There is an intimate connection between Pantheism andhuman aesthetics. Our sense of nature’s overwhelmingbeauty, and the variety, complexity and interwovenness of thatbeauty is perhaps what gives us the deepest feeling of awe andwonder at the universe.

The sight of setting suns and cloud-wreathed mountainsmay be what inspires most humans who follow even theisticdeities to believe in the power and wisdom of their gods. Yettheism also contains within its theology a diversion ofattention and feeling away from nature itself, to the supposedinvisible creator who lies behind it. Pantheists are more likelyto marvel at nature as its own collective creation, more likelyto focus intensely on what they see and sense for its own sake,rather than as a reflection of something beyond it.

Naturalistic pantheists with a scientific bent may wonderhow such a powerful feeling of affinity can arise within them.

For me, it is a feeling of identity, based on natural butwonderful causes. First of these is that we evolved withinnature and we have an inborn tendency to love thematrix from which we emerged. This is whatAmerican naturalist E. O. Wilsoncalls “biophilia,” which he definesas “the innately emotional affiliationof human beings to other livingorganisms.” This feeling gave us anevolutionary advantage in the past,and helps to motivate us to defendnature today. It helps to explain our

love of animals and landscapes, and our desire to surroundourselves with pets and houseplants and gardens.

But our aesthetic fascination with nature goes deeper thanthis. It extends into the basic forms found in nature: spirals,radials, spheres, honeycombs, crackings, branchings, stripes,waves and turbulent flows. We find these forms repeated inmany different animate and inanimate fields, and fractally atmany different levels: branching in arteries, trees, rivers andlightning; turbulence in clouds and liquids; cracking in skinand clay and bark; radial forms in sea creatures and stars;spirals in shells and galaxies and whirlpools. This fascinationwith form could also have a partly evolutionary explanation:our tendency to recognize and love of these patterns woulddrive us to reproduce them, and give us an impetus to tool-making and art.

There is also an even more abstract level of fascination,related to mathematics. Our attraction to relationships basedon the golden ratio 1 : 1.618 (see page 3) is one example.

Others are our fascination with musical harmonies, whichhave been known since the time of Pythagoras to be

connected with simple mathematical ratios.

What are we to make of theseenigmatic numerical relationships?

Platonists and other theists mightargue that these numbers, like othersthat show up in maths and nature, areideas in the mind of God, which Godused when designing nature. Our soulshave access to these numbers on thespiritual plane, and so find them

attractive.

Naturalistically-inclined folk wouldsee things very differently. Both nature and the

human brain are constructed of physical entitiesand energy flows, and these combine and relate in

certain mathematical relationships according to the

THE QUARTERLYMAGAZINE OF THE

WORLD PANTHEISTMOVEMENT pan

ISSUE NUMBER 9 • AUTUMN 2002

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WPM art and photography galleries: http://community.webshots.com/album/39622611gbwMMH

Editorial: Paul Harrison Design and UK production: First Image US printing and distribution: Blessed Bee Inc.

Pantheist art:the primacy of nature

“From my earliest youth I have beenspellbound by the formal beauty ofliving things. Nature creates in herwomb an inexhaustible wealth ofwondrous forms, whose beauty and varietyoutreach by far all human-created art.”Ernst Haeckel, Art Forms in Nature

properties of energy and matter. The fact

that we construct mathematics and that

maths corresponds to nature - the fact

that we find certain mathematical ratios

in nature pleasing - these wonders are

not an expression of our unity as spirits

with an invisible spirit being. They are an

expression of our unity and community

with the natural world. They are not a

sign of our character as primarily

spiritual entities, but as physical beings

comfortably seated in a physical world.

Art as a form of sciencePantheists have a special fondness for

nature’s own creations, and for artists

who deal with nature's beauty. Many

artists have been primarily concerned

with nature. The stress on nature in

Chinese and Japanese art reflects the

centrality of nature in Taoist and Zen

thought. In the case of Western nature

artists we can’t conclude from a focus on

nature that they were pantheists -

though we can conclude that nature was

central to their thinking and activity.Whether we know what their religiousbeliefs were, or not, there are somenature artists like John Constable,Claude Monet, Georgia O’Keefe or AndyGoldsworthy where one feels at least apantheistic feeling towards nature. Theirwork reveals a deep obsession withnature, a consistent programme ofinvestigation of nature, pursued withcommitment and dedication.

Can there be an explicitly pantheistform of visual art? What would be thecharacter of a pantheist artist? There'sno question of orthodoxy here - althoughmost artists adopt one or other dominantapproach from their times, all artists areindividualists. It’s a question more of thesource of inspiration and the focus ofattention. For the pantheist artist natureis central. Art can never rival nature.Evolution - the continual refinement ofliving and non-living forms in interactionwith each other - produces endlessvariations and marvels, from the tinyarchitectural shells of radiolaria anddiatoms and the microscopic sculpturesof pollen, to the eyes painted on a malepeacock’s ostentatious tail.

Pantheist artists produce reflectionsof nature, meditations on nature,variations on nature. At their very best, ifthey have instinctive access, they canbecome a byway of evolution, a creator ofnew forms that spring from the samefountains of creativity that engendernatural forms.

Nature for the pantheist artist is notsimply nature in the sentimental senseof cute animals and lovely landscapes: itis nature in all its self-created diversity,including nature's raw materials andfavoured forms, and the mathematicalprinciples behind them.

For the pantheist, art is another formof exploration and discovery of nature, insome ways similar to science. It may be adiscovery of nature as normallyperceived, in terms of trees or tigers orbirdwing butterflies. This level may bewhere photography or representationalart focus. Nature photography allowsnature to paint its own portrait. Thephotographer merely selects which partof nature to present to the viewer. He orshe may also choose to simplify nature,

Nature finds as artAs the dadaist Marcel Duchamp oncedeclared “Art is whatever the artist saysis art.” Duchamp went out andpurchased a white porcelain urinal,signed it R. Mutt, and transformed itinto art, thus proving his thesis.

Art schools, galleries and criticshave taken Duchamp's view fully onboard. The artist Piero Manzoni tookthe principle to the extreme in 1961,when he had several tins of his ownexcrement canned. Labelling them“Artist's Shit” he sold them by weightfor the market price of gold on the dayof the sale.

We can’t all expect critical acclaimfor our plumbing supply purchases,excrement or soiled underwear. Implicitin Duchamp's quote is the priorquestion: who is an artist? In practicethe definition applied is: “An artist iswhoever is considered an artist bygalleries and critics.” The primary taskof the would-be successful artist is

therefore to break through torecognition by galleries and critics.Once this has been achieved, anythingthe artist claims to be art and wishes toexhibit or sell may receive seriousattention and earn a high price.

It should be possible for pantheistartists to turn this to advantage oncethey have got past the gatekeepers ofthe art bazaar. They can roam beachesand forests and deserts, picking upshells, fossils, wave-beaten roots. Theycan exhibit these as their own “work”simply because they selected them,gain attention for nature’s originality,and help to guide art into morewholesome channels.

Every one of us can “create” suchnature art for our own home galleries,for ourselves and friends to admire.Most pantheists and other naturelovers have displays of found andpurchased items like pebbles, crystalsor tree seeds.

