1.
Angel
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An angel, especially according to Abrahamic religions and Zoroastrianism, is a spiritual being superior to humans in power and intelligence. Most of them either as intermediaries between Heaven and Earth, or as guardian spirits. They are studied in the doctrine of angelology. In Christian Science, the angel is used to refer to an inspiration from God. In fine art, angels are depicted as having the shape of human beings of extraordinary beauty, they are often identified using the symbols of bird wings, halos. The word angel in English is a blend of Old English engel, both derive from Late Latin angelus messenger, which in turn was borrowed from Late Greek ἄγγελος ángelos. According to R. S. P. Beekes, ángelos itself may be an Oriental loan, the words earliest form is Mycenaean a-ke-ro attested in Linear B syllabic script. The ángelos is the default Septuagints translation of the Biblical Hebrew term mal’ākh denoting simply messenger without specifying its nature. In the Latin Vulgate, however, the meaning becomes bifurcated, if the word refers to some supernatural being, the word angelus appears. Such differentiation has been taken over by later vernacular translations of the Bible, early Christian and Jewish exegetes, in Zoroastrianism there are different angel-like figures. For example, each person has one guardian angel, called Fravashi and they patronize human beings and other creatures, and also manifest Gods energy. In the commentaries of Proclus on the Timaeus of Plato, Proclus uses the terminology of angelic, according to Aristotle, just as there is a First Mover, so, too, must there be spiritual secondary movers. The Torah uses the terms מלאך אלהים, מלאך יהוה, בני אלהים and הקודשים to refer to beings traditionally interpreted as angels, later texts use other terms, such as העליונים. The term מלאך is also used in books of the Tanakh. Depending on the context, the Hebrew word may refer to a messenger or to a supernatural messenger. Daniel is the first biblical figure to refer to individual angels by name, mentioning Gabriel in Daniel 9,21 and these angels are part of Daniels apocalyptic visions and are an important part of all apocalyptic literature. One of these is hāšāṭān, a figure depicted in the Book of Job, philo of Alexandria identifies the angel with the Logos inasmuch as the angel is the immaterial voice of God. The angel is something different from God himself, but is conceived as Gods instrument, in post-Biblical Judaism, certain angels took on particular significance and developed unique personalities and roles
2.
Heaven
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According to the beliefs of some religions, heavenly beings can descend to earth or incarnate, and earthly beings can ascend to Heaven in the afterlife, or in exceptional cases enter Heaven alive. Some believe in the possibility of a Heaven on Earth in a World to Come, another belief is in an axis mundi or world tree which connects the heavens, the terrestrial world, and the underworld. In Indian religions, Heaven is considered as Svarga loka, and this cycle can be broken after a soul achieves Moksha or Nirvana. Any place of existence, either of humans, souls or deities, the modern English word heaven is derived from the earlier heven, this in turn was developed from the previous Old English form heofon. By about 1000, heofon was being used in reference to the Christianized place where God dwells, all of these have been derived from a reconstructed Proto-Germanic form *Hemina-. In Ancient Egyptian religion, belief in an afterlife is much more stressed than in ancient Judaism, Heaven was a physical place far above the Earth in a dark area of space where there were no stars, basically beyond the Universe. Their heart would finally be weighed with the feather of truth, almost nothing is known of Bronze Age Canaanite views of Heaven, and the archeological findings at Ugarit have not provided information. The 1st century Greek author Philo of Byblos may preserve elements of Iron Age Phoenician religion in his Sanchuniathon, in the Middle Hittite myths, Heaven is the abode of the gods. In the Song of Kumarbi, Alalu was king in Heaven for nine years before giving birth to his son, Anu was himself overthrown by his son, Kumarbi. The Baháí Faith regards the description of Heaven as a specific place as symbolic. The Baháí writings describe Heaven as a condition where closeness to God is defined as Heaven. For Baháís, entry into the life has the potential to bring great joy. Baháulláh likened death to the process of birth and he explains, The world beyond is as different from this world as this world is different from that of the child while still in the womb of its mother. Accordingly, Baháís view life as a stage, where one can develop. The key to progress is to follow the path outlined by the current Manifestation of God. Baháulláh wrote, Know thou, of a truth, that if the soul of man hath walked in the ways of God, it will, assuredly return, in Buddhism there are several Heavens, all of which are still part of samsara. Those who accumulate good karma may be reborn in one of them, however, their stay in Heaven is not eternal—eventually they will use up their good karma and will undergo rebirth into another realm, as a human, animal or other being. Because Heaven is temporary and part of samsara, Buddhists focus more on escaping the cycle of rebirth, Nirvana is not a heaven but a mental state
3.
