Chapter 7 - The Meaning of the Supernatural

The supernatural, a term with connotations of ghosts, goblins, and inexplicable phenomena, has been relegated to the fringes of rational discourse. Often dismissed as the realm of superstition and fantasy, it has been stripped of its intellectual depth and philosophical significance.

I wish to argue for a reclamation of the supernatural, repositioning it as a concept of metaphysics rather than fantasy.

The popular conception of the supernatural is deeply flawed. It equates the extraordinary with the unexplainable, reducing a complex and nuanced concept to a mere repository for the inexplicable.

When understood correctly, the supernatural is not about ghosts or magic; it is about the nature of reality itself. It is about the questions that science cannot answer, the mysteries that lie beyond the reach of empirical investigation.

By reclaiming the supernatural from the clutches of superstition, we can open up new avenues of inquiry and foster a deeper understanding of ourselves and our place in the cosmos.

It is time to recognize that the supernatural is not a threat to reason but a catalyst for more profound thought and exploration.

The Death of Santa-God

The term "Santa-God" is a pejorative coined to describe a superficial or consumerist conception of divinity. It critiques a trend in contemporary society where religious thinking is often reduced to a simplistic, wish-fulfillment mentality akin to the expectations of a child awaiting presents on Christmas morning.

At its core, the Santa God concept implies a divine being who can be easily manipulated through prayer or good behavior. This divine being offers rewards in exchange for obedience—in other words, toys for good girls and boys.

This superficial view of divinity can lead to a distorted understanding of God as a means to an end rather than a source of ultimate meaning and purpose.

Friedrich Nietzsche's provocative proclamation, "God is dead," is often misinterpreted as a literal assertion of divine nonexistence. However, a closer examination reveals a more profound critique of a particular conception of divinity: the Santa-God.  

For Nietzsche, the "God" whose demise he laments is not the transcendent, metaphysical entity of theological discourse. Instead, he targets a domesticated, benevolent, reward-dispensing entity whose existence justifies a passive, obedient morality.

The New Atheists have been adept at exposing the logical inconsistencies and moral shortcomings of this particular model of deity.

By focusing on the Santa-God, the New Atheists have effectively undermined a superficial and often harmful form of religiosity.

Their criticisms of creationism, religious intolerance, and the use of faith to justify harmful practices are undeniably valid. However, their wholesale rejection of all forms of religious belief often obscures a more nuanced understanding of the human search for meaning and purpose.

Toward A Mature Understanding of the Supernatural

David Bentley Hart, an Orthodox Christian theologian and philosopher, offers an alternative to Santa God in his understanding of divinity and the supernatural.

His work challenges the entrenched dualisms that often characterize Christian thought, particularly the distinction between the natural and the supernatural.  

Hart proposes a monistic worldview, arguing that all reality is ultimately grounded in the divine. God, for him, is not a being external to the world but the very ground of being itself. This perspective is deeply influenced by Eastern Orthodox theology and metaphysics, which often emphasize the unity of all things in God.

In Hart's view, the supernatural is not a separate realm or order of existence but rather the intrinsic nature of all creation. Every creature, from the smallest atom to the human soul, participates in divine life.

This understanding rejects the idea of a distant and transcendent God imposing arbitrary laws on a created order. Instead, Hart envisions a God who is immanent in all things and actively involved in the unfolding of creation.

This monistic approach has significant implications for traditional Christian doctrines. For example, the incarnation of Christ is not seen as a miraculous intrusion of the divine into the human realm but rather as a revelation of God's essential humanity.

Similarly, grace is understood not as a supernatural gift bestowed upon undeserving creatures but as the natural unfolding of divine life within creation.

In "The Experience of God," David Bentley Hart presents a robust and unconventional understanding of the divine. He challenges both atheism's reductive materialism and the often anthropomorphic conceptions of God prevalent in many religious traditions.  

Hart posits God as the absolute ground of being, the transcendent source from which all existence emanates. This God is not a powerful being among others but the primordial reality, the ultimate explanation for the cosmos.