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Artist's Shit (Piero Manzoni); Pebbles (© Paul Harrison)

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during the processing or exposure, byincreasing contrast, suppressing detail,focussing on outlines or dominantpatterns. Representational art may dothe same, and involves perhaps evencloser attention to detail, since theartist’s pencil or brush strokes have toreproduce the thrust of nature’s growthpatterns, sometimes in the finest detailof twigs, leaves, limbs or textures.

Pantheist art may be an explorationof the constituent forms of nature thatwe often miss - the tree’s bark, thetiger’s markings, the birdwing’siridescent patches. Often a photographor painting that shows the part ratherthan the whole can sharpen and renewour perception. It may be a patient andsystematic exploration of nature’smaterials such as clay or marble or the

melted sand that is glass. Ceramics and

sculpture often involve the investigation

of natural materials and how they behave

under human manipulation.

Or it may be an exploration that goes

back to the mathematical formulae or

creative principles that underlie natural

forms, using them to create new

phenomena, never seen before, yet in

the spirit of nature.

Art as pantheist practicePantheism can be expressed not just

through the subject or materials or

shapes of art, but even through the

simple act of doing art. Here it’s

important to remember that every one of

us can be an artist, at least for ourselves

and for our families and friends, if not

professionally for a wider market.

Every one of us can use art as a partof our pantheist practice. Art is a way offocussing our attention very closely onnature’s fine detail, on the properties ofmaterials and surfaces, on our own skillsand physical limitations in interactionwith the materials we use.

Art can also be subtle evangelism: away of communicating to others thebeauty of nature, along with ways ofseeing nature afresh, free of the blur ofaccepted concepts and stereotypes.

Finally art can be homage to nature,a way of expressing one’s deep gratitudeto nature, of cementing one's connectionto nature, and enshrining it in semi-permanent form.

Paul Harrison

One of the most fascinating illustrationsof the link between the mind and thephysical world - between humanaesthetics and mathematics on the onehand, and nature on the other - is the“golden ratio” of 1 : 1.618. The number1.618 is known as Phi.

This number was known to theancients, not of course in decimal form,but as half the square root of five, plus ahalf. The Parthenon, noted for the beauty of its proportions, is1.618 times as wide as it is tall on its frontal elevation. Itsside elevation is root five times longer than it is tall.

Geometrically, the golden ratio can be obtained bydividing a line into two parts, in such a way that the shorterpart is to the longer, as the longer is to the whole: in bothcases this ratio is one to Phi.

Mathematically, Phi has almost magical properties, all ofwhich follow logically from the geometrical premise: -

• Phi plus one, or 2.618, is the same as Phi squared.

• Phi minus one, or 0.618, is the same as one divided by Phi.

This smaller number 0.618 is known as phi. Small phialso has strange properties:

• Small phi plus its square, 0.382, add up to one.

• One divided by small phi equals big Phi.

• Small phi divided by big Phi equals the square root ofsmall phi.

• Big Phi divided by small phi equals big Phi squared

It’s fun to play around with these circular relationships

and discoveries. But these ratios andnumbers are not just mathematicalgames: they show up in nature too.

The 13th century mathematicianLeonardo of Pisa (filius bonacci or son ofthe Bonacci) pondered how a single pairof rabbits might increase in the courseof a year. He assumed that each pairproduced one new pair per month, andthat rabbits became fertile at age two

months. He thus came upon the Fibonacci sequence whichbears his nickname. Each successive number in thissequence is the sum of the previous two: so, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8,13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144 and so on. As the numbers grow, theratio of each number to its predecessor gets closer and closerto big Phi - and the ratio to its successor gets closer to smallphi.

Fibonacci manifests itself in the growth of plants. Manyplants tend to have numbers of petals that correspond toFibonacci numbers. Michaelmas daisies, for example, have 55and 89 petals. Some large seed heads have Fibonaccinumbers of spirals. On many plants leaves tend to grow in away that allows most light through to the leaves below, andthis results in growth at the rate of 0.618 leaves per turnaround the stem.

The Fibonacci ratios also show up in the WPM’s symbol,the Nautilus shell. Any point on the Nautilus growth spiral isPhi times further from the centre than the point directlybelow it - so a full turn is needed before Phi is reached. Incertain shells with looser spirals, Phi is reached after only aquarter turn.

Magic numbers in maths and art

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Photography as MeditationI am not a photographer. I am a

meditator. My intent when I take a

photograph is not to record an image,

but a portrait. I have always loved

Annie Liebowitz’s work. I admire the

way she captures what people are

about, not just their image. She once

did a portrait of soccer star Pelle. The

entire image is of his feet. How else do

you photograph a man famous for

using his feet?

She makes portraits. I try to do the

same. I simply make portraits of

natural places and landscapes. Why

nature? I think perhaps it is simply a

matter of sharing. Like some born

again zealot, I head out into the woods

and find “God” there, and I want

everyone else to see. I suppose deep

down there is the hope that if I can

show the divinity in a tree by a stream,

the viewer can trace that divinity back

to nature on their own.

I wander about until I find an

interesting place, and then I give it my

full attention. Tracing each individual

line in the mind’s eye, studying each

shadow, watching the play of light

becomes a sort of mantra. You begin to

place importance on things that you

might not have noticed otherwise.

Sometimes what can be seen with a

casual glance, and what can be felt

about a place is very different.

Sometimes the best illustration of miles

of canyon is only a rock in the middle

of it. Sometimes the best view of an

entire forest is found in one tree. At the

risk of slipping into animism, you find

the spirit of the place. That is the end

goal. An image that gives a feeling of

the area, not a view of it.

If you look at one of my photos, and

you find some of that awe you might

feel gazing at the night sky, or

pondering trees that live longer than

nations, then it achieved my goal. But is

it art? Is it beautiful? Is the Milky Way

art? Is a cheetah's stride? Are the finest

sculptures made by hands, or wind

and water? Perhaps all that we can as

humans can claim of our art, is

that it is always at best a poor copy

of Nature’s own.

Shane Smith

Meditation: Close or continued thought;the turning or revolving of a subject in the mind;serious contemplation; reflection; musing.

Trees in snow © Shane Smith

Shane Smith’s photos can be seen athttp://shentzu.home.mindspring.com/mysticlighta/

Meditation: Close or continued thought;the turning or revolving of a subject in the mind;serious contemplation; reflection; musing.

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Breaking the clichesIce © Paul Harrison

I have been taking serious photographsfor almost thirty years now. I started as aphotojournalist, focussing on humans insocial contexts, often in poorcommunities in Britain. As I travelledmore and more in less urbanizeddeveloping countries, the pictures weremore and more of humans in theirecological relations with nature - inagriculture and so on.

Eventually nature took first place.One reason was that, instead of gettingbolder at taking photos of people, Ibecame increasingly shy - increasinglyaware of how people felt about me takingtheir photos. In some places people lovedit and insisted on posing or smilingstraight at the camera, sometimes evendressing up in their finest clothes. Butthat was not what I wanted as aphotojournalist. I would ask them to lookaway from the camera and get on withwhat they were doing. this. Gradually Icame to feel that they had a right to havetheir photos taken in the way theywanted. On the other hand I was not

very interested in doing that.

