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The Tenderness of God's Indifference

​A Note on Whitehead and the Bhagavad Gita
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​A unique and sometimes unrecognized side of Whitehead's philosophy is its recognition that there is a side of God which is, in Whitehead's words, "unmoved by love" and "indifferent to particulars." See below for the quotes. This side of God not the whole of God, but it is part of God, and an important part at that. He speaks of it as the primordial nature of God.

How to think about it? I turn to Chapter 11 of the Bhagavad Gita. where Krishna tenderly reveals himself to Arjuna as overwhelmingly powerful and all inclusive: million-armed with the sun and moon as his eyeballs, including life and death plus more, and far beyond Krishna's imagination.

I say tenderly reveals himself because, in fact, Krishna is offering Arjuna pastoral counsel. He is helping Arjuna do his duty, without attachment to the consequences of his actions. In this way he frees Krishna from undue self-concern. Krishna awakens to the fact that life is about more than him.

Sometimes, it seems to me, the best thing that can happen to us to to recognize, along with Krishna, that we are not the center of the universe and that the universe unfolds, in life and death, even apart from our private self-preoccupations. We are liberated by the tenderness of God's indifference.

​- Jay McDaniel

Whitehead and the Bhagavad Gita

Whitehead writes that the primordial nature of God is unmoved by love for specified particulars, and indifferent to preservation and novelty. In God's primordial nature, God's only appetite is for intensity of experience. Whitehead later adds that this side of God is deficient in actuality until completed by the consequent nature of God, which is characterized by tenderness and love. Here God becomes the great companion, a fellow sufferer who understands and who lures creatures toward their own well-being. But Whitehead never retracts the idea that there is a side of God which is indifferent and unmoved by love.

Process theologians typically emphasize the loving side of God. They ignore the indifferent side of God or present it as merely abstract. It is not of religious significance.

This neglect may be a mistake. For some people in situations of distress, one of the most important things they can do is to recognize that they are not the center of the universe, that life unfolds - that ultimate reality unfolds - on its own terms, quite apart from their situation, and that this unfolding includes death. The very recognition lifts a burden, What frees them is not the image of a great companion who points back to them, but a great indifference that relieves them of the burden of being the center. They feel part of something much larger that is not about them or, for that matter, about life on earth.

​This is one way of appreciating the theophany in Chapter 11 of the Bhagavad Gita. The Bhagavad Gita is a Hindu scripture that recounts the conversation between the warrior Arjuna and Lord Krishna, who appears as his charioteer. The theophany refers to the moment when Lord Krishna reveals his true divine form to Arjuna, which is described in the eleventh chapter of the text.

During the theophany, Lord Krishna shows Arjuna his universal form, which encompasses all of creation, including the past, present, and future. Arjuna sees the form with countless eyes, faces, and arms, and is overwhelmed by its magnitude and power. He sees that all living beings are entering into and being destroyed in this form, and that everything in the universe is ultimately a manifestation of the divine.

In process theology as influenced by Whitehead, the universe is not a manifestation of the divine. It is a manifestation of a formless creativity what is actual through its self-creative and relational instances, which Whitehead calls 'actual entities.' The primordial nature of God is, for Whitehead, the primordial and timeless expression of this creativity, but not the only expression. All entities in the universe are likewise expressions of it. Creativity is similar to Aristotle's prime matter, says Whitehead, except devoid of the notion of passivity. It is the ultimate reality and the primordial nature of God is its first and most fundamental expression.

The primordial nature makes a "decision" to order pure potentialities (eternal objects) so that a universe can emerge and this decision can be interpreted as an act of love. God wants there to be something besides God. However, the decision is not made in relation to any particular actual entity and is, says Whitehead, unmoved by love. It is an explosion of divine creativity, rooted in a divine appetition, a divine hunger, for intensity. 

The universe of which we are a part, including its galactic dimensions, are means by which God's hunger for intensity is satisfied. And if there are worlds apart from these three dimensions, some of which include gods and goddesses, they, too, are means by which the divine hunger is satisfied. 

In Chapter 11 we read:

"Ah, my God, I see all gods within your body; each in his degree, the multitude of creatures; see Lord Brahma throned upon the lotus; see all the sages, and the holy serpents. Universal Form, I see you without limit, Infinite of arms, eyes, mouths and bellies— see, and find no end, midst, or beginning. Crowned with diadems, you wield the mace and discus, shining every way—the eyes shrink from your splendor Brilliant like the sun; like fire, blazing, boundless. You are all we know, supreme, beyond man’s measure. This world’s sure-set plinth and refuge never shaken, Guardian of eternal law, life’s Soul undying. Birthless, deathless; yours the strength titanic. Million-armed, the sun and moon your eyeballs, Fiery-faced, you blast the world to ashes…"

To repeat: This is not the whole of God. In Whitehead the tender side of God is critical and perhaps even more critical. But it is itself incomplete unless complemented by the indifferent side of God. Both are real in Whitehead. And both are real in the Bhagavad Gita. After all, Krishna is offering advice to Arjuna. He cares about Arjuna. He wants to encourage Arjuna to do his duty without attachment to consequences, and thus be liberated. This is itself an act of love. But in the act itself, he reveals a birthless and deathless side of his own reality, blazing and boundless. And more, so much more, than any battle we might see on earth.