However, Hart avoids a purely abstract or impersonal conception of God. He insists that the divine is intimately connected to human experience, arguing that our capacity for love, beauty, and transcendence reflects the divine nature.

A central theme in Hart's work is the critique of the "God of the gaps," a conception of divinity often invoked to explain phenomena that science cannot yet account for. Instead, he proposes a God who is not merely a placeholder for human ignorance but the ultimate source of intelligibility itself. This God is the ground of both the natural and the supernatural, transcending yet immanent.

Maximus the Confessor - Logos & The Supernatural

Maximus the Confessor, a 7th-century monk and theologian, offers a profound and complex understanding of God as the Logos. His thought, deeply rooted in the Christian tradition, draws heavily on the philosophical insights of the Greek world.

For Maximus, the Logos is not merely a divine attribute or a created entity but rather the intrinsic and eternal mode of God’s being.

He posits that the Logos is all creation's principle or archetypal pattern. Every being, from the smallest particle to the most complex organism, participates in the divine Logos. This participation is not a static state but a dynamic process, continually outpouring divine energy into the world.

Crucially, Maximus avoids both pantheism and creationism. God is not identical to the world, nor is the world a mere puppet of divine manipulation.

Mordecai Kaplan - God as the Power of Salvation

Mordecai Kaplan, a prominent figure in Reconstructionist Judaism, offers a unique perspective on the divine. Rather than conceiving God as a personal deity, Kaplan views God as an inherent power, a force within and around humanity that enables salvation, meaning fulfillment, and wholeness.

For Kaplan, salvation is a dual concept encompassing individual and societal well-being. Personal salvation involves achieving a state of inner peace and fulfillment through the pursuit of meaningful ideals. This is accomplished by integrating one's beliefs, talents, and experiences into a coherent and purposeful life.

Social salvation, on the other hand, involves creating a just and equitable society in which all individuals can reach their full potential.

In this framework, God is not a personal, remote being but rather the power that makes salvation possible. This divine energy is inherent in the universe and works through human beings to create a more perfect world.

Kaplan's God is a force of creation, constantly shaping reality and enabling human progress.

Henri de Lubac

Henri de Lubac, a prominent 20th-century Jesuit theologian, profoundly reinterpreted the concept of the supernatural. His work, particularly Surnaturel, challenged prevailing theological understandings of the relationship between nature and grace.  

For de Lubac, the supernatural is not an entirely distinct realm from the natural but rather an elevation and fulfillment of it. He contested that a "pure nature" exists independently of divine grace. Instead, he argued that human nature, while bearing the imprint of God's creation, is oriented towards a supernatural destiny, a vocation to union with God.  

This understanding of the supernatural as an "elevation" is crucial. It signifies that grace does not simply "add on" to a pre-existing, self-sufficient nature but is an integral part of human existence. It is the fulfillment of our deepest longings and aspirations. De Lubac's concept of the supernatural is thus deeply rooted in the human condition, recognizing our innate desire for transcendence and our capacity for relationship with the divine.  

However, de Lubac avoided a reductionist view of the supernatural. While it elevates nature, it is also radically different. Grace is a gift from God, not something earned or merited. It is a new creation, a supernatural life infused within the human soul.

Teilhard de Chardin

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, another Jesuit and paleontologist, offered a unique synthesis of science and spirituality. His vision of the universe is a dynamic, evolving cosmos, culminating in the emergence of human consciousness and, ultimately, a divine Omega Point.

At the heart of his cosmic vision lies a distinctive understanding of the supernatural and divinity.

Teilhard rejected a static, transcendent God who stood outside of creation. Instead, he proposed a God immanent within the universe, a Divine Energy or Force actively involved in the evolutionary process.

This God is not a distant, otherworldly being but the inner soul of the cosmos. He termed this concept the "Christ within," suggesting that the divine is present in all things, from the smallest atom to the most complex human being.