In other places people hated havingtheir photos taken. Sometimes they weresensitive about their poverty; some sawthe Western photographer as acondescending imperialist; some hadcultural beliefs about the evil eye. Insome Islamic countries photographingwomen was unacceptable. I grew tired ofall the explanations and pleadings andintrusions involved in taking photoswhere people did not initially want me to.

The other reason for the shift was agrowing interest in capturing elements ofnature. I have always been fascinated bythe less obvious aspects of nature -especially by natural form. To see thisfree of the ways in which people oftenstereotype nature as picture postcard, ithelps to focus on levels that are not theones we usually notice, on patterns andtextures isolated from the objects thatare part of - tree bark as fresco; rock astile. Or forms isolated from the usualreference points - waves without banks

or shores; clouds without horizons. Tosome extent my photography is engagedin breaking cliches, showing nature inunfamiliar ways without the veil ofconcepts that humans use to obscure it.

I don’t claim credit for creating myphotographs. Nature creates. What I do -and what any photographer does - is toselect and collect things as theyassociated at specific moments in time.The photograph freezes what Cartier-Bresson called the “privileged moment.”In my book all moments are privilegedand will only occur once in all history.

I frame the shot - but the scene takesit own picture in light, engraving itself onfilm through the photons that ricochetoff it. This is often just for my ownbenefit, but when others see my picturesI hope that they are getting a chance tolearn how to see nature’s creativity andpattern -making for themselves, so thatthey can appreciate it directly at thesource, without needing a mediator.

Paul Harrison

Sharing in the oratorio of existenceHow long have you been making

graphics of the kind you do now?

What started you off?

I began three years ago by teachingmyself how to use MS Paint, discoveredon an old computer someone gave me.A friend started sending me some of herphotos, beautiful nature scenes which Ipractised on. The discoveries wereendless. My experimentation evolvedinto a format employingreflections and reflectivepatterning of natural formsthat had always held amystical power for me eversince I was a tiny kid.

How do you choose

your themes?

The themes are usuallysubliminally imbedded within Nature - somethingmagical or evocative thatinvites my focus.Contemplation of a photoalmost always invokes anabstract idea I want tovisually realise as an ‘alternative’ image.After some digital fooling around (this is a kind of meditation for me), theimage suddenly becomes and I knowthat was the theme I had intuited andneeded to express.

Many of my pieces convey recurringthemes, such as, “Nature is Exemplar”,and, “Patterns Build Nature.” One thingI’d like to emphasize is that none of myimages are presented as a perfectedrealization - I have left thingsdeliberately in a “non-finalized” state,because the reality we call Existence isEver-Becoming. The caption I wrote for“Heart of the Matter” says it all: “Justcan’t seem to finish this thing.”

Are all your basic components natural

objects - from photographs and so on?

Yes, always; the objects and forms ofNature contain intrinsic abstractconstructs, vital conceptual clues,

within their visual manifestation - anon-verbal kind of information. It isactually another kind of language that isintuited and recognized by the innatecore of my being. They are like personalchords or thematic melodies thatemanate from the creations beingvisually contemplated. The urge thatarises within me is to echo back, addingmy own variations, as a celebratory

expression of my profound appreciation,a sharing in the ‘oratorio’ ofmanifestation, and as a way to showother humans how they might be able toperceive the natural world in new waysthat transcend their mundane view.

How do you decide how to

transform these?

The crucial part of my work is in thechoices I make, selecting the parts Iwant to isolate within the photo forexploration and explosion. This actionbegins to reveal previously obscuredmetaphorical content and implicit“clues” about our own uniquespirituality and the awesome creativeimpetus of our divine Cosmos. In someof the selections I want to convey anintrinsically dream-like, other-worldlyaspect of terrestrial forms that echoesthe phenomena of Universal process in being.

What would you like the spectator to

take away from viewing your work?

My first hope is that these imageswould help to kindle that conceptualcreativity that is inherent, but usuallydormant, within most human minds.My second hope is that they mightinvoke some deeply latent Pantheistfeelings of awe and reverence towardsNature and the Cosmos, and possibly

instigate some new spiritualmeditation upon the divinitywithin Natural Creation. Forme, this a kind of Pantheistevangelizing, and my contri-bution toward the formation ofa Pantheist memeplex basednot on verbal doctrine (words)but on imagery stimulatingvisceral perception.

I would hope that the viewerwould become infected with adesire to cultivate her ownunique ability to perceive, fromas many different perspectivesas possible, all the glories that

are and could be manifested withinExistence. Just hanging upside-down,as children do, would begin to open upone's alternative windows of perception,and help one to realize that nothingHAS TO be accepted as the only,correct, way of being or having. Anyshifting of perspective (changingpositions for a different view) orreadjustment of one’s focus can bring somany other things into our range ofobservation, which may help us greatlyin wanting to change our staleviewpoints - to restore our childlikeamazement and wonder about Life andthe sheer joy of discovering the myriadfacets of Being.

I call my works C.R.O.N.O.graphs -Contrived Reflections Of Natural Objects- because contriving is what we humansreally do best. I mean “reflections” toconnote meditations, as my work is avery meditative discipline for me.

An interview with Paxdora

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Heart of the Matter © Paxdora

For me some of your most striking works

show the viewpoint from the interior of

something, like a leaf or an acorn.

This approach intends to show howwe can exercise and develop much greaterempathy by employing our most powerfuland least appreciated attribute, our sap-ient imagination. When we “make believe”we are something else, as we did whenwe were children, we virtually become the“other” and begin to see and experiencelife from that other perspective. My hopeis to inspire curiosity enough to makepeople want to really think aboutdifferences instead of ignoring them.

I am also intrigued by your strange

creations that look like things that

Nature could have created but didn’t get

round to it just yet.

The intrinsic, natural right to exist ofany being or entity that is strange, new,or unexpected (anomalies) should berecognized and accepted by humans asan “amen” (so be it). The fear of theunknown often does more to harm us (aswell as to the ‘other’) than its actuality,and if we practice confronting the thingswe fear, one by one, we can begin to learnthat they are not as horrible as we hadassumed. I think the point I’m trying tomake is that the “aliens” we keepsearching the heavens for may well besitting smack dab in front of our eyes,within our tangible everyday environment- and that they have been coexisting withus in symbiotic harmony, with or withoutour acknowledgment of their existence.Our opinions have nothing to do withtheir implicit value in the great Process ofUniversal existence.

Your titles are very suggestive, how do

you arrive at them?

The captions were developed as‘backup’ to ensure that the viewer reallyunderstands the message should theimage alone not strike the subliminalchords of resonance I intend. The wordsare really a form of over-kill, but some‘newer people’ on the planet need to have“show & tell” expositions to understandsubliminal clues.

Paxdora’s images can be seen at

http://community.webshots.com/user

/paxdora

“Mysterious Island” was the first oftwenty-one drawings that I was asked toproduce for a book with the intriguingtitle, the “Gurdjieff Meditation &Colouring Book”.

