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Omnipresence is the ability to be present in every place at any, and/or every, time; unbounded or universal presence. It is related to the concept of ubiquity, the ability to be everywhere at a certain point in time.
This characteristic is most commonly used in a religious context, as most doctrines bestow the trait of omnipresence unto a superior, usually a deity commonly referred to as a god or goddess by monotheists. This idea differs from Pantheism in that an Omnipresent Divine is implied to be more aware and engaged whereas the Pantheistic Divine is literally the essence with which creation is made.
Brahmanism, and other religions that derive from it, incorporate the theory of transcendental omnipresence which differs greatly from the traditional meaning of the word. This theory defines a universal and fundamental substance, which is the source of all physical existence, but which is unrelated to the fact that we exist. If a being ceases to exist, the structure of the world remains unchanged, but if the "it" somehow ceases to exist, existence as a whole would end in the traditional sense of the word, but the transcendental existence would remain.
Some argue that omniprescence is a derived characteristic: an omniscient and omnipotent deity knows every thing and can be and act every where, simultaneously. Others propound a deity as having the "Three O's", including omnipresence as a unique characteristic of the deity. Most Christian denominations — following theology standardized by the Nicene Creed — expand upon the concept of omnipresence in the form of the Trinity, by having three omnipresent deities (each infinite) that are said to be Three in One.
Historical origins
A common misconception is that the ancient Israelites worshipped an omnipresent deity. The Torah states that, 'Heavenly Father sees all' (a novel concept at the time), but also portrays the deity in a bodily form, such as when the deity wrestles with Jacob or has supper with Abraham, or Jonah tries to flee from the deity. As late as the Book of Ezekiel (550 BCE), the Lord of Hosts comes from the Heavens in a Chariot of Fire. One of the largest historical conundrums in the Judeo-Christian dialogue was that the Jews of the 1st Century CE had no concept of an omnipresent deity. Through the concept of the Trinity, the ancient, Judaic, localized deity morphs into an omnipresent one by the inclusion of the Holy Spirit. Ancient Christians demonstrate their Vedic roots, as the Vedic religion of the 1st Century was the only predominant omnipresent religion in the entire Old World, through the adoption of the deity's omnipresence. This connection may come from the Essenes, a mysterious cult that some claim is intimately connected with John the Baptist, Jesus' mentor.
Many ancient people, such as the "advanced" cultures such as Babylon, Greece and Rome did not worship an omnipresent being, while most paleothic Native Americans, the Indian Vedics, and early Christians did. These all arise from a particular worldview not shared among mono-local deity cultures: All omnipresent religions see the whole of Existence as a manifestation of the deity. There are two predominant viewpoints here: pantheism, deity is the summation of Existence; and panentheism, deity is an emergent property of Existence. The first is closest to the Native Americans' worldview, the latter resembles the Judeo-Christian/Vedic outlooks, most accurately portrayed through Colossians 1:17 and 18:
17 he * is before all things, and in him all things consist. (ASV) 18 And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.
Panentheistic beliefs tend to universally have omnipresent deities because if the deity is everything, then the deity is everywhere by default.
A major issue
While the majority of Christians consider their deity omnipresent, some find difficulty pondering the absoluteness of their deity's omnipresence because Hell is both a place and is also the absolute separation from God, presenting a paradox. Can a deity be both omnipresent and absent from Hell?
If a deity is in all places, then that deity must be part of all things. At the very least, the emptiness that makes up the vast majority of space in atoms and particles. In trying to rectify such paradoxes, Christian apologists of the Middle Ages found even more paradoxes, the most important being Associated Consent; how a deity that was omnipresent could simultaneously be wholly good; as they would of necessity be part of what is evil as well, such as Hell. Thomas Aquinas solved the issue for most people when he stated, evil cannot have an essential cause, or rather that no one commits an evil act for a purely evil motive: there is always some good to be aimed for, even if it one's goals are selfish. This good, no matter how small or short-sighted, is where the deity resides in any given act.
Another view describes hell as not a place, but the psychical torment of a deity-hating soul finding itself in an afterlife where the deity's omnipresence is more clearly perceived than when the soul was bound within a body.
Noteworthy exceptions
Changes in religious demographics globally and through history have essentially replaced personal localised deities with religion based on omnipresent deities. However not all modern religions ascribe omnipresent attributes to their deity, for example:
- Islam — Belief in an omnipresent Allah (the deity in Islam) was arguably lost in the mid-800s because of the positioning of its apologists in their philosophical dissertations in opposition to the Christian Trinity. However, this is probably a misconception because theologians see that deity as being "not part of the universe" (i.e: not bound by space or time) and also as nearer to the person than his jugular vein. An excerpt from Islamic concept of god article is like this:
- God is omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient, while at the same time above and outside of all creation. He is said to be "in Heaven" (Qur'an 67:16) and "in the heavens and the earth" (Qur'an 66:3), but also said to be "nearer to him * than his jugular vein" (Qur'an 50:16); He constantly watches all that goes on in the world, and knows all things.
- The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints — While Christianity almost universally ascribes omnipresence to both Jesus Christ (son) and god (Father) as laid out at the First Council of Nicaea (325 CE), when the doctrine of the Trinity was first formalized in the Nicene Creed, the LDS philosophy is that the Father and Son have very corporeal, and thus localized, bodies. Their current residence, if not present locations, are on the planet Kolob in the Kolob star system, which is speculated to be at the middle of the Galaxy. In keeping with ancient Judeo-Christian philosophies, the Holy Spirit is, however, non-corporeal and thus, while also localized, has an omnipresent effect on all life (in accordance with Colossians 1:17). In early versions of Mormonism, it was said that the Holy Spirit also served as the 'Mind of Christ', a theory which has been expanded to explain the psychic connection between both humans, Heavenly Father, and Jesus. In short, it is a mechanism for the same things that a Trinity would accomplish through physical non-locality.
See also
"Omnipresence"