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Faith as Trust in the Weaving
Do you ever feel that the whole of life, including your own, consists of tatters and fragments—moments of experience, to quote Whitehead—some horrible and some beautiful? Perhaps, given the news of the day, you are overwhelmed by the horrible ones: the violence, the cruelties, the greed, the unnecessary pain, at home and abroad. And you find yourself wondering if somehow, in ways you can't understand, the fragments are woven into a larger whole—something tragically beautiful, which does not erase the pain, but gives it a meaning it might otherwise lack. You cannot be certain of this larger whole. It may not exist at all. But you find yourself hoping for it, and sometimes even trusting in it.
If you do have these feelings, you are imagining what process philosophers call the apotheosis (divinization) of the world in God. God is not separate from the larger whole you are imagining. God is not the fixed subject of a sentence to which predicates are added. God is the Weaving and the larger whole, thus woven. And we are always already inside this Weaving and the woven. We do not stand outside it. The apotheosis of the world in God completes God, even as it gives the world a meaning it might not otherwise have. To sense God in this way is more than experiencing God as a lure or, for that matter, as deep listening. More than a guide and a companion. It is sensing God as the Weaving of your life and all lives into a greater whole and knowing that all the tatters are part of this whole. To have faith is to trust in the Weaving.
- Jay McDaniel
If you do have these feelings, you are imagining what process philosophers call the apotheosis (divinization) of the world in God. God is not separate from the larger whole you are imagining. God is not the fixed subject of a sentence to which predicates are added. God is the Weaving and the larger whole, thus woven. And we are always already inside this Weaving and the woven. We do not stand outside it. The apotheosis of the world in God completes God, even as it gives the world a meaning it might not otherwise have. To sense God in this way is more than experiencing God as a lure or, for that matter, as deep listening. More than a guide and a companion. It is sensing God as the Weaving of your life and all lives into a greater whole and knowing that all the tatters are part of this whole. To have faith is to trust in the Weaving.
- Jay McDaniel
Apotheosis
We, you and I, are always in the process of being divinized, or being apotheosized, says Whitehead in Process and Reality. And so is the world around us, including the parts of it that are broken or that we don't like at all. And so are the heavens above. They are always in the process of being reformed by God and becoming part of God's ongoing life, moment by moment.
Our divinization, our apotheosis in God, is part of God's transcendence but also part of God's vulnerability. We help complete God, and without our divinization, God is incomplete. This dynamic relationship is central to Whitehead’s vision: God is not isolated in the heavens above but is instead receptive of the world’s process of becoming. As we are transformed, so too is God transformed. In this sense, God depends on the world and its creatures for God’s own fulfillment, constantly evolving along with the cosmos, and we are integral to this divine evolution. But let me back up:
We, you and I, actively bring the world we experience into a certain kind of light by perceiving it and transforming it into a vision of our own. This process is evident in both art and memory. In art, a painter like Claude Monet doesn’t merely replicate what he sees but interprets it through his own emotional and sensory lens. His Water Lilies series, for example, turns an ordinary garden pond into a dreamy, reflective world of light and color, expressing his unique inner vision. Similarly, in memory, two people may attend the same event yet remember it very differently. One might recall it as a joyful, warm family gathering, while another focuses on feelings of discomfort or tension. Their memories are shaped by their personal emotional states and perspectives, transforming a shared experience into two distinct interpretations. In both cases, whether through artistic creation or personal recollection, we don't passively receive the world—we shape it into something uniquely our own.
In process theology, the very mind of the universe—the "living whole"—also transforms the world through perception, but unlike Monet to a landscape, this living whole is not external to the universe. Instead, it is inclusive of it, as a soul is to a body, or, if you prefer, as a melody is to a symphony. Just as a melody gives structure and meaning to the symphony without being separate from it, the living whole of the universe perceives and transforms its experiences from within, continually shaping the unfolding of reality. This "living mind" is dynamically intertwined with every part of the universe, not as a distant creator but as an integral, creative force within the ongoing process of existence. It draws from the many individual experiences to form a collective, evolving vision that brings the cosmos into a unique light.
This living whole is God. In process theology, God is not an external force removed from the universe but the inclusive mind and heart of the universe itself, intimately woven into every moment of existence. Just as a soul shapes and guides the body from within, or as a melody weaves through a symphony, God perceives, experiences, and transforms the universe from within its own processes. God participates in the unfolding of reality, continuously shaping the world through divine love and creativity. Or, to say the same thing, the world participates in God and is apotheosized in the process. While we shape our personal experiences, it is God who apotheosizes the world God experiences. God elevates and transforms all of creation—its joys, sorrows, and struggles—into something richer, more meaningful, and more beautiful. This process of apotheosis is uniquely divine, where God, through continuous co-creation, weaves the universe’s complexities into a cosmic harmony that reflects the fullness of divine love and possibility.