Whatever its name and origins, it’sprobably the most obviously pantheisticpicture I’ve done although, when I drewit, I didn’t even realise that I was aPantheist. I was able to interpret mybrief in a way that connectedcomfortably with my own deep feelings.Looking at it now, I can recognisethemes that have been influentialthroughout my life, stepping stones onmy own path to Pantheism. Greekmythology was an absolute passion ofmine when I was very young, and theantics of the Olympians evoked a farmore profound “religious” response fromme that church attendance evermanaged, because they seemed sointrinsically bound up with the beauty,mystery and unpredictability of thenatural world. Distant panpipes start towhisper on the breeze in that sun-drenched Arcadia of my imaginationand, in a strange subjective process ofconnection, trigger a sense of absolutewonder and awe that’s the only realisticway any of us have to perceive the

Universe of which we’re each a part.

Space and time are other themes towhich I often return. One is easy todepict and the other is much moretricky. The focal point of this picture isthe hollow tree trunk. Within it are starsand a spiral galaxy, while from itemerge a curving procession of planetsand a stream of acorns. One of theacorns is already growing and, in time,will become another tree to replace theold stump as it decays away and dies.

Nature, in both its tranquil andviolent aspects. provides aspects of thebackground. Waves pound an undefinedshore; lightning splits the clouds; ashfrom a volcano becomes a swirlingspiral around a crescent Moon whilsthuge pinnacles of flame erupt from theSun. And, beneath all this mayhem, lifegoes on - vines ripen and birds dip lowover still water, creatures and thingslive and die. Maybe the islandrepresents subjective experience,apparently isolated but in realityconnected to everything.

I suppose that what I wanted mostto convey in this picture is a sense ofenergy, renewal and connection with themysterious.

Oliver Chadwick

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Sculpture: Recreating Nature’s RecursivenessAbout fifteen years ago I become aware of Chaos Theory andthe fractal imagery so often included in books on the subject.My fondness for such shapes stems, I think, from growing upin Minnesota under the canopy of hardwood trees. For at leasthalf the year, their beautiful branches are bare, oftenhighlighted by a layer of newly fallen snow or spectacularlycovered in sparkling ice.

I was deeply influenced by the scientific and philosophicalimplications of this relatively new field - specifically, thatregardless of how closely we measure and study them,dynamic systems are inherently unpredictable. At the heart ofthis unpredictability, is recursion - the process of taking“output” and feeding it back as “input.” The shape of a tree isa good example: if “branch into two stems from one” is theoutput process, then by feeding the newly formed branchesback into this process the familiar tree-form is created. Objectscreated by recursive processes exhibit fractal geometry - self-similarity across scale. A tree is composed of smaller "trees,"which are themselves made up of smaller trees, and so forth.

I spent some time creating fractal images like theMandelbrot set on my computer monitor. But I never felt truly

moved by images on the screen. At the same time I discovereddevices called "stepper motors" which break up rotation intodiscrete steps. The thought of being able to use a computer tocontrol the movement of real-world objects, not just an arrayof glowing phosphor dots, was irresistible. My first machinewas an Easter-egg coloring robot. One stepper rotated the eggEast / West, while the other moved a pen North / South - asimple two axis plotting device.

My early work focused intensely on building ComputerNumeric Control machines which move tools under computerguidance by entering numeric co-ordinates in two or threedimensions. These machines enabled me to make artworksinfused with algorithmic design - forms which could beexpressed by a program or formula. Within a few years, Imoved from drawing on eggs to cutting steel plates and tubes.I often chose fractal patterns.

It may seem that rigidly controlled machinery movingvarious cutting tools in tightly pre-programmed paths couldnot be more removed from the natural mechanismsresponsible for towering oaks overhead. But the longer I studyfractal geometry, the more I feel a deep sense of recognition:I've seen this before - oaks, clouds, mountains, ferns, galacticspirals. The link is recursion. Forms in nature are built fromrecursive processes (eddies within eddies that trail from yourcanoe paddle), just as fractal images are built from recursivemathematical processes.

In more recent years much of my work has centeredaround the machines becoming artworks in themselves. In mycurrent position as Artist-In-Residence at the Science Museumof Minnesota, I have the wonderful opportunity to continueexploring motion control as an art medium, while at the sametime teaching kids the skills they need to start their ownexperiments. More information: www.taomc.com

Recommended reading: The Algorithmic Beauty of Plants,Prusinkiewicz and Lindenmayer,1990.

Bruce Shapiro

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Members on artConcern for natureforemostA Pantheist artist, by definition, wouldmost likely be a ‘religious’ or spiritualperson whose work would be concernedwith exploring and expressing the myriadfacets of divinity within Nature (or theCosmos) in a uniquely personal way. Theperspectives manifested within the artwould express a lot about the artist’sfeelings: reverence, love, awe, joyouscelebration or a meditative exchange

involving the artist’s reciprocal echoing of

the revered subject.

Pantheist Art can be a “paean,” a

psalm, a canticle, etc., to the beloved

divinity within Nature and All That Is. It

can also be a medium for meditation,

which may serve to inform, enlighten or

inspire other humans to view our

“sacred” material world in new,

revelatory ways - and possibly help in

expanding our scope of human

perception and awareness. I see much of

my own work as being a form of intuitive& spiritual ‘iconography’ of the CosmicProcess. The Mandelbrot Fractals and agreat deal of the new Fractal Art that canbe found on the Net is also quite‘pantheistic’ in this regard.

Paxdora

If there is a criterion for art beingconsidered pantheistic, I don’t think itwould be the religion/philosophy of thecreator. Vivaldi was a priest but his FourSeasons might be considered a Pan

Being a third generation pantheist, I wasraised to wonder about the treasure of allthat is natural, and this has greatlyinfluenced me in all my artwork.

I have worked in several media, butnone has fascinated me so intensely or foras long as ceramics. Shaping the clay Ihave always felt a special passion increating wondrous textures. I use naturalmaterials to make impressions - acorns,leaves, nuts, flowers, rocks, shells,driftwood, anything I find on beaches. Myshapes are very organic and usually have avery natural asymmetry.

I often make folds and patterns in myworks, often in a chaotic rather than aregular way. It’s not easy to reproducechaos. Humans have a tendency tointroduce some obviously designed

regularity. I try to let the chaosthat's typical of nature comeinto my hands as I work.

I like to parallel naturalprocesses like the folding andlayering of rocks. I love toexplore materials, to investigatedifferent glazing and clayeffects and to conductexperiments, like a scientist. I never quite know what willcome out of the kiln - I amalways excited when I open thedoor, to see how things haveturned out, and often they turnout unexpectedly.

The heat inside the kiln rangesup to 2400 degrees F - hotter

than volcanic magma - so through this theartist becomes a force of nature, recreatinggeological processes. I allow nature to workthrough me, through my hands. With clayyou are forced to go with the forces ofnature, especially gravity. I feel I amexpressing nature with nature's resourcesand forces.

I have taught ceramics in schools andstudios for over 30 years and find myselfalways inspired by, and teaching from, avery pantheistic inner place. I have alsosold my work over these years. I have felt adeep inner satisfaction in believing thatthrough teaching and selling, I havesparked and enhanced people's awarenessof nature. In this way I feel I am expressingmy deepest self as a pantheistic artist - andI am spreading the awareness to others. Ifeel I am subliminally making a politicallyactive statement with my work andteaching, startling people with the beautyof nature, which overrides all cultural andhuman conflicts that are so widespreadtoday, helping them to recognize naturalbeauty in other contexts.

