Reaching One Through Addition

THE HISTORY OF RELIGION ACTUALLY HAS SOMETHING TO SAY that’s important for us to hear, right now. Recognizing the ambiguity of the American national motto, E pluribus unum, points us toward the same understanding.

How does one get to one, through subtraction or addition? In mathematics, reaching one through addition means we’re dealing with abstractions like zero and negative numbers. In theology, reaching one through addition means we’ll become irrational.

When we talk about achieving unity, the means to the end really matter — and the end does not justify the means.

Monotheism, the belief that there is only one God, is widely felt to be a singular achievement in the religious history of humanity. Historians of religion give the credit for this theological breakthrough to the ancient Israelites and Judeans, that is, to the founders of modern Judaism. The belief became dominant as Christianity, first, then Islam, rose to power in the West, first, then around the world.

The problem with monotheism, as we know it, is that we reached it through subtraction. The Israelites elevated the God of Abraham by denying the existence of all other gods. Christians and Muslims followed suit. God said “… have no other gods before me” (Ex. 20:3), a commandment that evolved into the conviction that those other gods weren’t gods at all.

Today, few of us consciously think about “other gods” or expend much energy to deny their existence. Subtracting them from reality was accomplished ages ago. The effects of that cosmic subtraction, however, reverberate through our world even now.

Subtraction, you see, is a form of division. You start with many and take some away. In monotheism, we keep taking some away until there’s only one left. The implication of the subtraction is that the ones taken away are of less value than the one remaining. The one is good, the others are evil. Do you see the genesis of all the “-isms” here? Can you sense how a theology of subtraction can give rise to virulent racism, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia, and all kinds of “other-ism” — even to the fascist’s “ultimate solution”?

There is another way. One can reach one through addition (or one should be able to). The history of religion gives us several examples of how achieving monotheism through addition might work. These historical prototypes suggest possibilities for a non-divisive, non-dualistic way to move toward union. We’re getting into “mystical math” now.

Consider the insight “You are that” proclaimed by sages in India around the same time the prophets in Israel were establishing Western monotheism. This insight, the transcendent realization at the heart of the Upanishads and later forms of Vedanta, asserts the ultimate reality of the non-rational and non-dual union encompassing one’s self and all “others,” including especially God (as the “godhead”).

Ancient sages in China broke through to an analogous realization of non-dual reality, which they named with the nameless name, Dao (see Laozi, Dao De Jing, especially chapter 1).

Even some pagans in the Roman Empire, at the time of Christ, were approaching a form of monotheism in the widely popular cult of Isis. For her followers, the great goddess of ancient Egypt was becoming the face and presence of all the gods (see, for example, Apuleius, The Golden Ass). The Isis cult has been derided by modern scholars as syncretism, but isn’t the term itself another divisive “-ism” that masks a move toward one through addition?

There’s one more movement of thought I’d like you to consider in this discussion, namely the contemporary embrace of panentheism. This theological term says God is in everyone and everything. It’s not the same as pantheism, which sees everything as God. Yes, there’s only a subtle difference between the notions, but that “-en-” in pan-en-thism is important. With pantheism, God vanishes into the phenomena of the universe. With panentheism, on the other hand, everyone and everything live and have their being in God — and God is found in each one of us (and in all of creation). In other words, panentheism is biblical and orthodox. It’s also a form of monotheism through addition.

The good news about reaching one through addition is that addition not only calls us to union with God, but also gives us reason to value diversity, to strive for inclusion and acceptance, to respect others and otherness itself.

When we reach this understanding, E pluribus unum opens to new meaning. “One out of many” might be taken to suggest unity is extracted from diversity through subtraction, by excluding those who don’t share our views and values. Now, however, we see it also might be taken to mean unity will be achieved through addition, by embracing diversity and bringing us all together as one nation — if not in a melting pot, maybe as a tossed salad or a savory stew.

Years ago, when a conflict erupted at my graduate school, I proclaimed in protest, “Diversity demands democracy!” I still feel that’s true, and now I see the reverse is also true: “Democracy demands diversity!” So, let’s work to replace demonization and domination with respect and inclusivity.

Meanwhile, please make a plan, and vote — on or before next Tuesday, November 3.