The supreme being of classical Theism is unlimited in power, knowledge and goodness, a being distinct from the world who creates it out of nothing and governs it from beyond.

On this picture, we're not identical with God. God's consciousness

is not our consciousness and our identity is not theirs either. That picture has long been

challenged by schools of Hindu philosophy and, more recently, by Western philosophies of religion

that reject traditional conceptions of God. In response to the problem of evil,

for example, some philosophers now argue that if there is a creator, then that creator must

be limited in power. Adwiter's challenge is more radical. It doesn't just revise traditional

conceptions of God, but dissolves them, where classical theism draws a sharp distinction between God

and the world, Adwiter says that reality is non-dual. The divine is not something separate from us,

or the universe, but the underlying reality that appears as both. To explore these competing

visions of the supreme being, I'm joined by three guests.

Returning to the pan-psychast for the fifth time is Philip Goff, Professor of Philosophy at Durham University.

As listeners will remember, Philip is the author of several brilliant books, including Galileo's error, and more recently, Why, the Purpose of the Universe.

David Godman is a leading author, best known

for his work on the Hindu sage, Sri Ramana Marahashi. And last but not least, Miri al-Bahari

is senior lecturer at the University of Western Australia, where her work explores the

metaphysics and epistemology of Buddhism and Adwiter Vedanta.

What is gained and what is lost when God is no longer unlimited or is no longer separate

from the world? Can these alternatives still ground mind, meaning and morality? And by what means

could we come to know such a reality and decide between these rival conceptions of God?

Hello and welcome to episode 152 of the Pan Scicast.

I'm The Minds, that is Jack Symes, and I'm delighted to be joined once again by the man

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