We all have it within us to create things.If people could get turned on by creativity,it could greatly rehabilitate them and takeaway the purpose of or interest in conflict.Love of nature brings out the very best inpeople. We are all tiny pinpoints on a mapthat is so expansive and yet so universal toall of us - if we focussed on the beautiesthat we all enjoy and share it would takeaway so much of the hatred that is in the world.

Ceramics:The artist as a force of natureSheila Rudich Rosenthal

9

Cowhide pot © Sheila Rudich

work. Hovaness is a Christian but listen

to ‘Mysterious Mountain’, or to ‘And God

Created Great Whales’.

I think what makes art pantheistic is

a concern for humanity’s place in nature,

for nature. But it’s much more than that.

Pantheist art shares all or most of the

following features:

It sees humans as part of a natural

universe that is just as it is, no more, no

less. And it sees the natural universe

(including humans) as wondrous,

interconnected, and numinous. For it,

form evolves, and follows function.

Pantheist art is not concerned with

impressing in order to show offvirtuosity. Pantheist art needs the degreeof technique necessary (but no morethan that) to create the piece and make itwork aesthetically. Technique fortechnique's sake gets in the way. The artmust appear artless (but not be artless).Raku pottery comes to mind. Thetechnique is transparent. It is there. Itmust be there, but it must not comebetween the viewer and the vision. Thevision is what counts.

Natural objects can be used to createart. But to do so, they must be selected,placed, composed, utilized with anartist’s eye. Else they are just pretty, or

beautiful, or interesting natural objects

but not art.

To be art a thing must be seen by the

artist to be beautiful (not pretty,

necessarily, but beautiful) and used - in

a sense isolated and framed - for its

beauty. Yet sometimes art is deliberately

not beautiful but is deliberately hideous -

an anguished cry at beauty lost or

destroyed. But the ability to see, and feel

must be there. Else the piece will not

work. It will be shrill but dull

propaganda. The vision must signify.

What exists is celebrated, and the

self-evolving complexity of all that exists

10

is revered. This does not mean thatpantheistic art portrays everythingliterally. It is not illustration.

It does not see man or nature assinful. The body is not shameful to it,nor is sex. It has no use for distinctionsof 'higher and lower'. Indeed it findsthese laughable. Value is seen not assomething God-given, but as meaning'cherished by someone'. Pantheist artcelebrates existence, even when dealingwith painful subjects.

It is keenly aware of scale withinscale, of forms nested in forms on everlarger or ever diminishing scale, of timeperiods and their passing, and geologicaltime's immensity. It is aware of naturalcycles, the days, the seasons, theweather, the phases of human life,ageing and death. Of fractals and chaos,of order and pattern. Of evolution.

It has no concern with an afterlife. Itdoes not preach. It does not pray. It doesnot propagandize. It just shows how youbelong (even when most alienated) to thiswonderful, tragic, comic, beautiful,unbearably precious world. It celebrateslife, unity, individuality, diversity, change,and the intricate webs of cause and effect.

In the end it says ‘Thou art that’. Andoffers the consolation ‘out of thisuniverse you cannot fall'. And withoutpreaching, holds up a mirror of empathy,perhaps of compassion - ‘they too areyou’. And sometimes speaks of love. Butalso of freedom, necessity, chance anddeath. And ever of change andtransformation. Of the great dance thatgoes on till the end of time.

Walt Mandell

There are many artists I feel aregreat, but for my money, no one will evercreate anything more beautiful than thecave art at Lascaux, France. I considerthat the closest thing to Pantheist Art. Icould never call the artists that createdthose paintings, primitive. Theirknowledge of line, form and color wascomplete. They captured the essence ofthe animal.

Ernie Hopkins

The most abundant and variedsource of Pantheist art is undoubtedlythe Taoist tradition, which hasinfluenced Chinese culture for millenia.In my office, I have two Taoist works ofart. One is a large contemporary scrollpainting that I bought in Taipei someyears ago. It shows a mountainouslandscape with some small humanfigures at the base, two friends drinkingin a hut besides a torrent and a solitarytraveller who is walking along a path thatleads into the mountains. The paintinginvites us to follow the path and explorethe distant mist-encircled peaks. Theother is a round slab of veined marbleset in an elaborate wooden frame. Thepattern is suggestive of storm clouds,and evokes the way in which the Taopervades nature. Linked to this is adistinguished tradition of poetry andcalligraphy. Poems are often written onscrolls; the poem and the paintinginform but do not exhaust each other. Adelightful feature of Chinese art is that itpervades the whole of life. Fabrics andeveryday objects such as brush holdersand teapots, even slabs of ink, becomeworks of art. Among the works made byhuman hands, the Chinese also place‘objets trouves’, gnarled branches andinteresting looking stones, asrepresentatives of the world of nature.

However, while drawn to depictions ofnature, Pantheist art is not limited tothis. Pantheism embraces a wide rangeof values which may be represented byPantheist artists, realistically orabstractly, as their muse leads them. Forexample the exploration of humannature is a topic which is of greatinterest to Pantheists and inevitablyreceives its expression in art.

Tor Myrvang

I make no important distinctionbetween human and non-human nature,so I consider art about man isolated fromnature, or trapped in human technology,to be just as pantheistic as anylandscape painting. Even religiousiconography - of gods and goddesses,saints, etc - is a portrayal of the humanimagination, and since the imagination isalso part of Nature, I consider all artwork- even supernatural religious artwork - tobe pantheistic, depending on the eye ofthe observer. Still, it might be appro-priate to encourage pantheist artists toexplore the artistic potential of non-human nature more fully, to balance thedominance of art exploring humannature. Or better yet, to encouragedepiction of humans interacting withnon-human nature in a holistic way. Theartwork could be composed in such away that humans do not dominate thescene by size or emphasis. Butultimately, it should be remembered thatartwork is a human enterprise, andhuman nature is naturally of primaryconcern to human artists. Elephantartists, now, that's a different matter.

Brer Davananda

If to call an approach to visual art a‘pantheist approach’ means approachingthe subject matter in a way that honoursthe Universe and all within it, then Iguess that could be called a pantheistapproach. But throughout the ages,there have been artists of all disciplinesand beliefs who have taken Nature (andall that that word implies) as the subjectof their art. So, no, I don't think therecan be a ‘specifically pantheist’ approachto visual art, if by that one means thatthe pantheist approach is recognisable tothe viewer of the artwork. Of course, apantheist artist would naturally, orpresumably, have a pantheist approachto his/her work. But that would be aprivate matter, not something that couldneccessarily be determined from thefinished artwork by anyone other thanthe artist.

Sue Williams

Nature as artLast Saturday my children (two boysaged nine and ten) went to PeachMountain observatory with their father.

Gaia, glasswork © Walt Mandell

It’s away from city lights, out in thewoods somewhere - I’ve never been.Halfway through their time there, theNorthern Lights began. Both of themwere completely overwhelmed by thisexperience - my elder son lay on his backlooking at the sky and refused to move orspeak. (He’s hyperactive, so this is bignews.) My younger son said: ‘It’s like art,but not art. Art made by nature.’

