From One to Many: Navigating the Landscape of Monistic and Theistic Mystical Traditions

Defining the Terrain: What Is Monism? What Is Theism?

Mystical traditions across the world offer two primary frameworks through which seekers encounter the Divine: monism, which emphasizes unity, and theism, which emphasizes relationship. These two paradigms represent more than theological abstraction—they profoundly shape how practitioners interpret reality, engage with the sacred, and live ethical lives.

At their core, these frameworks pose two essential questions: Is ultimate reality one or personal? And can the soul merge with the Divine, or only enter into loving communion?

Monism: The All-Encompassing One

Monism is the belief that all things originate from, and ultimately return to, a single unified reality. It is often associated with mystical traditions that perceive differentiation—between self and other, God and world—as illusory. This concept can be further broken down into two broad categories:

Materialistic Monism: The view that all phenomena arise from matter or physical substance. Reality is fundamentally material, and consciousness itself is reducible to physical processes. This view aligns with secular humanism, physicalism, and atheistic philosophical systems[^1].
Spiritual Monism: This view asserts that reality is ultimately consciousness or spirit, and the material world is an expression or illusion of that single spiritual source. Often, this form of monism emphasizes non-duality and the dissolution of ego as the pathway to truth[^2].

Monism in World Religions

Hinduism: The Advaita Vedanta school, articulated by Adi Shankaracharya (8th century CE), teaches that Atman (the individual soul) is identical to Brahman (the absolute reality). The multiplicity of forms and beings is considered maya, or illusion. Liberation (moksha) is attained through realizing this fundamental non-duality[^3].
Buddhism: While traditionally avoiding metaphysical assertions, certain interpretations—particularly in Madhyamaka and Yogacara schools—suggest a unifying emptiness (śūnyatā) or a luminous awareness that underlies all phenomena. Though not explicitly monistic, this emphasis on interdependent arising and the illusory nature of the self has parallels with spiritual monism[^4].
Daoism: In Daoist thought, particularly the Dao De Jing, the Dao (Way) is the source of all existence—eternal, formless, and beyond distinction. The sage aligns with the Dao by moving in harmony with its rhythms, echoing monistic unity with an impersonal absolute[^5].

Theism: Encountering the Divine Other

Theism, by contrast, upholds a distinction between Creator and creation. God is understood not only as the source of all being but as a personal, conscious, and relational being. Theism can take various forms:

Monotheism: Belief in one supreme, personal God, as found in Christianity, Islam, and Judaism.
Polytheism: Belief in multiple gods, often with a hierarchy or specialization, as seen in ancient Greek, Roman, and Hindu traditions.
Pantheism: Identifies God with the universe itself. It blends theism and monism, seeing the cosmos as divine.
Panentheism: Maintains that God is in all things but also transcends them—a common view in Christian mysticism.
Deism: A view popular during the Enlightenment, holding that God created the universe but does not intervene in it[^6].

Theism in Religious Traditions

Christianity, Judaism, and Islam: All three Abrahamic religions hold to monotheism. God is a personal being, distinct from the world yet immanently involved through revelation, prophecy, and covenant. Scripture is the means of divine self-disclosure, and prayer, worship, and obedience are means of relationship[^7].
Hinduism: While some schools promote monism, Bhakti traditions such as Vaishnavism and Shaivism are deeply theistic. God is worshiped as Krishna, Shiva, or Devi—personal deities with whom devotees form loving relationships.
Indigenous Religions: Many indigenous traditions emphasize a deeply relational, theistic worldview, where deities, spirits, and ancestors interact with the world and its inhabitants in dynamic ways.

Mysticism: Union vs. Communion

Mysticism is the experiential dimension of religion—the direct encounter with the sacred. Here, the contrast between monistic and theistic approaches becomes most vivid.

Monistic Mysticism

Goal: Realization of oneness with the Absolute.
Method: Meditation, non-dual awareness, ego transcendence.
Key Traditions: Advaita Vedanta, certain strands of Buddhism, Sufi metaphysics (e.g., Ibn Arabi’s wahdat al-wujud).
Core Insight: The world is illusion, and only the One is real. The mystic dissolves into the ocean of being, like a drop merging with the sea[^8].

Theistic Mysticism

Goal: Intimacy and communion with a personal God.
Method: Prayer, love, surrender, grace.
Key Traditions: Christian mystical theology, Jewish Kabbalah, Islamic Sufism (in its more devotional expressions).
Core Insight: Though God is transcendent, the soul can encounter the Divine in love and worship without dissolving into it[^9].

Christianity: A Theistic Framework with Monistic Echoes

Christian mysticism is firmly rooted in theistic belief—a personal God revealed in Jesus Christ. Yet, Christian mystics have often described experiences that seem monistic in tone:

St. Teresa of Ávila speaks of the soul as a crystal in which God dwells, reflecting the light of the Divine from within[^10].
St. John of the Cross describes mystical union as a “living flame of love” that consumes the soul in divine intimacy, transcending language and thought[^11].
Meister Eckhart, a controversial figure in medieval Christian theology, wrote of the “Godhead” beyond God, where the soul and divine essence become one—a vision that borders on non-duality[^12].

In contemplative states, Christian mystics sometimes report a profound loss of self, a radical inward silence, and a unitive presence that resembles Advaita Vedanta or Buddhist enlightenment. However, Christian doctrine insists on the distinction between Creator and creation. Thus, union never becomes identity; the soul remains distinct, even in its deepest communion.

Bridging the Divide: Integration and Tension

While often seen as opposing views, monism and theism can coexist within mystical traditions. For example:

In Sufism, some followers (like Rumi or Al-Hallaj) speak of total union, while others emphasize love and longing for the Beloved.
In Christian mysticism, there are moments of radical silence and stillness that resemble monistic detachment, followed by renewal of intimate, theistic devotion.

Ultimately, the experiential horizon of mysticism often transcends doctrinal boundaries. Language fails, and what remains is awe, surrender, and transformation. The mystic touches the ineffable mystery—whether One or Personal—with reverence and joy.

Footnotes

[^1]: Bertrand Russell, A History of Western Philosophy (Simon & Schuster, 1945).
[^2]: Aldous Huxley, The Perennial Philosophy (Harper & Row, 1945).
[^3]: Adi Shankaracharya, Vivekachudamani, trans. Swami Madhavananda (Advaita Ashrama, 2008).
[^4]: Nagarjuna, Mulamadhyamakakarika, trans. Jay Garfield (Oxford University Press, 1995).
[^5]: Lao Tzu, Dao De Jing, trans. Stephen Mitchell (Harper Perennial, 1988).
[^6]: Peter Gay, The Enlightenment: An Interpretation (Norton, 1966).
[^7]: Abraham Joshua Heschel, God in Search of Man (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1955).
[^8]: Ibn Arabi, The Bezels of Wisdom, trans. R.W.J. Austin (Paulist Press, 1980).
[^9]: Evelyn Underhill, Mysticism (Dover Publications, 2002).
[^10]: Teresa of Ávila, The Interior Castle, trans. E. Allison Peers (Dover Publications, 2007).
[^11]: John of the Cross, The Living Flame of Love, trans. Kieran Kavanaugh and Otilio Rodriguez (ICS Publications, 2000).
[^12]: Meister Eckhart, Selected Writings, trans. Oliver Davies (Penguin Classics, 1994).