Deism, as defined by Dr. Michael Arnheim, is the “belief in an impersonal creator God who does not become involved in the day-to-day affairs of the world.”[1] The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language defines it as, “A religious belief holding that God created the universe and established rationally comprehensible moral and natural laws but does not intervene in human affairs through miracles or supernatural revelation.”
I describe my spiritual path as Zen Deism. For me, it’s a natural blending of contemplative practice with the Deist commitment to reason, observation, and a non-personal understanding of the divine. Instead of following a revealed deity or a fixed religious system, I orient myself toward what I call the Transpersonal Rational Ground of Being. This is not a god who speaks through scriptures or institutions.
I am not drawn to rigid dogma or religious authority. I know how much I don’t know. Zen Deism gives me room to breathe. It lets me explore spirituality without surrendering my intellect or my direct experience. My practice centers on personal transformation, ethical living, and a mindful connection to God—not on creeds or rituals.
The Seven Affirmations of Zen Deism
The Seven Affirmations of Zen Deism sets out seven principles for a rational spiritual path that updates classical Deism with current knowledge. It affirms personal responsibility, reason and evidence, an open-minded search for truth, reverence for God as the source of existence, universal benevolence, and the role of natural and moral laws, karma, rebirth, and spiritual practices and experiences. Read The seven Affirmations of Zen Deism to explore its principles in full.
Learn, Don’t Cling
Zen Deism also helps me understand what my path is not. It isn’t traditional religion; there’s no clergy, no temple, no dogma. My personal motto is: Learn from all, but cling to none.
Zen Deism isn’t pure Deism, because I don’t stop at intellectual belief. I also cultivate a spirituality that includes a sense of cosmic consciousness, a feeling of awe in nature, and a deep connection to the present moment. I freely acknowledge the Divine in the various religious traditions.
In the end, Zen Deism feels like a form of rational mysticism. It’s a way for me to explore who I am, what reality is, and how I relate to God and the universe. Through disciplined awareness and mindful presence, I walk a contemplative path that feels honest, grounded, and deeply alive.
Albert Einstein Quote
“I am not an atheist. I do not know if I can define myself as a pantheist. The problem involved is too vast for our limited minds. We are in the position of a little child entering a huge library whose walls are covered to the ceiling with books in many different tongues. The child knows that someone must have written those books. It does not know who or how. It does not understand the languages in which they are written. The child notes a definite plan in the arrangement of the books—a mysterious order, which it does not comprehend, but only dimly suspects. That, it seems to me, is the attitude of even the most intelligent human being toward God. We see a universe marvelously arranged, obeying certain laws, but only dimly understand these laws. Our limited minds grasp the mysterious force that sways the constellations.”[2]
Charles Darwin Quote
“There seems to me too much misery in the world. I cannot persuade myself that a beneficent and omnipotent God would have designedly created the Ichneumonidae with the express intention of their feeding within the living bodies of Caterpillars, or that a cat should play with mice. Not believing this, I see no necessity in the belief that the eye was expressly designed. On the other hand, I cannot anyhow be contented to view this wonderful universe, and especially the state of man, and to conclude that everything is the result of brute force. I am inclined to look at everything as resulting from designed laws, with the details, whether good or bad, left to the working out of what we may call Chance. Not that this notion at all satisfies me. I feel most deeply that the whole subject is too profound for the human intellect. A dog might as well speculate on the mind of Newton.”[3]
Endnotes
1. Michael Arnheim, “God Without Religion” in Pandeism: An Anthology (Winchester, UK: iff Books, 2017), 157.
2. Albert Einstein, interview with George Sylvester Viereck, Glimpses of the Great (New York: Macaulay, 1930). Emphasis added.
3. Charles Darwin, letter to Asa Gray, May 22, 1860, in The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin, ed. Francis Darwin (London: John Murray, 1887), 312. Emphasis added.