Joanna Hastings

I cannot believe that anyone couldlook at the veins in a leaf, or drops ofwater, or feathers on a bird, and not seethe Art in it.

Linda Kerby

Nonlinear mathematics and fractalgeometry are areas where nature’s orderand beauty can appear divine.(TheMandlebrot set has been dubbed the“thumbprint of God”.) If I havepanentheistic leanings, they are due tothis mathematical precision within theuniverse (or multiverse as the case maybe.) The fractal concept has helped megain more precise understanding of whatresonates for me personally withinnature, unifying things like self-similarity, geometric precision, andcomplex detail on multiple scales. A bookI’ve enjoyed is The Loom of God:Mathematical Tapestries at the edge of

time. (Clifford A. Pickover.) It is a sort ofbridging between math and theology. A more general introduction can befound in: Fractals: The Patterns ofChaos: A New Aesthetic of Art, Science,and Nature (James Briggs). To exploreand create fractal images a great site is:www.fractalarts.com/ASF/index.html

Katherine Peil

I had a friend who insisted that everyphoto he took have at least some smallnoticeable encroachment of man in it. Heeven went so far as to go and find litter,and move it into his image if the scenehe found was unspoiled. He said he did itto reflect reality, because in truth wehave touched everything. To Me thesimple fact that art has been madeimplies man’s hand in the matter. Howcan we say any work of art is natural.Maybe snowflakes?

Shane Turner

Can we deduce tastefrom pantheism? I see little difference between moraljudgements and aesthetic judgementsregarding whether one can derive an“ought” statement from an “is”statement. In my opinion, moral andaesthetic statements are subjectivestatements of taste; they are not

statements of fact. Moreover,agreeing with Hume, I holdthat these judgements cannever be derived fromstatements of fact.

According to evolutionaryethics, evolutionary forceshave shaped human tastesregarding what is good andbad. I agree with this, butnevertheless, this does notjustify the derivation of anought from an is. It merelyexplains what in fact we dohave positive and negativetastes for.

I think exactly the same thingcan be said for aesthetictastes. Evolutionary forceshave shaped what weconsider beautiful. We candetermine what we in factthink is beautiful from thisevolutionary perspective, but

we cannot derive what we ought to thinkis beautiful.

Todd Washington

One approach for ethics andaesthetics is to ask “what ought we do(or deem beautiful), given what we are”. I think another approach worth taking isto ask “what do we want our actions (orart) to say about us”. The latter approachholds that our morality and aestheticsdefine us. What is the self- image wewant to have and how do we promotethat self-image by our actions? Asindividuals, “our actions, our ideas, andmemories of us live on, according towhat we do in our lives”.

We leave a remembrance of us in thememories of those who love us and liveafter we are gone. As a species, we canlook to noone else for validation andappreciation - we are the only consciousspecies on this planet. We areanswerable to noone but ourselves. This is a more selfish motivation thanwanting to leave a legacy for ourchildren. In the end, it is what we wantto see in the mirror, even more thanwhat we want to bequeath to ourchildren, that i think will be the mostpotent guide of our actions.

Dennis Virtudazo

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11

12

Truth only will lastJohn Constable 1776-1837

It appears to me that pictures have beenover-valued; held up by a blindadmiration as ideal things, and almost asstandards by which nature is to bejudged rather than the reverse; and thisfalse estimate has been sanctioned by theextravagant epithets that have beenapplied to painters, as ‘the divine’, ‘theinspired’, and so forth. Yet, in reality,what are the most sublime productionsof the pencil but selections of some of theforms of nature, and copies of a few ofher evanescent effects; and this is theresult, not of inspiration, but of long andpatient study, under the direction ofmuch good sense.

It was said by Sir Thomas Lawrence,that 'we can never hope to compete withnature in the beauty and delicacy of herseparate forms or colours, - our onlychance lies in selection and combination.'Nothing can be more true, - and it maybe added, that selection and combinationare learned from nature herself, whoconstantly presents us with compositionsof her own, far more beautiful than thehappiest arranged by human skill.Painting is a science, and should bepursued as an inquiry into the laws ofnature. Why, then, should not landscapepainting be considered as a branch ofnatural philosophy, of which pictures arebut the experiments?

From his Lecture 4, 16 June 1836

In love with light itselfClaude Monet 1840-1926

Monet is the example of total dedicationto capturing the fleeting changes of

Great Artand Nature

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nature. He would work for hours anddays to capture the quintessence of lightand colour, the lensed oscillation of a lilyreflection, the tawny hue of evening lighton a cathedral façade, or the rich deeporange-yellow of a sunset mirrored in apond. Much of his work was done in thefield, on the Normandy coast, on theSeine, in the forests around Paris.

Yet, paradoxically some of his bestknown series paintings involved quiteartificial procedures, precisely becauseart took time while nature’s lights andmoods were so transient.

His paintings of the Thames, Rouenor the lily pond were not done quickly in

a single session. Instead Monet wouldwork, often from a hotel room with aview, on many canvasses at once. Hewould get out the one that wasappropriate for the time and weather andlight and work on it for a short period,then when the light changed, he wouldput it away and get out the one that wasappropriate for the new mood.

His most prolific series relate to hisgarden at Giverny. Here, wanting a morestable framework on which he couldstudy the subtle variations of light byseason and time of day, he laboriouslycreated an artificial garden and pond outof a field by a railway line.

Monet on MonetMy only desire is an intimate

infusion with nature, and the

only fate I wish is to have

worked and lived in harmony

with her laws. The only merit

I have is to have painted

directly from nature with the

aim of conveying my

impressions in front of the

most fugitive effects. . . I am

following Nature without

being able to grasp her. I know that to

paint the sea really well, you need to look

at it every hour of every day in the same

place so that you can understand its way

in that particular spot; and that is why I

am working on the same motifs over and

over again, four or six times even.

When you go out to paint, try to forget

what objects you have before you, a tree,

a house, a field or whatever.

Merely think here is a little square of

blue, here an oblong of pink, here a streak

of yellow, and paint it just as it looks to

you, the exact color and shape, until it

gives you your own naive impression of

the scene before you.

13

News of the WPM

Following the move of UK membershipsecretary Oliver Chadwick and WPMinformation officer Stuart Stell to thepanel of directors, elections were held forvacant seats on the Membership AdvisoryCommittee. Rick Bamford (New Jersey),Rick Davis (Ohio), and Audrey Pavia(California) were elected.

Conserving Nature

The World Pantheist Movement saved35 acres of wildlife habitat by sponsoringtwo click-for-nature organizations. AtEcology Fund our sponsorship saved 22 acres of rainforest in through theWorld Parks Endowment. At Care2’sRace for the Rainforest our sponsorshipsaved 13 acres through the NatureConservancy. In both cases our checkswere made out directly to the natureconservation agencies, and ourcontributions also gained 400,000views for a banner ad for the WPM.The Ecology Fund ad was particularlysuccessful, bringing us 6,500 extravisitors, a much higher click-throughrate than average for Web banner ads.