- Jay McDaniel

​Whitehead on the Indifference of God
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The primordial appetitions which jointly constitute God's purpose are seeking intensity, and not preservation. Because they are primordial, there is nothing to preserve. He, in his primordial nature, is unmoved by love for this particular, or that particular; for in this foundational process of creativity, there are no preconstituted particulars. In the foundations of his being, God is indifferent alike to preservation and to novelty.  He cares not whether an immediate occasion be old or new, so far as concerns derivation from its ancestry. His aim for it is depth of satisfaction as an intermediate step towards the fulfilment of his own being. His tenderness is directed towards each actual occasion, as it arises. Thus God's purpose in the creative advance is the evocation of intensities. The evocation of societies is purely subsidiary to this absolute end.
 
Whitehead, Alfred North. Process and Reality (Gifford Lectures Delivered in the University of Edinburgh During the Session 1927-28)

Whitehead on the Tenderness of God
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The image— and it is but an image— the image under which this operative growth of God's nature is best conceived, is that of a tender care that nothing be lost.

By reason of this reciprocal relation, the love in the world passes into the love in heaven, and floods back again into the world. In this sense, God is the great companion— the fellow-sufferer who understands.

The history of theistic philosophy exhibits various stages of combination of these three diverse ways of entertaining the problem. There is, however, in the Galilean origin of Christianity yet another suggestion which does not fit very well with any of the three main strands of thought. It does not emphasize the ruling Caesar, or the ruthless moralist, or the unmoved mover. It dwells upon the tender elements in the world, which slowly and in quietness operate by love; and it finds purpose in the present immediacy of a kingdom not of this world. Love neither rules, nor is it unmoved; also it is a little oblivious as to morals. It does not look to the future; for it finds its own reward in the immediate present.

Whitehead, Alfred North. Process and Reality 

The Bhagavad Gita:
a scholarly discussion

The Bhagavad Gita didn't start life as an exclusively religious text but over the two thousand years since it was composed the verses have taken on many different layers of meaning. For millions of Hindus today, the Gita has a similar scriptural status to the Quran for Muslims or the Bible for Christians. In the 20th century, others have seen the Gita as a guide to management strategy, a tool for self-help and even a call to arms for Indian independence in the face of British colonial rule. The story begins on a battlefield with the warrior Prince Arjuna suffering a breakdown. As warring families line up on opposing sides, Arjuna appeals to his charioteer Krishna for help in overcoming this existential crisis. In the 700 verses which follow, Krishna presents his friend with three options: the paths of action, knowledge and devotion. Joining Bridget is Professor Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad from the University of Lancaster in the UK, Professor Angelika Malinar from the University of Zürich, Switzerland, and from the US Professor Richard Davis, the author of The Bhagavad Gita: A Biography. 

​Dharma, Karma, Moksha,
​Atman and Brahman

The Bhagavad Gita contains important teachings and philosophies that can be understood, interpreted, and appreciated with help from ideas in process philosophy. 

1. Dharma: The concept of dharma is central to the Bhagavad Gita. It refers to one's duty, responsibility, or role in life. The Gita emphasizes the importance of fulfilling one's dharma and doing one's duty without attachment to the outcome. Here "duty" can be compared to Whitehead's idea that, at the beginning of each experience, there is an "initial phase of the subjective aim" which is the best possibility for the situation at hand, linking a person with the wider needs of the world and universe, relative to his or her situation. Dharma is "duty" in the moment at hand.
2. Karma: Karma refers to the idea that every action has a consequence, and that these consequences will affect the individual in the present life or future lives. The Gita teaches that one should perform actions without attachment to the results and with a focus on doing what is right. In process philosophy, "karma" can be understood as the influence of past decisions (personal and collective) on the present, and also as the influence that our decisions in the present will have the future. In ethical behavior, we take these influences into account, responding to our "dharma" in the moment, without attachment to consequences. We do what is "right" and "loving" because it is "right" and "loving."
3. Moksha: Moksha is the ultimate goal of Hinduism and refers to liberation from the cycle of birth and death. The Gita teaches that one can achieve moksha through the practice of yoga, which includes the paths of knowledge, action, and devotion. In process philosophy moksha can be understood as a form of fulfillment which yields awareness, consciousness, and vitality through a relinquishment or dropping away of the finite ego. It resembles the Peace of which Whitehead speaks in Adventures of Ideas: a peace that surpasses personality.
4. Atman and Brahman: The Gita teaches that the true self, or atman, is identical to the universal self, or Brahman. This means that each individual is connected to the divine and that all beings are ultimately one. In a process context the oneness need not mean sameness; it means instead the seamless web of interdependence of which humans are a part. This seamless web is in fact the self of each entity: each moment is a concrescence of the universe.​

​Overall, the Bhagavad Gita emphasizes the importance of fulfilling one's duty, performing actions without attachment, and seeking liberation from the cycle of birth and death through the practice of yoga. It also teaches the unity of all beings and the importance of cultivating purity and goodness. A Process Hinduism affirms much the same.

Hindu Process Theology

I am Become Death,
Destroyer of Worlds
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