington State.
I believe in the divinity of the universe, magnificent in its
complexity and mystery. Planet Earth, one of its children,
must be revered and protected. Through organizations
like WPM, likeminded people can collectively share ideas,
educate others, and be at the vanguard of progressive
changes that will help our beautiful and fragile planet.
Sylvia Suarez, Oklahoma
I outgrew
bible stories
about the
same time I
realized that
Grimm’s
Fairy Tales
were also just
make believe
stories. Some
people seem
to feel the
presence
of a God in a church, but I never felt the presence of
anything but other people in a church. The myth about
an all powerful god watching over his children has never
made sense to me. I’ve spent most of my adult life seeking
solitude in the natural world, being and feeling a part of
nature. When I’m alone in the forest, I am one with nature
and am at peace with myself and the natural world around
me. This is the only time I can feel the presence of a “god”.
Nature, with all it wonder, is sacred to me; it’s divine.
Norma Jones, Wrightwood, California
I believe that all life is sacred and that the Universe,
Infinity, Energy and Mass are orchestrated chaos. I revel in
the understanding that human beings have evolved to the
point of being able to acknowledge this fantastic Cosmos.
Our planet is a jewel that is the product of these forces, and
it saddens me that a vast percentage of the population are
blinded by superstition, bias, and intolerance which has led
to unneeded death of millions of people.
I hike 3 miles a day every day in the woods and every
day my beliefs get stronger. My home is a carbon sink: no
poisons, a sanctuary for any life that wanders in, a green
space, a safe place. I have accidentally found this site and it
too feels like a safe place.
Keith Kinder, Knob Noster, Missouri
I am looking for a highly authentic paradigm into which I
could expand my humanistic/scientific belief system. Also,
to be involved in a movement that is indirectly or directly
supported by Einstein, Wilson, Sagan, Dawkins, Spinoza,

Hawking, etc., and meshes with reputable perspectives
like Native American beliefs, Taoism, and atheism is very
moving. Jason Merchey, San Diego, California
I am a Pan-
theist be-
cause I can’t
believe in the
traditional
concept of
God or the
simplistic
dichotomy of
damnation
and salva-
tion, and yet
I feel the need
for spiritual experience. For years I sat in Quaker meetings
and never felt any kind of religious experience, but as soon
as I step outside and look at a magnificent sunset, a spread-
ing oak tree, or a shooting star, I’m filled with the awe that
more traditionally religious people feel for their gods. I
don’t need any anthropomorphic transcendent god; the
Universe is powerful and amazing and beautiful all on its
own.
Julia Morgan, Washington D.C.
To look further than the Universe for answers is to take for
granted the beautiful, complex, mysterious, and engaging
world we live in. Michelle Danner, Tempe, Arizona
I began reading the Tao Te Ching as a youth and it strongly
influenced my thinking. I’ve always loved nature and
communing with animals. I’ve never felt comfortable in
churches or saying “God” or “Jesus”. I believe I belong
to the world, not some far off heaven. I want to teach my
daughter reverence for the universe without lying to her or
making her lie to herself. I need a spiritual home where I
can say these things without scaring people!
Stacy Doney, Amherst, New York
I believe that “God” and the universe are identical, and the
only reason I use two words is to acknowledge my belief
in the existence of a spiritual dimension to the universe
orthogonal to the normal dimensions of space and time.
Frank Benford, Salem, Oregon
I was in search of a religion that I could call my own. I
was raised from two Mormon parents who rejected their
religion at a young age. They decided to not raise me with
any church in my life. Now that I am 17, I am searching for
my future in the world. Pantheists are here with open arms
trying to better the world, why wouldn’t I want to be right
beside them? Jason Bischoff, Bountiful, Utah
The infinite mystery and eloquence contained in a dew-
soaked oak leaf requires no words and connects with
deeper things in me than any book full of words.
Kevin Brooks, Muncie, Indiana
Pan Magazine Autumn 2004
From the earliest age it became apparent to me that all
creation is One. As I grew and studied and experienced
various religions, theologies and philosophies, that sense
of oneness was reinforced. I have experienced what
DeChardin called the view from Point Omega, where you
see and feel the unity of the universe. I have felt it in the
love of another and in the miracle of the natural world and
the realms of art. The trick, it seems to me, to leading the
life I desire to lead, is to keep that unity in front of me at all
times, in times of trial as well as times of celebration. My
neighbor, my enemy, this side of the world and the other,
are all a part of me and I of them and we, together are the
universe. Hate, bigotry, and all the deadly divices which
keep us apart are erased if one can remember and love.
Nancy Reuscher, Sausalito, California
When I read through your principles, I cried with joy. I
believe in the divinity and unity of all life. By life I mean
everything that is, was and will be. For everything that I
have ever sensed is alive, whether it be a granite boulder,
a burbling brook, a whisper of wind, a towering tree, a
human sculpture, or the electric calm before a storm. Tears
of joy, compassion and love have streamed down my face
when the boundaries of self have melted away to leave
me open and connected to our incredible universe, our
astounding reality, our home for eternity.
Menzie McEachern, Tokyo, Japan
I am a Pantheist.
Never thought I
was, but I am. I cry
when leaves wilt
off trees due to the
heat and pollution
in the air in the
summertime. I do
not like to walk
on grass because I
feel I am bothering
the insects that lie
beneath its blades
and am disturb-
ing its symmetry.
I sometimes look
at the morning
sun breaking into
the sky and cry at
its beauty and yet
at the same time I
lament the loss of a good full view, view lost due to pollu-
tion. I can walk for miles and never look down, enamoured
as I am of the sky and trees in the musty vistas of Tennes-
see.
I feel as though I fly above nature for I am scared
to disturb it any. Like a water lily. A water lily never fully
lies upon the surface of a lake, it hovers above it on a cloud
of mist the lake has designed for it to rest upon. I am the
water lily and the world of nature is my lake.
Mary Kline
11
Pan Magazine Autumn 2004