Plane (esotericism)
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In esoteric cosmology, a plane other than the physical plane is conceived as a subtle state of consciousness that transcends the known physical universe. The concept may be found in religious and esoteric teachings—e. g, alternatively, it states that this dynamic force is being sent forth, through the ages, framing all things that constitute and inhabit the universe. However the original source of the plane in this context is the late Neoplatonist Proclus, who refers to to platos, breadth. An example is the phrase en to psychiko platei, directly equivalent concepts in Indian thought are lokas and bhuvanas. In Hindu cosmology, there are many lokas or worlds, that are identified with both traditional cosmology and states of meditation, Planes of existence may have been referred to by the use of the term corresponding to the word egg in English. For example, the Sanskrit term Brahmanda translates to The entire creation as opposed to the lazy inference The Egg of Creation. Certain Puranic accounts posit that the Brahmanda is the superset of a set of fractal smaller Eggs, as is seen in the assertion of the equivalence of the Brahmanda and the Pinda. When heat and cold entered into space which was occupied by Chaos or Ginnungagap, in the medieval West and Middle East, one finds reference to four worlds in Kabbalah, or five in Sufism, and also in Lurianic Kabbalah. In Kabbalah, each of the four or five worlds are divided into ten sefirot. In his Physica, the Rosicrucian alchemist Jan Baptist van Helmont, wrote and this hitherto unknown Spirit I call Gas. Further on in the work he says, This vapor which I have called Gas is not far removed from the Chaos the ancients spoke of. Later on, similar ideas would evolve around the idea of aether, in the late 19th century, the metaphysical term planes was popularised by the theosophy of H. P. Blavatsky, who in The Secret Doctrine and other writings propounded a complex consisting of seven planes and subplanes. From theosophy the term made its way to later systems such as that of Alice Bailey. The teachings of Surat Shabd Yoga also include several planes of the creation within both the macrocosm and microcosm, including the Bramanda egg contained within the Sach Khand egg. Max Theon used the word States rather than Planes, in his cosmic philosophy, the planes in Theosophy were further systematized in the writings of C. W. Leadbeater and Annie Besant. Most cosmologists today believe that the universe exploded into being some 13, according to Rosicrucians, another difference is that there is no such thing as empty or void space. The space is Spirit in its form, while matter is crystallized space or Spirit
4.