In September the directors votedanother $2,000 for similar sponsorshipwith Ecology Fund and with TheRainforestSite. We shall be repeatingthis exercise at regular intervals, leavinga few months’ gap between each so thatwe are seen by a new round of people.

New Celebrants CodeIn September the directors officiallyadopted a code about celebrants so that wecould fulfil our aim to provide pantheistand nature-lovers with weddings, funeralsand other ceremonies in keeping with theirbeliefs. It’s important to note that WPM

Continued on next page

Nature as gallery,material and subjectAndy Goldsworthy 1956 -

Among artists working today AndyGoldsworthy is among the closest attunedto natural pantheism. Nothing is on publicrecord to suggest his religious views, so it’snot known if he is consciously a pantheist.But he sounds like one. Though he hasmade some permanent structures, espec-ially walls, he creates mostly ephemeralworks, liable to decay, dry up, blow away,melt, or fall down. He then photographsthese before they disappear - or even duringthe process of decay. The vulnerability totime, and its effect on his work, is alsopart of the work and part of why his workreflects and embodies nature’s processes.

Nature is Goldsworthy’s art gallery. Hemakes his constructions almost always innatural settings, in the open air, in placessuch as Dumfriesshire, the Yorkshire Dalesor the Lake District in Britain, Grize Fiordin the Northern Territories of Canada, theAustralian outback, and even the North Pole.

His materials are drawn from nature.They may be clay, rocks, twigs, leaves,

Goldsworthy on Goldsworthy

I enjoy the freedom of just using my hands

and “found” tools -a sharp stone, the quill

of a feather, thorns. I take the opportunities

each day offers: if it is snowing, I work with

snow, at leaf-fall it will be with leaves; a

blown-over tree becomes a source of twigs

and branches. I stop at a place or pick up a

material because I feel there is something to

be discovered. Here is where I can learn.

Looking, touching, material, place and

form are all inseparable from the resulting

work. It is difficult to

say where one stops

and another begins.

The energy and space

around a material are

as important as the

energy and space

within. The weather -

rain, sun, snow, hail,

mist, calm - is that

external space made

visible. When I touch

a rock, I am touching

and working the

space around it. It is

not independent of its surroundings, and

the way it sits tells how it came to be there.

I want to get under the surface. When I

work with a leaf, rock, stick, it is not just

that material in itself, it is an opening into

the processes of life within and around it.

When I leave it, these processes

continue. Movement, change, light, growth

and decay are the lifeblood of nature, the

energies that I try to tap through my work.

I need the shock of touch, the resistance

of place, materials and weather, the earth

as my source.

Nature is in a state

of change and that

change is the key to

understanding. I want

my art to be sensitive

and alert to changes

in material, season

and weather. Each

work grows, stays,

decays. Process and

decay are implicit.

Transience in my

work reflects what I

find in nature.

Rick Bamford

The frames of our animated gif at Ecology Fund

Rick Davis Audrey Pavia

feathers, even ice and snow, usually fromthe location where he is working, so thatthere is a close interdependence of locationand matter. On occasion he has madethings out of nothing, out of the veryabsence of material - such as when he layon a red rock in a rain shower creating hisown dry shadow, or when his frost shadowsheltered hoary grass from the sun on awinter’s day. He rearranges natural mater-ials to depict his subject matter. Althoughhis topics are always, in some way or other,once again some aspect of nature, they arealmost as diverse as nature. By rearranginghis materials he delineates nature’sfavourite shapes and processes in playfulways, such as an ammonite spiral made ofbroken pebbles, or a radial explosion of ice.

Perhaps more than any other artisttime and change are his subjects too. Hewill create a work by throwing sticks ordust into the air and seeing how they fall,or by embedding materials in hugesnowballs and seeing how they aredistributed when these melt. He buildsprecarious cairn-like columns from wetrocks cemented together with ice, whichwill tumble when the ice melts.

Almanac

14

Equinoxes &SolsticesWinter solstice 2002December 22 01:15

2003

Spring equinoxMarch 21 01:00

Summer solsticeJune 21 19:10

Autumn equinoxSeptember 23 10:47

Winter solsticeDecember 22 07:04

Full Moons

2002

October 21 07:20

November 20 01:34

December 19 19:10

2003

January 18 10:48

February 16 23:51

March 18 10:34

April 16 19:36Almanac [Universal time=GMT, EST + 5, PCT + 8]

Special eventsNovember 30John Tolland’s birthday

December 10Geminids: Starwatching +Human Rights Day

January 22Surrender of native landsby Chief Seattle

February 2Imbole

February 12Darwin’s birthday

February 14Valentine’s Day

February 15Birthday of Galileo

February 17Giordano Bruno’smartyrdom

March 8International Women’s Day

March 14Einstein's birthday

MikeToday, Brenda, I join my life to yours, not only as your husband, but as yourfriend, your lover, and your confidant. Let me be the shoulder you lean on, therock on which you rest and the companion of your life. With you I will walk mypath from this day forward.

BrendaToday, Mike, we begin our new life together. Let us assume our roles asmarriage partners with love, understanding, trust, and mutual fidelity for aslong as we both shall live. I ask you to share this world with me, for good or forill. Be my partner, and I will be yours.

Minister (as they exchange rings)The circle is the symbol of the sun, earth, and universe. It is the symbol of peace. Let this ring be the symbol of unity and peace inwhich your two lives are joined in one unbroken circle. Wherever you go, return unto one another and to your togetherness.

Continued from previous page

celebrants will not be hierarchs with anyspecial religious authority.

We tried to reach a careful balance. Onthe one hand we feel that any membershould be empowered to performceremonies for friends or relatives, in linewith our belief that the reverent responseto nature requires no priestly mediation.Allowing this removes the absurd situa-tion where the WPM might have to referits own members to the Universal LifeChurch if they want the status to performa ceremony for friends or relatives. On theother we feel a responsibility to ensure asfar as practicable that anyone publiclyadvertizing for clients using our name andsymbols should be responsive andinformed. We believe that general public

has a right to feel confidence in theseriousness and capability of a civilcelebrant to provide an adequate andsensitive service. There will initially be twocategories of celebrant:

WPM members who wish to perform awedding or funeral for friend or relativeswill be able to get official WPMauthorization to do so by forwarding arequest from those friends or relatives tocelebrants@pantheism.net. If they want touse WPM name or symbols they shouldalso indicate agreement with the WorldPantheist Movement belief statement(http://www.pantheism.net/manifest.htm).

Certified celebrants: members wishingto advertize celebrant services to thepublic using the WPM name or symbols,and to perform weddings or funerals

without specific authorization for eachone, will need to get WPM certification.This will be subject to certainrequirements of knowledge of basic skillsrelating to prenuptual and bereavementcounselling, familiarity with a range ofmodel ceremonies and approaches, andcharacter references. For category two wewill now need to develop a form ofquestionnaire and set reading and collectsome sample ceremonies. If you wouldlike to get involved in this, you can jointhe celebrants list:http://www.yahoogroups.com/group/

wpmcelebrant.

Both types of celebrant will have tomake sure they comply with the law ofthe country or US state they wish tocelebrate in.

