Monism is not
a religion or a faith per se. Instead, it is a metaphysical way of looking at the world.
Monism holds that everything in the universe is really part of one substance or one nature. A
monistic religion would hold that there is a god and that all of creation is really part of that
god. Most scholars see Hinduism as an example of such a religion because Hindus believe that
everything in the world is part of Brahman.
Polytheism can be monistic as
well. In polytheism, there are held to be many gods. However, it is possible that these gods
can all be seen as part of one overarching nature. Hinduism is also an example of such a
religion. As this link shows, many Hindus believe in many gods, but see those gods' separate
beings as somehow illusory since the gods are really part of one overall being.
But there are also purely polytheistic religions. A religion is polytheistic so long
as it believes in many gods. It can believe that the many gods are all truly separate entities
and therefore it can be polytheistic without being monistic.
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