Neoplatonism
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Neoplatonists were heavily influenced by Plato, but also by the Platonic tradition that thrived during the six centuries which separated the first of the Neoplatonists from Plato. In defining the term Neoplatonism, it is difficult to reduce the school of thought to a set of ideas that all Neoplatonic philosophers shared in common. The work of Neoplatonic philosophy involved describing the derivation of the whole of reality from a single principle, instead, the most concise definition of Neoplatonism casts it as a historical term. Thinkers of this period include Syrianus, Olympiodorus the Younger. Neoplatonism has been influential throughout history. In the Middle Ages, Neoplatonic ideas were integrated into the philosophical and theological works of many of the most important medieval Islamic, Christian, yeats and T. S. Eliot, among many more. The term Neoplatonism has a function as a historical category. On the one hand, it differentiates the philosophical doctrines of Plotinus, on the other, the term makes an assumption about the novelty of Plotinus interpretation of Plato. The term Neoplatonism implies that Plotinus interpretation of Plato was so distinct from those of his predecessors that it should be thought to introduce a new period in the history of Platonism. Some contemporary scholars, however, have taken issue with this assumption and have doubted that Neoplatonism constitutes a useful label and they claim that merely marginal differences separate Plotinus teachings from those of his immediate predecessors. Whether Neoplatonism is a meaningful or useful historical category is itself a central question concerning the history of the interpretation of Plato, for much of the history of Platonism, it was commonly accepted that the doctrines of the Neoplatonists were essentially the same as those of Plato. The Renaissance Platonist Marsilio Ficino, for instance, thought that the Neoplatonic interpretation of Plato was an authentic, contemporary scholars often identify the German theologian Friedrich Schleiermacher as an early thinker who took Platos philosophy to be separate from that of his Neoplatonic interpreters. However, others have argued that the differentiation of Plato from Neoplatonism was the result of a historical development that preceded Schleiermachers scholarly work on Plato. The most important forerunners of Neoplatonism are the Middle Platonists, such as Plutarch, Neoplatonism is generally a metaphysical and epistemological philosophy. Neoplatonism is a form of idealistic monism combined with elements of polytheism, although the founder of Neoplatonism is supposed to have been Ammonius Saccas, the Enneads of his pupil Plotinus are the primary and classical document of Neoplatonism. One of the features of Plotinus system, which was also taken up by subsequent Neoplatonists, is the doctrine of the One beyond being. For Plotinus, the first principle of reality is a simple, ineffable, unknowable subsistence which is both the creative source and the teleological end of all existing things. Although, properly speaking, there is no name appropriate for the first principle, the One is so simple that it cannot even be said to exist or to be a being
5.
Western esotericism
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Western esotericism is a scholarly term for a wide range of loosely related ideas and movements which have developed within Western society. They are largely distinct both from orthodox Judeo-Christian religion and from Enlightenment rationalism, the idea of categorising a wide range of Western traditions and philosophies together under the rubric that we now term esotericism developed in Europe during the late seventeenth century. Various academics have debated the definition of Western esotericism, with a number of different options proposed. One scholarly model adopts its definition of esotericism from certain esotericist schools of thought themselves, treating esotericism as a perennialist hidden, a second perspective sees esotericism as a category that encompasses world-views which seek to embrace an enchanted world-view in the face of increasing de-enchantment. The 19th century saw the emergence of new trends of thought that have come to be known as occultism. Prominent groups in this included the Theosophical Society and the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Modern Paganism developed within occultism, and includes religious movements such as Wicca, Esoteric ideas permeated the counterculture of the 1960s and later cultural tendencies, from which emerged the New Age movement in the 1970s. The academic study of Western esotericism only emerged in the late 20th-century, pioneered by scholars like Frances Yates, Esoteric ideas have meanwhile also exerted an influence in popular culture, appearing in art, literature, film, and music. The adjective esoteric first appeared in the second century CE as the Ancient Greek term esôterikós, the noun esotericism, in its French form of lésotérisme, was first used in 1828, by Jacques Matter in his book, Histoire du gnosticisme. The term was popularized by the French occultist and ceremonial magician Eliphas Lévi in the 1850s, Lévi also introduced the term loccultisme, a notion that he developed against the background of contemporary socialist and Catholic discourses. Esotericism and occultism were often employed as synonyms until being distinguished by later scholars, the concept of Western esotericism is a modern scholarly construct rather than a pre-existing, self-defined tradition of thought. The first to do so was Ehregott Daniel Colberg, a German Lutheran who wrote Platonisch-Hermetisches Christianity, various academics have emphasised the idea that esotericism is a phenomenon unique to the Western world, as Faivre stated, an empirical perspective would hold that esotericism is a Western notion. As scholars such as Faivre and Hanegraaff have pointed out, there is no category of Eastern or Oriental esotericism. The emphasis on Western esotericism was nevertheless primarily devised to distinguish the field from a universal esotericism, Hanegraaff has characterised these as recognisable world views and approaches to knowledge that have played an important although always controversial role in the history of Western culture. This attitude was endorsed by Egil Asprem, nevertheless, esotericism itself remains a controversial term, with scholars specialising in the subject disagreeing as to how it can best be defined. It subsequently became a popular approach within several esoteric movements, most notably Martinism and Traditionalism, within the academic field of religious studies, those who study different religions in search of an inner, universal dimension to them all are termed religionists. Such religionist ideas also exerted an influence on more recent scholars like Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke, there are various problems with this model for understanding Western esotericism. The most significant is that is rests upon the conviction that there really is a universal, hidden, moreover, Hanegraaff noted that when scholars adopt this definition, it shows that they subscribe to the religious doctrines which are espoused by the very groups that they are studying
6.