Nancy Reuscher asked people on the

Community list to say what it meant
Living within each day
in their lives to be a Pantheist:
Eljay Love-Jensen answered:
I would like to hear from some of you
about what the implications of being a
Pantheist ought, should, might be. We
B eing a Pan means that I am conscientiously aware of the beauty
and majesty around me, and within me. That I am, indeed, part of
everything-that-exists. I am a minuscule, perhaps infinitesimal part of
all come from different backgrounds,
everything. But I am part of everything intrinsically and integrally.
but what does it mean to our behaviors,
Being a Pan means that I hesitate before becoming angry, and try to
to be a Pan?
look at the bigger picture. Being a Pan means that I have no invisible
Obviously we think that there is a
means of support. Being a Pan means that I do not indulge myself with
oneness to the universe, but how should
comforting fantasy -- such as clinging to the belief of an afterlife as a
that translate into our lives? I know
response to my survival instincts.
that no one wants proscribed behaviors,
As such, I value the ephemeral life I have more so, and I value
but surely, if this is to mean anything
the lives of those around, both human and non-human. Being a Pan
to me, then my Truths, my Values,
means that I realize that -- in the greater scheme of things -- I am no
my Ethics and my Behaviors must be
more important than a robin, an elephant, a firefly, or a bacterium. I am
consistent?
important to me, to my family, to my friends, to my co-workers, and to
Do we agree that fighting oppression
many others whose lives I’ve touched. I try to make my life a “value-
should be a cause? Should we fight to
add” for my family, my community, my society and humanity.
give children the very best chance in
Being a Pan means that I an sceptical of extraordinary claims. I take
life? What will I teach my children?
a cautious view of claims that appear to be supernatural, pseudo-science,
Can I tell them that to be a pantheist
rumour, hearsay, imaginary, or misattributed. I am less gullible and less
means to revere all other religions?
credulous. Being a Pan means that I readily
May I tell them that they must fight
engage in conversation about Pantheism; but “Being a Pan
against hate and bigotry? Should they means that I have
I do not coerce, cajole, or pressure to convert
support equality for everyone? How no invisible means
anyone else to Pantheism. I think the merits
about same-sex marriages? of support.”
of Pantheism stand on their own, and do not
What do I say to them about the
need pontificating to propagate.
beliefs for which they are willing to
Being a Pan means that I do not believe
die? If an evil like the Nazis should
that the universe has a purpose or meaning. I am free to figure out my
arise, should they fight or go hug a
own purpose and meaning in life. Being a Pan means that the universe
tree? Are we proponents of Gandhi
neither loves me, nor hates me; it is not testing me, nor out to get me.
style response, or Thoreau’s civil
The cosmos is without volition, will, intent, sentience or sapience. No
disobedience? Should we buy “green”
“big brother” anthropomorphic / personified supreme being watching
cars? Should we help Habitat for
over my shoulder.
Humanity build houses? Should we give
Being a Pan has brought me peace, tranquility, serenity, equilibrium
10% of our income to the poor and the
and equanimity. That reflects in my life and behavior. Being a Pan in the
sick?
WPM community has brought me like-minded individuals with which to
share our beliefs; and the community acts as a sounding board by which
I can bounce my ideas (good or bad) -- weed out the harebrained and
keep the commendable. Being a Pan means that my “worship” consists
of getting up, getting ready, meeting the challenges of the day, and then
getting a good night sleep. I’m in “church” every minute of every day of
every year.
Do we agree that fighting oppression should be a cause? “Should”?
No. But each of us is free to take up that cause. It’s a laudable cause.
Should we fight to give children the very best chance in life? “Should”?
12

