The Panpsycast Philosophy Podcast · Jack Symes | Andrew Horton, Oliver Marley, Rose de Castellane, Gregory Mill

Episode 152, 'God, Consciousness, and Fundamental Reality' with Philip Goff, David Godman, and Miri Albahari (Part II - Further Analysis and Discussion)

February 22, 2026·47 min·4 clips

David Godman notes that saying 'I am God' gets you worshipped in India but institutionalized in the West.

1. The Panpsycast Philosophy Podcast continues its multi-part discussion on 'God, Consciousness, and Fundamental Reality' with Philip Goff, David Godman, and Miri Albahari in Part II. 2. Philip Goff is a philosopher and panpsychist at Durham University; David Godman is a scholar of Ramana Maharshi and Advaita Vedanta who lived in India for decades; Miri Albahari is a philosopher specializing in Buddhist and Advaita philosophy. 3. The episode's core question is whether the Advaita, Buddhist, and Eastern Orthodox Christian traditions converge or diverge on the nature of ultimate reality, the problem of suffering, and the role of love. 4. David Godman opens by identifying Meister Eckhart's phrase 'I pray to God that he quits me of God' as a precise formulation of the Advaita position that the personal creator God (Ishwara) must be transcended to reach the Godhead — the 'pure, godless source' prior to creation. 5. Godman explains that Eckhart's teaching that humans can 'be God' rather than merely approach God led to a heresy trial that was not resolved before Eckhart's death; he draws a parallel to the Sufi Hafiz being executed for saying 'I am the truth.' 6. Philip Goff defends his position as a theological hybrid — drawing on Eastern Orthodox mysticism for deification theology while remaining in the Anglican Church for its flexibility, including on gay rights and women priests. 7. Goff argues that he is 'possibly a binitarian' — accepting the Father and Son of the Trinity as theologically necessary for the deification doctrine, but unconvinced by the biblical evidence or conceptual need for a third distinct person, the Holy Spirit. 8. Miri Albahari challenges the scholarly consensus that the Buddha rejected Atman and Brahman, arguing the Buddha's statements about consciousness as 'non-manifesting, boundless, or luminous' even in the absence of objects indicate an unconditioned awareness that parallels Advaita. 9. Goff criticises the Buddha's refusal to engage with cosmological questions, contrasting it with his own view that theoretical rationality is 'an important part of the human condition' and should not be abandoned for pragmatic spiritual progress. 10. Goff argues that Christianity's core ethical contribution is identifying God with 'the naked, humiliated peasant' rather than the powerful, citing Tom Holland's book Dominion as documenting how this inversion transformed Roman aristocratic values. 11. David Godman recounts how Papaji (H.W. Alpunja) spent 25 years as a British Army officer-in-training secretly spending entire nights in his locked room in makeup and saris, dancing for Krishna — his comrades had his alcohol ration revoked, assuming he was drinking. 12. Godman describes a woman he wrote a book about who chanted her guru's name for up to 20 hours a day; she told him she was woken at 3 a.m. because 'the flow of her devotion was so strong' it disturbed her guru, and eventually this 'burned out her sense of individuality.' 13. Miri Albahari identifies as a 'heretic' within Buddhist scholarship for finding Advaita Vedanta and Buddhism compatible, arguing that since both Ramana Maharshi and the Buddha were 'fully realised beings,' their metaphysics cannot fundamentally contradict. 14. Philip Goff raises the question of whether non-dual love — loving everything because it is oneself — is slightly egotistical, and argues that loving an 'other' while knowing they are not you is 'noble and wonderful' in a way Advaita cannot accommodate. 15. Miri Albahari responds using the term Jnani (a fully realised person) and quotes Gangama's description of non-dual love as 'absolutely complete' — unlike the 'sticky love' of interpersonal relationships, which 'comes with the barb of suffering embedded in it.' 16. David Godman describes Ramana Maharshi's practice of refusing to eat until all 200 ashram dining-room guests were served, saying 'I eat through 200 mouths,' and physically wincing when trees near his ashram were cut — because his self-awareness had expanded beyond his skin. 17. The three speakers agree that their core ethics converge, but disagree on whether the ultimate end-state preserves interpersonal distinction: Eastern Orthodox Christianity retains personal love within the Trinity; Advaita Vedanta reaches a formless, directionless love. 18. The tone is collaborative but philosophically sharp — participants openly label their own positions as 'heretical,' use technical vocabulary from Sanskrit (Nirguna Brahman, Atman, Jnani), and Philip Goff repeatedly acknowledges where he 'can't defend' his intuitions with argument. 19. This episode rewards listeners already familiar with at least one of Advaita Vedanta, early Buddhism, or Eastern Orthodox Christian mysticism. 20. Those looking for introductory or accessible philosophy content, or for practical ethics without metaphysics, will likely find the density and specialist vocabulary a barrier.

As heard by us

A patient debate about God, love, and whether unity can leave room for difference.

Part II stays with the hard line between mystical unity and the fact that people remain distinct. Philip, David Goldman, and Miri Al-Bahari move from Master Eckhart to Advaita and then to Eastern Orthodox Christianity, and the discussion works best when those traditions are…

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

Press play for a patient argument about Eckhart, Advaita, and whether love needs two people.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from The Panpsycast Philosophy Podcast