Greco-Roman mysteries
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The main characterization of this religion is the secrecy associated with the particulars of the initiation and the ritual practice, which may not be revealed to outsiders. The most famous mysteries of Greco-Roman antiquity were the Eleusinian Mysteries, the mystery schools flourished in Late Antiquity, Julian the Apostate in the mid 4th century is known to have been initiated into three distinct mystery schools — most notably the mithraists. Because of this element of secrecy, we are ill-informed as to the beliefs and we know that they had a general likeness to one another. They too were embraced by the process of the inculturation of Christianity in its initial phase, the term Mystery derives from Latin mysterium, from Greek mysterion, in this context meaning secret rite or doctrine. The Mysteries were thus schools in all religious functions were closed to the uninitiated. This is also reflected in the division of theology by Varro, in civil theology, natural theology. Mysteries thus supplement rather than compete with civil religion, an individual could easily observe the rites of the state religion, be an initiate in one or several mysteries, and at the same time adhere to a certain philosophical school. In contrast to the rituals of civil religion, participation in which was expected of every member of society. This is important in the context of the persecution of Christians. The mystery schools offered a niche for the preservation of ancient religious ritual and they had, more often than not, come up from a barbarous underworld. The mysteries at Eleusis near Athens lasted for a thousand years, for this reason, what glimpses we do have of the older Greek mysteries have been taken as reflecting certain archaic aspects of common Indo-European religion, with parallels in Indo-Iranian religion. The mystery schools of Greco-Roman antiquity include the Eleusinian Mysteries, the Dionysian Mysteries, the ancient mystery schools were a subject of fascination for 19th and early-20th century German and French classical scholars. This literature had an influence on European culture in the late 19th century. Psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Carl Gustav Jung borrowed metaphors from this literature to reframe his theories, navigium Isidis Mysticism Notes Further reading Media related to Mysteric religions in ancient world at Wikimedia Commons
7.