No. But each of us is free to take up that cause. It’s a
laudable cause.
Can I tell my children that to be a pantheist
means to revere all other religions? I’m not telling
my children that. I don’t see how that is entailed
by Pantheism. There are some other religions
that I find have merit, but I find that a majority of
them encourage damaged critical thinking, wishful
thinking, magical thinking. I find those religions to be
despicable, reprehensible, and irresponsible.
What do I say to them about the beliefs for which
they are willing to die? I’m going to say, “It’s better
to have a belief that you are willing to live for.”
If I am a Pan, what will I teach my children? I’m
teaching my children to be Pantheists. As per the
WPM Belief Statement. I’m also teaching them about
the other 12 large world religions.
Pan Magazine Autumn 2004
Sharon Dobrovic answered:
T o me, and I truly do speak only for myself here,
pantheism has meant living in turmoil for the
past 1-1/2 years since I discovered this group and
other information about pantheism. Pantheism means
rethinking my belief system of forty-plus years, letting
go of old ideas that promised false hope and false
security in a world that doesn’t exist. It means letting
go of words that had become commonplace to me and
learning new ones, letting go of “God” and that “God
is all good.”
It means being confused about how to celebrate
holidays with my family. It means not fitting in with
a lot of the people in my community. It means finding
new meanings in old rituals so I can still share with
the people important in my life. It means creating new
rituals.
Mule deer in the Santa Monica Mountains Photo Paul Harrison
13
Pan Magazine Autumn 2004
It means truly living each day one at a time, because
now is all there is, and being more aware of the decisions
and choices I make through the day, because I realize that
my choices can affect other people, animals, the planet,
the universe. There is no savior to wash away “sins” or
make it right in another life. Thus, it means living a more
thoughtful life. I won’t always make the best decisions
or the “right” ones but I will think more about them, and
some of them will become my new commonplace.
It means respecting other people’s rights to be here even
if I think they are making a mess of their lives. It means
letting them make their own choices, some of which are
unpopular or destructive, and speaking up when I feel it’s
appropriate. It means standing up for human rights and
hating certain behaviors even while I try to put myself in
the place of other people and understand better why they
act as they do.
Being a pantheist doesn’t mean I love nature more. I
loved nature before. I was always most at home and most
deeply moved sitting by a river, canoeing on a quiet lake,
hiking in the woods, or sitting on the porch looking at the
mountains. Looking up at a winter sky full of stars filled
me with awe then and still does. I appreciate it more now.
I realize how right it all is and how I’m part of it, as is
every part of creation. It means knowing that when I die I
am still part of it just in a different way.
It means living my life with integrity and in a way
that will be remembered for positive contributions to
my community or whatever part of the planet I come in
contact with rather than for destruction. It means letting
go of the importance of my individual personality in
the big scheme of things and realizing I live on through
my children (and possibly my children’s children)
genetically, through the things I have taught them and
how they act in the world, through my own actions and
effects on people I meet, and through memories others
have of my life.
As far as social issues, I have my chosen ones to take
up a cause for (gay rights and gay marriage, separation
of church and state, antiracism, animal rights). I don’t
personally think there should be global WPM shoulds and
oughts as far as particular causes to follow. I think people
will take up causes that touch them in some particular
way. Those social issues were important to me before
pantheism and still are just as important to me.
Finally, pantheism means being me, living my life
authentically and not letting other people determine how
I think or feel or act. It means expressing the source or
nature or creation as the unique me, here and now.
14
NEWS OF WORLD PANTHEISM
Shermer backs WPM
Dr Michael Shermer
agreed in September
to become an honorary
advisor to the WPM.
Michael is editor of
Skeptic magazine, and
author of several books
promoting a naturalistic,
scientific outlook, such as
Why People Believe Weird
Things; and The Science
of Good and Evil. He also
writes a monthly column
for Scientific American.
Paul Harrison wrote to Michael after seeing him in
the PBS show The Question of God, in which he said:
My philosophy is that all phenomena have natural explana-
tions. There is no supernatural, there’s just the natural and
stuff we can’t yet explain. For me, the scientific worldview
generates the feeling of transcendence. Carl Sagan gave the
feeling of the pure, emotional awe and wonder and joy at
the miracle of life, and the Cosmos is so big and vast. And it
certainly generates in me a feeling of spirituality. I feel like
a spiritual person, without a belief in God.
Michael wrote back saying he would be honored.
He offered a link to our “wonderful web page” and
this additional quote:
If this is all there is, then every moment, every relationship,
and every person counts, and counts more if there is no
tomorrow than if there is, for it elevates all of us to a higher
plane of humanity and humility that we are in this limited
time and space together, a momentary proscenium in the
drama of the cosmos.
Meetup numbers surge
In July we started promoting Pantheist.Meetup. Meet-
up is the Internet networking outfit that facilitates
local face-to-face meetings between people of shared
interests. When we got involved Pantheist Meetup
had just 60 members. We promoted it on our front
page and the scipan site, and the numbers rose to 500
by end September. Our growth rate was fastest of all
religious groups at 35% a month - alas the second fast-
est were the Satanists!
However, numbers are only the first step - getting to
meet is next. Meetup used to allow meetings only if
three or more people voted for a venue. Now they are
shifting to a system where each locality has an organ-
izer who decides. We need people to volunteer to
organize in each locality. Please volunteer if Meetup
emails asking you to do so.
Sign up at http://pantheist.meetup.com/
 Pan Magazine Autumn 2004

