I'm a panentheist, so I'll post some quotes.
You already mentioned Eurigena- I love the old Celtic Christians. Their beliefs are much like my own. Creation and humanity is seen as essentially good; though sometimes clouded by evil and wrong-doing, the God-given core of goodness cannot be undone by anything. And so Christ and the Church is to lead us back into the deepest part of ourselves, rather than outward into new frontiers, to bring us back to God. God is perceived, then, to be immanent in all creation, including us. Erugina basically said that "goodness is not an attribute of being; rather being is an attribute of goodness... goodness is not simply a feature of life but gives rise to life... nothing in nature is evil in itself. If we become evil, we are acting contrary to our essential nature" (Newell). Thus the answer to evil is not to look away from life, and seek to escape it, but rather to look further within ourselves and all life- to face the darkness within and, through the grace of God, overcome it to arrive at the inner divine light deep in our souls.
We then recognize the Presence of God within us, and in others, and the unity of ourselves and All that is.
In form you are the microcosm;
in reality you are the macrocosm.
-Mathnawi [IV, 521] // Islam
For the Self is everything.
When the seeker knows this,
He falls silent.
He no longer thinks,
"I am this, I am not that."
Such thoughts melt away.
-Ashtavakra Gita 18:9 // Hinduism
Indeed, if God is the Life behind all life, the Being behind all being, we cannot not be in God's Presence, though we can choose not to recognize it. The Living God is literally living- in us, and through us, and beyond us.
"We want to worship a living God. I have not seen anything but God all my life, nor have you. To see this chair you first see God, and then the chair in and through Him. He is everywhere, saying “I am.” The moment you feel “I am,” you are conscious of Existence. Where shall we go to find God if we cannot see him in our own hearts and in every living being?"
- Vivekananda // Hinduism
Pelagius believed that the life of God can be glimpsed through the goodness of creation and heaven and earth were entwined: "everywhere narrow shafts of divine light pierce the veil that separates heaven from earth." All life was perceived as beautiful and containing the Spirit of God: "Look at the animals roaming the forest. God's spirit dwells within them. Look at the birds flying across the sky: god's spirit dwells within them. Look at the tiny insects crawling in the grass: God's spirit dwells within them... There is no creature on earth in whom God is abset... When God pronounced that his creation was good, it was not only that his hand had fashioned every creature; it was that his breath had brought every creature to life. Look too at the great trees of the forest; look at the wild flowers and the grass in the fields; look even at your crops. God's spirit is present within all plants as well. The presence of God's spirit in all living things is what makes them beautiful; and if we look with God's eyes, nothing on the earth is ugly."
Or, as one lovely Hindu
teaching put it:
"The world is the wheel of God, turning round
And round with all living creatures upon its rim.
The world is the river of God,
Flowing from him and flowing back to him."
-Shvetashvatara Upanishad // Hinduism
Interestingly, when we believe that all created contain the spirit of God, our society of "people" opens up to include all living creatures and beyond, rather than only human beings. So Christ's command to "love neighbor as self" is expanded to mean all living beings. Furthermore, there is an understanding of Christ as fulfilling the true inseparable nature of heaven and earth, human and divine. Jesus Christ is the example of one who manifested fully and solely the divine nature within, the example of our truest selves- the self we should strive to become. As Brooke Westcott said, "We see in the risen Christ the end for which man was made, and the assurance that the end is within our reach." I do not know if she meant such a statement as I interpret it, but it is a profound thought. This awakening of the self to one's true nature, and commitment to reach this lofty potential is found in many religions: "The body will be turned by the power of the spiritual consciousness into a true and fit and perfectly responsive instrument of the Spirit"
-Sri Aurobindo // Hinduism.
Overall, Celtic Christianity united the Word in the scriptures and the Word in nature. Combining Christianity with its Druidic/Pagan roots, it became monotheist but retained a sense of enchantment of life. The everyday, the ordinary was thoroughly pervaded by God's spirit, and the spiritual realm was not distant at all, but close as one's next heartbeat. Thus, the spiritual life of the people reflected such unity of heaven and earth, God and humanity, and nature and humanity. Celtic artwork, with never-ending knots and spirals, reflects the mystery of "eternal interweaving of heaven and earth, time and eternity- the immediacy of God in all created life" (Newell). Celtic prayers reflect a union of nature and God, and a reflection on the personal spiritual nature of all creation, as well as a sense of the significance of the mundane. No time or space is not sacred, and none is beyond the grace of God. Human prayer joined the prayers of all creation, giving glory to God. One Celtic woman explained: "My mother would be asking us to sing our morning song to God... as Mary's lark was singing it up in the clouds, and as Christ's mavis was singing it yonder in the tree, giving glory to the God of the creatures for the repose of the night, for the light of the day, and for the joy of life." There was nothing in creation that was not essentially good and part of God's reach, even our own bodies and sexuality.
Ultimately, it is we who separate ourselves from God- and we only perceive it to be so. When we turn toward God- by turning outward toward creation, or inward toward our deepest selves, or peering beyond in scripture- we can catch a glimpse of the greatness of God, and His all-encompassing embrace. And feeling the warmth of this loving embrace, whether in the joy of our own life, or His glory in creation, or in sacred text and ritual- we in turn long to return to Him and embrace the mystery. We have a moment, even if fleeting, of being at one with the All and of coming closer to our own potential, and we know, deep down in our souls even if our brains cannot really comprehend or express it, that beyond all distinction lies this Unity.
"If you are confused, there are a thousand differentiations, ten thousand distinctions. If you are enlightened, everything is the same one family."
-Wu-chien // Buddhism
"There is only one way to know the Self,
And that is to realize him yourself.
The ignorant think the Self can be known
By the intellect, but the illumined
Know he is beyond the duality
Of the knower and the known."
-Kena Upanishad // Hinduism
Beyond the intellect, the brain- there is illumination, divine revelation, the communication between the soul and God. We need only acknowledge and embrace it. And then we see, in startling clarity, the joy and glory in everything around us. Our souls become unfettered, free to dance in the moonlight and rejoice in the sunlight, to lift our voices in praise in the great symphony of the All, and to love the divinity manifest in all life, in our family of humanity, animals, plants, elements, and stars. We come to recognize the wonder of every atom of existence, and to marvel at the fellowship we can have with all that is.