Wedding of Beatrice and Mike Mondragon, August 11, 2000

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ou

r on

ly h

ome,

we

can'

t ho

pe t

hat

God

will

pro

vide

us

wit

h a

new

ear

th if

we

wre

ck t

his

one.

The

resp

onsi

bilit

y lie

s on

ou

r sh

ould

ers

alon

e.

Pant

heis

m h

as a

dee

p re

spec

t fo

r th

e

wel

fare

of a

nim

als.

In p

anth

eism

all

anim

als

are

equ

al c

entr

es o

f aw

aren

ess

of t

he

Uni

vers

e, a

nd a

s su

ch t

hey

dem

and

equ

al

resp

ect.

Res

pect

doe

s no

t m

ean

we

cann

ot

use

nat

ure

and

her

pro

duct

s, b

ut

it d

oes

mea

n w

e m

ust

use

the

m s

pari

ngly

, wis

ely,

and

wit

h de

ep c

ompa

ssio

n, a

lway

s

rem

aini

ng a

war

e of

the

impa

ct o

ur

acti

ons

may

hav

e on

oth

er li

ving

bei

ngs

and

natu

ral

com

mu

niti

es.

natu

re a

nd sp

iritu

ality

Ever

ythi

ng is

frui

t to

me

whi

ch th

y se

ason

s br

ing,

o n

atur

e; fr

om t

hee

are

all t

hing

s, in

thee

are

all

thin

gs, t

o th

ee a

ll th

ings

ret

urn.

Mar

cus

Au

reliu

s

Nat

ure

and

the

env

iron

men

t ar

e a

cent

ral

conc

ern

of t

he W

orld

Pan

thei

st M

ovem

ent.

Ou

r lo

cal g

rou

ps u

sual

ly m

eet

in n

atu

ral

area

s, w

hen

the

wea

ther

per

mit

s, fo

r hi

kes

and

picn

ics

and

star

-wat

chin

g pa

rtie

s.

Ou

r vi

ew o

f nat

ure

is e

xpla

ined

in t

hese

clau

se o

f ou

r be

lief s

tate

men

t:

•A

ll m

atte

r, en

ergy

, and

life

are

an

inte

r-

conn

ecte

d u

nity

of

whi

ch w

e ar

e an

inse

para

ble

part

. We

rejo

ice

in o

ur e

xist

ence

and

see

k to

part

icip

ate

ever

mor

e d

eepl

y in

thi

s un

ity

thro

ugh

know

led

ge, c

eleb

ratio

n, m

edita

tion,

empa

thy,

love

, eth

ical

act

ion

and

art

.

• W

e ar

e an

inte

gral

par

t of

Nat

ure,

whi

ch w

e

shou

ld c

heri

sh, r

ever

e an

d p

rese

rve

in a

ll its

mag

nific

ent

beau

ty a

nd d

iver

sity

. We

shou

ld

stri

ve t

o liv

e in

har

mon

y w

ith N

atur

e lo

cally

and

glob

ally

. We

ackn

owle

dge

the

inhe

rent

val

ue o

f

all l

ife, h

uman

and

non

-hum

an, a

nd s

triv

e to

trea

t al

l liv

ing

bein

gs w

ith c

ompa

ssio

n an

d

resp

ect.

As

in a

ll m

atte

rs o

f eth

ics,

we

leav

e it

up

to t

he in

divi

dual

to

deci

de h

ow t

o ap

ply

thes

e pr

inci

ples

. For

exa

mpl

e, m

any

of o

ur

mem

bers

are

veg

etar

ians

, bu

t m

any

are

not:

the

choi

ce is

you

rs. W

hat

we

prob

ably

all

have

in c

omm

on is

a c

once

rn fo

r co

mpa

ss-

iona

te fa

rmin

g, w

here

ani

mal

s ar

e al

low

ed t

o

lead

live

s th

at a

re a

s na

tura

l as

poss

ible

.

We

tend

to

be a

war

e of

the

env

iron

-

men

tal c

onse

quen

ces

of o

ur

acti

ons,

and

to

bear

the

se in

min

d in

ou

r ch

oice

s

in w

hat

we

buy

and

cons

um

e.

Whe

n th

inki

ng a

bou

t w

aste

, we

emph

asiz

e re

duci

ng, r

e-u

sing

and

recy

clin

g.

Ou

r m

agaz

ine

Pan

ofte

n fo

cuse

s on

gree

n is

sues

– a

rec

ent

issu

e w

as e

ntir

ely

devo

ted

to s

ust

aina

ble

livin

g. O

ur

gene

ral

mai

ling

lists

oft

en d

iscu

ss e

nvir

onm

enta

l

conc

erns

and

app

reci

atio

n fo

r na

ture

. We

also

hav

e tw

o sp

ecia

lized

mai

ling

lists

of

inte

rest

: a li

st fo

r ve

geta

rian

s, a

nd a

n

envi

ronm

enta

l act

ion

list

whi

ch s

ends

ou

t

aler

ts fr

om t

he m

ajor

env

iron

men

tal

orga

niza

tion

s. W

e ha

ve b

ough

t th

e do

mai

n

ww

w.w

ildki

ds.o

rg, w

here

we

plan

to

crea

te

an a

ctio

n, fu

n an

d in

form

atio

n-or

ient

ed

natu

re s

ite

for

child

ren

and

you

ng p

eopl

e.

In t

he lo

ng r

un

we

aim

to

help

inte

rest

ed

loca

l gro

ups

to

crea

te a

net

wor

k of

mu

lti-

purp

ose

natu

ral r

eser

ves.

The

se w

ill p

rote

ct

and

enha

nce

biod

iver

sity

thr

ough

nat

ura

l

woo

dlan

ds a

nd s

hru

b ar

eas

wit

h na

tive

spec

ies,

and

thr

ough

ope

n ar

eas

wit

h

wild

life-

frie

ndly

gar

deni

ng. T

hey

will

pro

vide

sim

ple

lodg

e-st

yle

indo

or fa

cilit

ies

for

pant

heis

t m

eeti

ngs,

and

a n

atu

ral s

etti

ng fo

r

cere

mon

ies

like

wed

ding

s an

d fu

nera

ls. A

ny

stru

ctu

res

on t

hese

res

erve

s w

ill b

e bu

ilt t

o

the

mos

t en

viro

nmen

tally

-fri

endl

y

stan

dard

s.

If yo

u h

ave

a de

ep r

ever

ence

and

conc

ern

for

natu

re, a

nd w

ould

like

to

find

a

spir

itu

al e

xpre

ssio

n fo

r th

is t

hat

does

not

invo

lve

turn

ing

you

r ba

ck o

n re

ason

and

evid

ence

, the

n th

e W

orld

Pan

thei

st

Mov

emen

t m

ay b

e th

e ri

ght

plac

e

for

you

.

the

WPM

and

nat

ure

The

Wor

ld P

anth

eist

Mov

emen

t, 13

1 N

orth

Lud

low

Str

eet,

Suite

131

1, D

ayto

n, O

H 4

5402

-111

1, U

nite

d St

ates

The

Wor

ld P

anth

eist

Mov

emen

t PO

Box

186

87 L

ondo

n N

W3

2FG

, Uni

ted

King

dom

.

ww

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eism

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