Celestial spheres
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The celestial spheres, or celestial orbs, were the fundamental entities of the cosmological models developed by Plato, Eudoxus, Aristotle, Ptolemy, Copernicus and others. Since it was believed that the stars did not change their positions relative to one another. In modern thought, the orbits of the planets are viewed as the paths of those planets through mostly empty space, when scholars applied Ptolemys epicycles, they presumed that each planetary sphere was exactly thick enough to accommodate them. In Greek antiquity the ideas of celestial spheres and rings first appeared in the cosmology of Anaximander in the early 6th century BC, all these wheel rims had originally been formed out of an original sphere of fire wholly encompassing the Earth, which had disintegrated into many individual rings. Hence, in Anaximanderss cosmogony, in the beginning was the sphere, out of which celestial rings were formed, as viewed from the Earth, the ring of the Sun was highest, that of the Moon was lower, and the sphere of the stars was lowest. Following Anaximander, his pupil Anaximenes held that the stars, Sun, Moon, and planets are all made of fire. But whilst the stars are fastened on a crystal sphere like nails or studs, the Sun, Moon, and planets. And unlike Anaximander, he relegated the fixed stars to the region most distant from the Earth, after Anaximenes, Pythagoras, Xenophanes and Parmenides all held that the universe was spherical. And much later in the fourth century BC Platos Timaeus proposed that the body of the cosmos was made in the most perfect and uniform shape, but it posited that the planets were spherical bodies set in rotating bands or rings rather than wheel rims as in Anaximanders cosmology. Each planet is attached to the innermost of its own set of spheres. In his Metaphysics, Aristotle developed a cosmology of spheres. Aristotle considers that these spheres are made of a fifth element. Each of these concentric spheres is moved by its own god—an unchanging divine unmoved mover, by using eccentrics and epicycles, his geometrical model achieved greater mathematical detail and predictive accuracy than had been exhibited by earlier concentric spherical models of the cosmos. In Ptolemys physical model, each planet is contained in two or more spheres, but in Book 2 of his Planetary Hypotheses Ptolemy depicted thick circular slices rather than spheres as in its Book 1. The planetary spheres were arranged outwards from the spherical, stationary Earth at the centre of the universe in order, the spheres of the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Sun, Mars, Jupiter. In more detailed models the seven planetary spheres contained other secondary spheres within them, in antiquity the order of the lower planets was not universally agreed. Plato and his followers ordered them Moon, Sun, Mercury, Venus, a series of astronomers, beginning with the Muslim astronomer al-Farghānī, used the Ptolemaic model of nesting spheres to compute distances to the stars and planetary spheres. Al-Farghānīs distance to the stars was 20,110 Earth radii which, on the assumption that the radius of the Earth was 3,250 miles, came to 65,357,500 miles
8.
Afterlife
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The afterlife is the concept of a realm, or the realm itself, in which an essential part of an individuals identity or consciousness continues to exist after the death of the body. Belief in an afterlife, which may be naturalistic or supernatural, is in contrast to the belief in oblivion after death, in this latter view, such rebirths and deaths may take place over and over again continuously until the individual gains entry to a spiritual realm or Otherworld. Major views on the afterlife derive from religion, esotericism and metaphysics, in metaphysical models, theists generally believe some type of afterlife awaits people when they die. Members of some generally non-theistic religions, tend to believe in an afterlife, the Sadducees were an ancient Jewish sect that generally believed that there was a God but no afterlife. Reincarnation refers to a concept found among Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, Sikhs, Rosicrucians, Theosophists, Spiritists. Reincarnation is also a belief described in Kabbalistic Judaism as gilgul neshamot and this succession leads toward an eventual liberation. One consequence of reincarnationist beliefs is that our current lives are both afterlife and a beforelife, according to those beliefs events in our current life are consequences of actions taken in previous lives, or Karma. In most denominations, heaven is a condition of reward for the righteous to go after they die, traditionally defined as eternal union with God. In contrast to heaven, hell is a condition of punishment and torment for the wicked, traditionally defined as eternal separation from God and confinement with other sinful souls and fallen angels. So they are seen as existing in a state of natural. In other Christian denominations it has described as an intermediate place or state of confinement in oblivion. The notion of purgatory is associated particularly with the Catholic Church, the tradition of the church, by reference to certain texts of scripture, speaks of a cleansing fire although it is not always called purgatory. Anglicans of the Anglo-Catholic tradition generally also hold to the belief, traditional African religions are diverse in their beliefs in an afterlife. For each soul remains distinct and each represents a new soul. In some societies like the Mende, multiple beliefs coexist, the Mende believe that people die twice, once during the process of joining the secret society, and again during biological death after which they become ancestors. However, some Mende also believe that people are created by God they live ten consecutive lives. One cross-cultural theme is that the ancestors are part of the world of the living, interacting with it regularly, the afterlife played an important role in Ancient Egyptian religion, and its belief system is one of the earliest known in recorded history. When the body died, parts of its known as ka
9.