WPM at the UU
General Assembly
Between June 24 and 28, World
Pantheism had an exhibition stall at
the Unitarian Universalist General
Assembly in Long Beach, California.
Besides volunteers from the Los
Angeles and Ventura pantheist group,
we were joined by Tony van der Mude
from New Jersey, Richard Hervey
from Oregon, Andrew Millard from
Connecticut and Dick Gray from
Arizona. On Saturday night we were
joined by World Pantheist friends
from San Diego for a dinner at the
Island Sunfish Grill by the harbor.
Our stall was one of the most at-
tractive. We had wallposters of the
Universe, the Sun, volcanoes, nature,
along with Max Ehrmann’s Desiderata
and Susan Kennedy’s How to be an
Artist to which we added the words Sheila Rosenthal and Andrew Millard joke with a visitor to the stall.
“and a Pantheist.” You can see most of
the posters at http://www.nature-art. you are a Pantheist and don’t know World Pantheism and Unitarian Uni-
org/posters.htm. We had a display it?” which stopped a lot of passers-by, versalism. It was clear that creating
of World Pantheism style books on most of whom came out positive. pantheist groups within UU churches
nature, science, and human rights We had hundreds of visitors over would be good for both. We opened
(raided from Paul Harrison’s library). the five days of the conference. It got up our email list for World Pantheist
We had our colored leaflets and visit- extremely hectic during the coffee Unitarian Universalists to all comers,
ing cards, a complete file of Pan back and meal breaks between Unitarian and its membership quickly rose from
numbers, a stack of Elements of Panthe- Universalist sessions, but in between 35 to 52. A trifold leaflet on the con-
ism. We made a few adjustments as there were long periods of calm. Many nection between Unitarian Universal-
we went along: at first sign it seemed of the visitors were UU ministers. We ism and pantheism was also prepared.
we were a book and poster stall, so we made very useful contacts with mem- You can print it out from the Web at:
had to make clear they were for dis- bers of UU churches in the Los Ange-
play only and jazz ourselves up with les basin, but also some valuable http://www.pantheism.net/
extras. We added a quiz “Maybe insights into the compatibility of uu/wpmuu.pdf