The supernatural, for Teilhard, is not a realm separate from the natural but a higher dimension of it. It is the evolutionary thrust towards greater complexity, consciousness, and unity. The supernatural is not miraculous in the traditional sense of defying natural laws but is rather the ultimate fulfillment of these laws. It is the culmination of the universe's journey towards its Omega Point, a point of maximum consciousness and unity.

Teilhard's understanding of divinity is deeply intertwined with his concept of the Noosphere, the sphere of human thought and consciousness. He believed that humanity collectively evolves towards a higher consciousness, a planetary mind that will eventually converge with the divine.

The Omega Point is not merely a future event but a present reality, a focal point of cosmic energy that draws everything towards itself.

It is essential to note that Teilhard's ideas were met with significant controversy within the Catholic Church. His emphasis on evolution and immanence challenged traditional notions of creation and divine transcendence. While his ideas remain controversial, they continue to stimulate thought and debate about the nature of reality and our place within it.

The Supernatural as the Metaphysical

As the thinking of the above theologians indicates, the supernatural, often relegated to the realm of the superstitious, can be reinterpreted through a metaphysical lens as a series of assertions about the fundamental nature of reality.

At its core, the supernatural posits a dimension of existence that transcends the physical world, a realm of being not contingent upon material conditions. In this sense, the supernatural is a metaphysical claim about non-contingency.

The supernatural is not some realm beyond the natural order but the sustaining power infused throughout and under. The supernatural is not the home of ghosts and spirits. It is the arena of human meaning and purpose. It is the logos John speaks of in his prolegomena to his gospel.

As the principle of order and reason, the Logos implies an underlying intelligence or consciousness that shapes the universe. In this view, the supernatural is synonymous with the Logos, the divine mind that imparts meaning and structure to creation.

The supernatural is not merely an arbitrary force but a rational principle organizing the cosmos.

Furthermore, the supernatural can be seen as a metaphysical assertion about the ground of being. It posits a foundational reality that underlies all existence, a source from which everything emerges.

This ground of being is often described as infinite, eternal, and perfect, attributes that clearly transcend the physical world's limitations. In this context, the supernatural is not an addition to the natural order but its ultimate foundation, the uncaused cause of all that is.

By recasting the supernatural in these metaphysical terms, we shift the focus from the extraordinary and inexplicable to the fundamental questions about the nature of reality. In this shift, the supernatural becomes a subject of philosophical inquiry rather than a matter of unquestioning belief.

God as a Metaphor

A metaphor is a figure of speech that describes an object or action by referring to something else with which it shares specific characteristics, qualities, or attributes. Metaphors create vivid imagery, convey abstract ideas, and evoke emotional responses in language.

“Oran Mor" is a metaphor for an ultimate, transcendent reality believed to be the source of all existence and the ground of being. This metaphorical understanding of Oran Mor represents the divine presence and power that sustains and animates the universe, imbuing it with meaning, order, and purpose.

In terms of evolution, Oran Mor represents the creative power of evolution and casts it in a panentheist manner as the dynamic force that brings forth and sustains all existence. It is innovative, ordering energy that generates and animates the ongoing cosmic evolution and emergence process. It is the creative potential that unfolds through the unfolding of the universe.

A sense of Oran Mor as meaning involves understanding the concept of “Oran Mor" not as a literal entity or being but as a symbol or metaphor for the ultimate significance, purpose, and value inherent in human existence and the universe.

Oran Mor also serves as a unitive metaphor, representing the underlying unity and interconnectedness of all things. As a singular source and power, Oran Mor unites all creations in a cosmic web of relationships. It recognizes that all beings are interconnected and interdependent, sharing in the same unfolding, sacred reality.

In this perspective, “Oran Mor" represents the deep longing for meaning and transcendence that pervades human consciousness, shaping our understanding of reality and guiding our ethical and spiritual aspirations.