Rosicrucianism
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The manifestos do not elaborate extensively on the matter, but clearly combine references to Kabbalah, Hermeticism, and Christianity. The Rosicrucian Manifestos heralded a universal reformation of mankind, through a science allegedly kept secret for decades until the climate might receive it. In 1616, Johann Valentin Andreae famously designated it as a ludibrium, by promising a spiritual transformation at a time of great turmoil, the manifestos tempted many figures to seek esoteric knowledge. Seventeenth-century occult philosophers such as Michael Maier, Robert Fludd, according to historian David Stevenson, it was influential to Freemasonry as it was emerging in Scotland. In later centuries, many societies have claimed to derive from the original Rosicrucians. Rosicrucianism is symbolized by the Rosy Cross or Rose Cross, between 1607 and 1616, two anonymous manifestos were published, first in Germany and later throughout Europe. These were the Fama Fraternitatis RC and the Confessio Fraternitatis, the Fama Fraternitatis presented the legend of a German doctor and mystic philosopher referred to as Frater C. R. C. The year 1378 is presented as being the year of our Christian Father. After studying in the Middle East under various masters, possibly adhering to Sufism, instead, he gathered a small circle of friends/disciples and founded the Rosicrucian Order. During Rosenkreuzs lifetime, the order was said to consist of no more than eight members, each a doctor, each member undertook an oath to heal the sick without payment, to maintain a secret fellowship, and to find a replacement for himself before he died. Three such generations had passed between c.1500 and c. 1600, a time when scientific, philosophical and religious freedom had grown so that the public benefit from the Rosicrucians knowledge. The manifestos were and are not taken literally by many but rather regarded either as hoaxes or as allegorical statements, the invitation to the royal wedding in the Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz opens with Dees philosophical key, the Monas Hieroglyphica symbol. The writer also claimed the brotherhood possessed a book that resembled the works of Paracelsus and their literature announced them as moral and religious reformers. They used the techniques of chemistry and of the sciences generally as media through which to publicize their opinions, in his autobiography, Johann Valentin Andreae claimed that the anonymously published Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz was one of his works, and he subsequently described it as a ludibrium. In his later works, he makes alchemy an object of ridicule and places it along with music, art, theater, according to some sources, his role in the origin of the Rosicrucian legend is controversial. However, it was accepted according to others. Wars of politics and religion ravaged the continent, the works were re-issued several times, followed by numerous pamphlets, favorable or otherwise
10.
Barzakh
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Barzakh is an Arabic word meaning obstacle, hindrance, separation, or barrier. Despite the gain of recognizance, it cannot utilize action, the other two occurrences refer to Barzakh as an impassable barrier between fresh and salt water. While fresh and salt water may intermingle, an ocean remains distinct from a river, in Hadith, Ibn al-Qayyim cites that, albeit not mentioned in the Quran, souls in Al-Barzakh would be grouped with others matching in purity or impurity. In Islam, the soul and the body are dependent upon each other and this is significant in Barzakh, because only a persons soul goes to Barzakh and not their physical bodies. Since ones soul is divorced from their body in Barzakh, the belief is no progress or improvements to ones past life can be made. If a person experienced a life of sin and worldly pleasures, whatever one does in his or her lifetime is final and cannot be changed or altered in Barzakh. The idea of purgatory is that it is a place people go after death that holds punishment. People who are in place do not have enough sins to warrant their entrance into Hell. This is a place, similar to barzakh. Because they have this in common, some believe that they are the same idea or concept, Barzakh is actually closer to the idea of limbo, a place that is between life and the true afterlife. In this place, people await their final judgment, much like in barzakh, the Quranic idea of aʿrāf or “heights” is closer to that of Christian purgatory. Aʿrāf is also thought of as a place where souls go whose good, some Muslim scholars stress the importance of Barzakh, while others simply look past its existence. Modern Muslim thinkers de-emphasize Barzakh, and focus instead on an individual life. In this view, the state of Barzakh is simply looked past, Muslim scholars who do believe in Barzakh still have varying interpretations of this intermediate state based on different traditions. Some traditions suggest that a persons deeds in their life will affect their experience in Barzakh, in these traditions, there are two states of Barzakh. In the state known as Azhlaabul-Qabr, a person will be punished for his or her deeds in their past life. In the other known as Taneemu Ahlit-Taaah Fil Qabr, a person will receive the blessings and bounties of Allah because of his or her faith. Other traditions suggest that people in Barzakh are given temporary bodies, in this view, a person is either given a bright body or a dark body
11.
