This is fundamentally incorrect. As far as Judeo-Christian theology is concerned, there is a clear distinction between God and creation.
Incidentally, this is also why Spinoza (a Sephardic Jew and monist) was excommunicated.
This is fundamentally incorrect. As far as Judeo-Christian theology is concerned, there is a clear distinction between God and creation.
Incidentally, this is also why Spinoza (a Sephardic Jew and monist) was excommunicated.
He means that Christianity canonically differentiates a Creator (God) and that which was created (universe, people, etc). So, this person or tree is not God, nor is it an aspect of God.
What I read is the act of _creating_ not _what_is_created_
But I could obviously be wrong.
This is not, for the most part, what Christians philosophically believe. For example, evil, which is certainly a part of our universe is most definitely not a part of God; God is metaphysicsl whilst the universe is physical; the universe is temporal, God is not; etc.
This is what I mean by there is a "clear distinction" between the two. Monism, by definition, argues that "everything is one".
Furthermore this is getting into some of the areas of theological not philosophical or logical interpretation.
In order for any of what you say to make sense I have to buy the idea of god to begin with which I don't and even if I did it's quite obvious that the attempt to make the distinction isn't grounded in reasoning which is fine since it's religion.
The distinction is grounded in logic, per Spinoza (and later Leibnitz, who was also a monist and wrote the famous Monadology).
I don't mean to sound dismissive, but it really sounds like you need to do some serious reading to gain some domain knowledge before jumping in this kind of discussion. You can start by looking at the SEP page: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/monism/
I know very well what monism means so don't worry about how much I read on that account.
Of course monism can mean there is only one supreme being if that supreme being is being said to be the creator of the world we exist in. It's just a matter of definition. And again the objection to the quote is the primary center for this discussion and in that context it's not clear exactly what is meant with creation.
Keep in mind that monism doesn't even require an "intellect" (or supreme being, as you refer to it). Instead, it is a theory about the relationship between physical and metaphysical substance(s).