That Which Upholds All Things

Humans have long recognized the patterns of order within the world. Despite imperfections, reality is regular, a measure of harmony, and predictably predictable, enough for the ancients to speak of our world's nature as a cosmos instead of chaos—meaning an ordered world rather than a random, disordered one. Cosmos implies an interconnected system of cycles and rhythms, a dynamic harmony of changes that is not perfect but more or less ordered and balanced.

Further, the cosmos also implies a world of meaning, whereas chaos implies a nihilistic reality.

The ancients intuited the unity of the diverse world around them and attributed it to the divine. They also intuited nature's life-giving and creative orientation and attributed that force to the sacred.

Therefore, God served as the metaphor-symbol for the ongoing creativity in the universe – the life-giving, creative, ordering power within the emerging into being of all that is. God is a unified shorthand, a metaphor, for the totality of creative-ordering forces in the universe. God is the metaphor for those powers permeated throughout a unified reality.

Recent developments in cognitive neuroscience and linguistics have helped us see the crucial role metaphor plays in the mental inference that makes thinking and imagination possible. The common stereotype is that a metaphor is something imaginary and not actual. On one level, this may be true, but at the level of neuroscience and cognition, metaphor is literally everything. It is a basic working cognitive unit of our minds, and using metaphor, our concepts are formed and learned.

Retaining God as a metaphor aligns with the Western concept of monotheism, which is the apprehension of a unified transcendent value source. The creative mystery that some call God serves as a foundational symbol for our culture.

For many people, it functions as a primary focus for orientation to the sacred, creative principle driving the mystery of reality – that there is something and not nothing and that this something is orderly, interconnected, and produced conscious life that can ponder questions of meaning. Such notions underlie most mystical experiences.

The Celtic notion of Oran Mor rejects a dualistic separation between the natural and supernatural realms. Instead, it posits a unity between them, wherein the supernatural is immanent within the natural world while transcending it. This perspective allows for a holistic, unified understanding of reality where the contingent and noncontingent dimensions are interconnected and interdependent.

In terms of relationality, individuals can have a relationship with non-person entities or abstract concepts, such as a person having a relationship with their country, as in the case of an Irish person having a relationship with Ireland. This type of relationship is often called a "symbolic relationship" or an "emotional attachment."

There is a sense that ultimate concerns exist—concerns that seem rightly grounded in a reality transcendent to human whim. Such analysis offers the divine as the symbol metaphor for ultimate values and meaning in all their dimensions. It connotes that such should exercise a claim on our loyalty. It bespeaks a sense of how we should order our priorities and commitments. It posits a divine dimension to teleonomy.

Ultimately, a religion based on Oran Mor would strive to awaken individuals to their inherent connection to the divine and the interconnectedness of all existence. It would foster a deep reverence for the universe, encourage a harmonious way of living, and inspire individuals to contribute to the ongoing "song" of creation in their unique ways.

At the still point of the turning world. Neither flesh nor fleshless; neither from nor towards; at the still point, there the dance is, but neither arrest nor movement. And do not call it fixity, where past and future are gathered—neither movement from nor towards, neither ascent nor decline. There would be no dance except for the still point, and there is only the dance.

– T.S. Eliot

The Divine energy at work in the world is like a wave of the sea which, rushing up on the flat beach, runs out, even thinner and more transparent, and does not return to its source but sinks into the sand and disappears.

– Origen

God is not a supernatural entity among other entities. Instead, God is the inexhaustible ground that empowers the existence of beings. 

To paraphrase St. Maximus the Confessor, a great Eastern father – God is truly none of the things that exist and is, properly speaking, all things and, simultaneously, beyond them. God is present in the logos of each thing itself and all the logos together, according to which all things exist. God is whole in all things commonly, and in each being particularly, without separation or being subject to division, and on the contrary, is truly all things in all, never going out of its indivisible simplicity.

God is the eternal, unifying, creative, sustaining reality behind and beneath the world. This underlying reality is logos, best interpreted as meaning. Further, while anthropomorphizing is dangerous, at best, it does indeed seem that this reality, perhaps not personal in any sense we humans can grasp, is relational.