We are never outside the living mind of the universe as mere spectators observing it from a distance in our mind's eye; instead, we are "always already" inside this mind, as clouds are always within the sky or fish are always in the ocean. The living mind is the Consciousness of the universe, and we are embedded within it, participants in its flow. Importantly, this living mind is not static or fixed, as a grammatical subject might be, where predicates can be added or subtracted while the subject remains unchanged. Instead, the living whole is in process, dynamic and evolving. This means that we can never reduce it to a fixed concept or place marker in our imaginations. It always carries an aspect of "more," a dimension beyond anything we can fully grasp or imagine. This unceasing process of becoming ensures that the universe, and God as its living mind, transcends the limits of our perceptions and understanding, continuously unfolding new possibilities and deeper meanings.
What does this mean existentially? It means that when we look at the world around us, with its multiplicities—both happy and sad, both beautiful and horrible, both peaceful and violent, both human and more-than-human—we are witnessing something that is becoming God. The world is in process, on its way toward something greater than itself. And the same applies when we look within ourselves: we are always on a journey toward something more than us, namely, our life in God. Two words can help name the "something more" that both we and the world are becoming: love and beauty.
This does not mean that every aspect of the world or ourselves can easily or automatically be rendered into something loving or beautiful. The apotheosis of the world in God—the ongoing transformation of the universe toward its divine potential—must, by necessity, transform certain elements of our lives and the world into something they are not yet. And this transformation may require some elimination: a separating of chaff from wheat, a refinement of what is necessary and good for the journey toward love and beauty. Not everything in our present experience or in the world around us can be part of the final apotheosis. Some aspects must be left behind, transformed, or transcended. Just as a field must be threshed to separate the valuable wheat from the useless chaff, our lives and the world must undergo changes that bring forth what is good and loving while discarding the parts that hinder the movement toward divine beauty. Yet, the hope and faith in process theology is that this journey is toward a deeper, richer, and more harmonious reality—toward a world and a self more fully alive in love and beauty, in God.
In short, we are not static beings nor is the world around us fixed in its current state of brokenness or joy. We are all participants in a cosmic unfolding where love and beauty are the goals, and God’s living mind—the Consciousness of the universe—guides and embraces us on this path of becoming. On our side of things, the journey may involve struggle, loss, and change. Certainly it involves fragments of experience which may be terrifying or beautiful, but which do not readily fit into what we deem completed wholes. But even the fragments are always toward something more, something divine. Thus, the world we shape through our perceptions is one of many layers, but it is God, as the living mind of the universe, who shapes and elevates all creation into something divine. We are participants in this cosmic process of becoming, never merely observers, and this process is ever-unfolding, always more than what we imagine, as God and the universe continue to grow in creative harmony. Through this unfolding, the wheat of love and beauty is nurtured, while the chaff of suffering, hatred, and injustice is gradually sifted away, as the world and ourselves are drawn toward a fuller, more divine reality.
Appetition and Apotheosis
Quotes from Process and Reality
God's immanence in the world in respect to his primordial nature is an urge towards the future based upon an appetite in the present. Appetition is at once the conceptual valuation of an immediate physical feeling combined with the urge towards realization of the datum conceptually prehended. For example, ‘thirst’ is an immediate physical feeling integrated with the conceptual prehension of its quenching. Appetition is immediate matter of fact including in itself a principle of unrest, involving realization of what is not and may be.
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The problems of the fluency of God and of the everlastingness of passing experience are solved by the same factor in the universe. This factor is the temporal world perfected by its reception and its reformation, as a fulfilment of the primordial appetition which is the basis of all order. In this way God is completed by the individual, fluent satisfactions of finite fact, and the temporal occasions are completed by their everlasting union with their transformed selves, purged into conformation with the eternal order which is the final absolute ‘wisdom,’
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God and the World stand over against each other, expressing the final metaphysical truth that appetitive vision and physical enjoyment have equal claim to priority in creation. But no two actualities can be torn apart: each is all in all. Thus each temporal temporal occasion embodies God, and is embodied in God. In God's nature, permanence is primordial and flux is derivative from the World: in the World's nature, flux is primordial and permanence is derivative from God. Also the World's nature is a primordial datum for God; and God's nature is a primordial datum for the World. Creation achieves the reconciliation of permanence and flux when it has reached its final term which is everlastingness—the Apotheosis of the World.
