A guide to the main distinctions

The following terms carry specific meanings in this book. Some have different meanings in the traditions discussed. These definitions clarify the book’s use without claiming to replace those traditions’ own vocabularies.

Consciousness is the presence of experience. Applied to God, the term is analogical: it points toward the living ground of knowing without claiming to describe divine psychology.

Awareness usually means knowing or noticing what is present. It can be used more broadly or as a synonym for consciousness in other contexts.

Attention is selective emphasis within experience. Its intensity does not, by itself, establish the truth or spiritual value of what receives it.

Matter means the physical order encountered through bodies, objects, and measurable relations. Its reality and its ultimate self-sufficiency are separate questions.

Epistemic priority concerns what comes first in our access to knowledge. Every observation occurs through experience. That fact alone does not establish an ontology.

Ontological priority concerns what grounds what exists. Divine priority means that the world’s existence depends on a source that does not depend on the world in the same way.

Temporal priority means occurring earlier in a sequence. It should not be confused with the dependence of time itself on its source.

Idealism is a family of positions giving mind or the mental a foundational role. Its forms differ about finite minds, divine mind, appearance, and what counts as real.

Theism affirms a divine reality. Classical theism understands God as the uncreated source of a genuinely created world. It does not automatically entail that created matter consists only of ideas.

Panpsychism gives experience or an experiential aspect a basic place in nature. It does not automatically affirm one cosmic subject or a personal Creator.

Cosmopsychism gives a cosmic subject or cosmic consciousness a foundational place. It faces the question of how finite experiential subjects relate to the whole.

Nonduality has distinct meanings in different traditions. It should never be assumed to mean that every difference is unreal in exactly the same sense.

Apophatic theology approaches the divine through the recognition that affirmations and concepts fail to encompass the divine essence. It does not require that every theological statement be meaningless.

Nous means intellect or mind in the Greek sources discussed. Its place differs across Hermetic and Neoplatonic accounts.

Atman and Brahman are central terms in the Upanishadic and Vedantic conversations about self and ultimate reality. Their relation is interpreted differently across Hindu traditions.

Khayal is imagination or image in Ibn Arabi’s vocabulary, including an intermediate dimension through which meanings and forms meet. It should not be reduced to arbitrary invention.

Ein Sof indicates the infinite in Kabbalistic discourse. It is not the name of a very large object hidden behind finite objects.

Sefirot are central to Kabbalistic accounts of divine manifestation and relation. Their interpretation varies across texts and historical settings.

Tzimtzum means contraction or withdrawal in the Lurianic account of manifestation. Its literal or nonliteral interpretation is a significant point of disagreement.

Theurgy concerns sacred action oriented toward divine participation in late antique accounts. It cannot be accurately reduced to a person’s private mental pressure upon the gods.

Kavanah concerns intention or direction of heart. The Godward Way uses it for its particular orientation toward the Father while acknowledging its Jewish setting and history.

Decentering describes a changed relation to experience in which thoughts can be recognized without automatically being identified with or obeyed.

The Bigger Eye indicates recognizing consciousness in Godward language. It is not an inner figure to visualize or an assertion that psychology has discovered a second observer inside the brain.

Catch and Offer names simultaneous recognition and Godward orientation. Whatever arises is included without being made the ultimate center of consciousness.

Divine will and a perceived command are not interchangeable. An impression of guidance, however forceful, is still encountered and interpreted through a finite person.