Welcome to a miscellaneous node of the Pandeism index!!
So what, exactly, is a
Pandeism Fish? I've received that
question a
fair share of
times, and so it is one which I surely ought to
answer for. And so here, by way of a
roundabout essay is the full explanation behind the Pandeism Fish....
Symbology:
Symbology is important to any
school of thought as it provides an
abbreviated way to convey
affiliation, as well as in some instances to communicate a
shorthand glimpse of the
doctrine itself.
One such
symbol is the
fish. Now this might bring to mind a particular belief system in these particular times, but in truth the use of a sparse, fish-reminiscent pair of curved lines, just touching at one end and surpassing an
intersection at the other, dates back over three-thousand years, pre-originating even the assignment of
Pisces to the
Zodiac.
The
Christian adoption of the fish-as-symbol, the
icthys, might raise an
eyebrow. There was already, after all, the
cross (it is true that the fish is said to have been in use as a Christian symbol before the prevalence of the cross, but the resurgent
kitschy
bumper sticker fish has only been around since the 70's). And, though
miracles or
parables involving fish come as readily in the
Bible as in the formative texts of, for example,
Buddhism or
Hinduism, the fish is not shown in any of these traditions to be a particularly venerated
class of
creature. And yet.... well, there is something about that shape which makes it especially
appropriate as a symbol for
Pandeism -- and if the pandeistic model is true, this would even go so far as to explain why members of
theistic faiths (including, yes,
Christianity) have
subconsciously
gravitated to a symbol greatly explicatory of
Pandeism!!
The Pandeistic Model:
Consider, first, the pandeistic model; the Creator becomes the Creation; in the beginning (before our physical
Universe exists, there is one
entity, of substantial (but abstract) intellect, and having substantial capacity to control its own unformed
energy. It is not
infinite, but neither is it necessarily bounded -- one might describe it as "open-ended" in its creative capacity. This entity, for purposes of acquiring certain knowledge incapable of being
generated for its
current form,
transforms itself,
compresses all that it is into a
singularity and then bursts forth into a new form, an unconscious will supporting the continued existence of a physical
Universe, guided by
laws of physics set forth in that very moment of
Creation, with a grand unknown outcome but with governing dynamics designed to bring about complexity, culminating in the products of self-accelerating intelligent life (which, in turn, is capable of discovering those
governing dynamics, those laws of physics and
mathematics, and using them to build mightily upon the capacities delivered to it by
nature)....
Anyone who has seen the
map of the
Cosmic Microwave Background radiation will note the rather
oval shape assigned to it by the instruments reading it (though this oval is the product of an illusion, the true shape of the Universe likely being more spherical). Another sort of "oval" can be generated by envisioning our Universe is bursting forth from a singularity, and then experiencing a long period of expansion (perhaps hundreds of billions of years), reaching an
apogee of sorts, a point of maximum expansion, from which it draws back in much the same way, returning to a point of singularity. Such expansion and contraction need not even occur in the three physical dimensions common to our observation, but may occur at higher dimensions, possessed of a curvature which exceeds our present observational capacity.
The Pandeism Fish:
And so, if we combine these ideas -- the pre-Universe Creator condensing and collapsing itself into a singularity, envisioned as an
obtuse and open-ended
triangle pointing towards the moment of Creation; leading into the oval of our Universe as it is, or as it presents itself to us physically, and as it may operate on a larger cosmological sense, we find ourselves presented with a not unfamiliar shape:
_______________________________________________________________
|MMMMMMMMWMMMWMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM|
\MMMMMMMMMWMMWMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM|
MMMMMMMMMMWMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMW*****^O""'`o^****MMMMMMMMMMMMMM|
\MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMX*** ** *0* * ** * **_****XMMMMMMMMMM|
`\MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMZ* **~**o** ** *`*_**~*** ****~***MMMMMM|
` \ @MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMX** **--*-* **** - -* **\\ ` ` * **~**MMMM|
` `\@\MMMMMMMMMMMM* * **_ * *** ` * * * * * *` ***O** ** *MMM|
)@ ~@ .w@MMMMMMP*****o* ** ** ** ** * *** * * * * ** ** ***MM|
`~@ @ \@`\@%F#/**** *** *~****\\\\\-\\\\* *** *// *** * ***\#)
` ) ` ) ` ) }+{ ` ` ` ` *` ` ` ` * ` ` ` ` ` ` * *` ` ` * ` }+ ???
,@ /@./-@/@#H%\**o-*** * *~*** *\ \\\\\\ \\** **** *~** * */#)
/ ,? @ @MMMMMMMb** * *O* * * * o**~* *'** *** ** *O* ** * **M|
@ ~,/@MMMMMMMMMMMM* * ** ** ** ** *o** _** *** ** * * ***MMMM|
, ,/MMMMWMMMMMMMMMMM* **~~* *0*** - ** ** *~*_** *** * *MMMMM|
, /MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM*o***~// * * * *o * * ** ** * *XMMMMMM|
/MMMMMMMMWMMMWMMMMMMMMMMX** ** * * * ** * *0 * * *ZMMMMMMMMMM|
MMMMMWMMMMMMMWMMMMMWMMMMMMMMX* *** * * **// * *MMMMMMMMMMMMMM|
MMMMMMMMMMMWWWWMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMX&-x_,-/-XMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM|
/MMMMMMWWWWWWWWWWWWMMMMWWMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM|
|WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW|
Now here's where things get most interesting,
conceptually.
Recall that
Pandeism accounts for all theistic
phenomena -- from all
faiths -- as encounters between the limited
human mind and the experience of our
unconscious Creator, underlying the continued sustenance of our Universe. All
revelations received and
miracles observed can be so explained, without resort to incongruent beliefs in things such as "evil spirits" being permitted to provide "false" revelations to some, while others are permitted to receive "true" revelations. And this accounts, as well, for the human predilection to grasp blindly towards the underlying metaphysical explanation, dressed up though it may become by human biases, fears and aspirations.
Synthesis:
Consider, again, that this fish-shaped device symbolises no petty miracle or mediocre
allegory, but instead models an explanation for all observed reality, an explanation which, should the pandeistic model be true, would resonate in the unconscious mind underlying our continued existence, and through that channel into the subconscious mind of humanity. And so it could be said that the adoption by many faiths of the vague
outline of a fish -- of the pandeism fish -- indicates this true underlying nature of our Universe, one which accounts for all the graspings of those very faiths!!.
----
Some resources:
Pandeism Fish (MySpace)
Pandeism Fish (at Knuje's Pandeism Blog)
Pandeism Fish defined by Urban Dictionary
Pandeism Fish post at LiveJournal
Pandeism Fish post at Interfaith Forums
Pandeism Fish post at Christian Forums
Pandeism Fish claim on Jyte (that there is a rational explanation for the Pandeism Fish)
Pandeism Wiki page on the Pandeism Fish
The YouTube PanDeism Channel
The Pandeist Theorem by Robert G. Brown (excerpt from A Theorem Concerning God)
Pandeism with Rusty Nails (old, dormant blog on the theory)
PanDeism: What the Heck is That? (another interesting blog)
Thelemapedia's Pandeism page
VisWiki's Pandeism page
Keywen's Pandeism page
Wikipedia's Pandeism page
Wiktionary's Pandeism page
The Parallels of Pandeism by Bernardo Kastrup
Encyclopedia Britannica's page on pandeism
Alex Ashman, BBC News, "Metaphysical Isms"
Dean Snyder's keen essay on pandeism
----
A note on other historic uses of the word "pan-deism" is to be found at Pan-deism....?