Google Adwords treble visits to World Pantheism

scattershot approach of conventional advertizing.
By the beginning of September, our ads had been
displayed over 3 million times, and 13,000 extra people had
visited our site. The cost of 1000 impressions (showings
of an ad) was only 21 cents. The average cost per click
In mid-July World Pantheism started advertizing with was only 5 cents. Our best click-through rates were for
Google Adwords, resulting in a sustained trebling of paganism- and atheism-related searches (1.7% and 1.2%
daily visits to our site. Google Adwords are probably the respectively.) We also did quite well for Humanism (1.1%)
cheapest and best targeted advertizing approach available and Unitarian Universalism (1%). Even for people who do
anywhere. Google displays our ads whenever Internet not click through to the site, the ad spreads knowledge of
users enter a range of search words and combinations that World Pantheism and what pantheism means.
we specify.
The display of the ads costs nothing: we pay only for Paganism minus Positive atheism? Joyful Humanism
the number of times people click through on our ads, Magic Satisfying emotional Pantheism adds
Revere and save needs without celebration of
which leads them directly to our site. This guarantees that Nature without supernatural Universe,
the ad expenditure is very precisely channelled towards supernaturalism fantasies Nature, Life
people who have a real potential interest, as opposed to the www.pantheism.net www.pantheism.net www.pantheism.net

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Pan Magazine Autumn 2004

Membership: Join or Renew

The World Pantheist Movement depends on the generous sup-
port of its members to sustain, improve and expand its activities
and services. If you would like to join or renew by check in US
$, please fill in the form below and mail check and form to us.
Otherwise please renew at http://members.pantheism.net/im-
dms/ or join at http://www.pantheism.net/join.htm
Please tick as applicable if this is an address change and if you
wish us to correct the database entry for you.

Name
Address 1
Address 2
City
State etc
Zip code
Country
New? Yes No

Photo: NASA Change it? Yes I’ll do it

Eye to eye Membership level:
In September the Hubble released a spectacular new image of the Basic ($30) Family ($60) Low Income ($12)
Cat’s Eye Nebula in Dorado, 3,000 lights years away. Each circle
is the edge of a spherical bubble of material ejected by the central Other amount
star in its dying phases.
It had been proposed that maintenance on the Hubble should be Please mail this form with your check (US $ only) to:
shelved, leading to a slow decline. NASA has now approved a World Pantheist Movement
robotic servicing mission which should keep it working till its P.O. Box 103, Webster, NY 14580, USA
successor, the James Webb Space Telescope, is launched.

Calendar & Almanac

Almanac
Special Equinoxes
events & Solstices
October November Winter solstice
1 International Day 1 All Souls/Day of the Dead December 21 12:42
of Older Persons 16 International Day for Spring equinox
2 Birth of Gandhi Tolerance March 20 12:33
[non-violence] 21 World Television Day Geminid meteorite peak
4 Birth of Francis of Assisi [Switch it Off] December 10
[love of animals] 24 Spinoza born [1632]
10 World Mental Health Day 30 John Toland born [1670]
16 World Food Day
17 International Day for the December
1 World AIDS Day
Full Moons
Eradication of Poverty
24 United Nations Day 2 International Day for the September 28 13 09
31 Samhain /Hallowe’en Abolition of Slavery October 28 03 07
3 International Day of November 26 20 07
Disabled Persons December 26 15 06
10 Human Rights Day
25 Birth of Isaac Newton [1642]
29 International Day for All times Universal time =
Biological Diversity Greenwich Mean Time

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