A Hymn to Pantheism OR Redefining the Spirit of Nature

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber 

I live alone and am in my mid-70’s now so, like many if not most of us, have struggled with various health issues and to nurture a positive thinking mindset during the pandemic. Having had my Covid booster and flu jabs recently, I am starting to feel more confident when out and about in crowded places, shops and on public transport where I continue to wear a face mask; it is glaringly obvious that we are not out of the proverbial woods yet. 

Now, a new poem today rather than  another revision of an earlier one, prompted by reader M J who emailed to say he and his wife enjoyed the poetry reading I gave on the 4^th plinth in London’s Trafalgar Square back in 2009; it was my contribution to sculptor Antony Gormley’s ‘live’ sculpture project, “One and Other.” M J also asks “Do you still consider yourself a Pantheist?” Well, many thanks M J and the answer to your question is - yes, I do. 

While I respect anyone’s religious beliefs, I had never felt comfortable with religion. Raised as a Christian in the Baptist tradition, I could never truly relate to a personified God, even as a child. I first read about Pantheism in my mid-adult years and instantly engaged with it. 

Pantheists believed that God did not create nature, but is nature. I have always been able to engage with nature and experience a sense of spirituality from doing so. For this reason, I have always rejected criticism of my poetry for talking about spirituality when many readers would argue that ai am an atheist or agnostic because I don’t subscribe to any of the central world religions. 

Incidentally, in the course of my plinth reading, I told the crowd below that I was both gay and a Pantheist. Interestingly, I wasn’t heckled once during the whole hour.  What would social media trolls have to say about that, I wonder...?

A HYMN TO PANTHEISM  or REDEFINING THE SPIRIT OF NATURE

Some pray to God, the Father,
who goes by many names,
yet, essentially, is much the same
in so far as He would have us learning
to love one another? 

Others lift up heart and voices
to Earth Mother, alias nature,
yet who’s to say the are not the same
in so far as both would have us at peace 
with one another?

Some say God created nature
upon whom we depend
as we depend on one another to see us
through our time here on Earth, nurturing
mind-body-spirit 

World religions would separate
such inspiring life forces
to which He and She would see us bond
and nurture, yet some say we  are all of us
in ‘it’ together 

So, what is ‘it’, nurturing, inspiring,
all past-present-future,
nature and human nature learning how
to live together (or not, as the case may be)
and making history? 

Some say, God and Earth Mother
are so closely bound in spirit
and nurture that to engage with one
is to engage with the other, all part and parcel
of a common endeavour 

To each our own feeling for eternity,
a sense of spirituality
(independent of religion?) for seeing how
the kinder parts of nature and human nature
are the stuff of its poetry

 Copyright R. N. Taber, 2021

[Note: I don't relate to Pantheism simply because I'm gay, but my sexuality has certainly played its part since most world religions consider same sex relationships a sin. and would deny me the sense of  spirituality that, among other things, helps me cope with growing old, Whatever, this poem also appears on my gay-interest poetry blog today.] RT