Whitehead, Alfred North. Process and Reality (Gifford Lectures Delivered in the University of Edinburgh During the Session 1927-28) (p. 32). Free Press. Kindle Edition.
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The problems of the fluency of God and of the everlastingness of passing experience are solved by the same factor in the universe. This factor is the temporal world perfected by its reception and its reformation, as a fulfilment of the primordial appetition which is the basis of all order. In this way God is completed by the individual, fluent satisfactions of finite fact, and the temporal occasions are completed by their everlasting union with their transformed selves, purged into conformation with the eternal order which is the final absolute ‘wisdom,’
*
God and the World stand over against each other, expressing the final metaphysical truth that appetitive vision and physical enjoyment have equal claim to priority in creation. But no two actualities can be torn apart: each is all in all. Thus each temporal temporal occasion embodies God, and is embodied in God. In God's nature, permanence is primordial and flux is derivative from the World: in the World's nature, flux is primordial and permanence is derivative from God. Also the World's nature is a primordial datum for God; and God's nature is a primordial datum for the World. Creation achieves the reconciliation of permanence and flux when it has reached its final term which is everlastingness—the Apotheosis of the World.
Whitehead, Alfred North. Process and Reality (Gifford Lectures Delivered in the University of Edinburgh During the Session 1927-28) (p. 32). Free Press. Kindle Edition.
Analogies from Human Life
Appetition, a deep longing or craving, refers to the pursuit of something, whether for physical, mental, moral, or spiritual satisfaction. Though the term originated in the 1600s and is often associated with physical desires like quenching thirst, it also encompasses broader aspirations.
In Whitehead's philosophy, even God is appetitive. God's primordial nature reflects a desire for fulfillment—not in the sense of a localized physical body needing satisfaction, but rather a felt incompleteness, a yearning, within God that can only be fulfilled through the universe, which functions as God's body. God's feelings, or "prehendings," of the world are akin to physical sensations, reflecting a deep, embodied connection with the universe. Through this dynamic relationship, God's creative desires find expression and fulfillment, as the universe serves as the medium for divine realization.
There are many analogies in human life to this divinization process:
In Whitehead's philosophy, even God is appetitive. God's primordial nature reflects a desire for fulfillment—not in the sense of a localized physical body needing satisfaction, but rather a felt incompleteness, a yearning, within God that can only be fulfilled through the universe, which functions as God's body. God's feelings, or "prehendings," of the world are akin to physical sensations, reflecting a deep, embodied connection with the universe. Through this dynamic relationship, God's creative desires find expression and fulfillment, as the universe serves as the medium for divine realization.
There are many analogies in human life to this divinization process:
- Art and Creation: When an artist creates a work of art—whether it be a painting, a poem, or a musical composition—they transform external experiences, emotions, and perceptions into something deeply personal. The artwork becomes an expression of the artist's inner life, yet it remains a distinct entity that can be appreciated and experienced by others. In this sense, the artist "divinizes" the world around them by transforming it into something that embodies their own spirit while allowing the creation to exist independently.
- Parenting: In the relationship between a parent and a child, the parent often sees the child as an extension of themselves, feeling a deep emotional and spiritual connection. The child's growth, successes, and challenges become part of the parent's inner life, shaping their emotions and identity. Yet, the child remains a separate, unique individual with their own experiences and development. The parent’s relationship with the child transforms the parent's life, much as the universe transforms God’s inner life in Whitehead’s framework.
- Love and Relationships: In a loving relationship, each person becomes deeply intertwined with the other’s inner world. Their partner’s joys, sorrows, and personal growth are felt intimately, as if part of their own experience. Yet, both individuals remain distinct, separate beings. The relationship transforms both people, enriching their inner lives and fostering mutual growth, similar to how the universe contributes to God's divine realization.
- Teaching and Mentorship: When a teacher or mentor guides a student, they shape and inspire the student's development, integrating aspects of the student's progress, struggles, and achievements into their own sense of purpose and fulfillment. The student's growth becomes part of the teacher's inner life, enriching it, while the student retains their individuality. This mirrors the way the universe, as it unfolds, becomes a part of God's ongoing inner transformation.
- Memory and Reflection: Our memories of past experiences are constantly transformed within our minds. We take moments from our lives—events, relationships, or even sights and sounds—and integrate them into our inner world, shaping who we are. These memories remain distinct events, but through reflection, they become part of our personal identity and sense of self, much like the universe is transformed into part of God's inner life.