Islam
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Islam is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion which professes that there is only one and incomparable God and that Muhammad is the last messenger of God. It is the worlds second-largest religion and the major religion in the world, with over 1.7 billion followers or 23% of the global population. Islam teaches that God is merciful, all-powerful, and unique, and He has guided mankind through revealed scriptures, natural signs, and a line of prophets sealed by Muhammad. The primary scriptures of Islam are the Quran, viewed by Muslims as the word of God. Muslims believe that Islam is the original, complete and universal version of a faith that was revealed many times before through prophets including Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses. As for the Quran, Muslims consider it to be the unaltered, certain religious rites and customs are observed by the Muslims in their family and social life, while social responsibilities to parents, relatives, and neighbors have also been defined. Besides, the Quran and the sunnah of Muhammad prescribe a comprehensive body of moral guidelines for Muslims to be followed in their personal, social, political, Islam began in the early 7th century. Originating in Mecca, it spread in the Arabian Peninsula. The expansion of the Muslim world involved various caliphates and empires, traders, most Muslims are of one of two denominations, Sunni or Shia. Islam is the dominant religion in the Middle East, North Africa, sizable Muslim communities are also found in Horn of Africa, Europe, China, Russia, Mainland Southeast Asia, Philippines, Northern Borneo, Caucasus and the Americas. Converts and immigrant communities are found in almost every part of the world, Islam is a verbal noun originating from the triliteral root s-l-m which forms a large class of words mostly relating to concepts of wholeness, submission, safeness and peace. In a religious context it means voluntary submission to God, Islām is the verbal noun of Form IV of the root, and means submission or surrender. Muslim, the word for an adherent of Islam, is the active participle of the verb form. The word sometimes has connotations in its various occurrences in the Quran. In some verses, there is stress on the quality of Islam as a state, Whomsoever God desires to guide. Other verses connect Islām and dīn, Today, I have perfected your religion for you, I have completed My blessing upon you, still others describe Islam as an action of returning to God—more than just a verbal affirmation of faith. In the Hadith of Gabriel, islām is presented as one part of a triad that also includes imān, Islam was historically called Muhammadanism in Anglophone societies. This term has fallen out of use and is said to be offensive because it suggests that a human being rather than God is central to Muslims religion
12.
Yetzirah
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Yetzirah is the third of four worlds in the Kabbalistic Tree of Life, following Atziluth and Briah and preceding Assiah. It is known as the World of Formation, yetsirah as in making is as opposed to Beriah as in Creating, actually taking whatever matter that was created in Beriah and shaping it into the basic elements. On the Tree of Life diagram Yetzirah is associated with the Sephiroth Chesed, Geburah, Tiphareth, Netzach, together, the six Sephiroth are known as the Microprosopus also known as the Lesser Countenance or the Small Face. In this sense, it stands in contrast with the Macroprosopus, non-permanent angels dwell in the world of Yetzirah, unlike archangels which reside in Briah. In addition, Yetzirah corresponds to, The letter vav ו in the Tetragrammaton, the sefirot of Chesed, Gevurah, Tiferet, Netzach, Hod and Yesod and hence the partzuf of Zeir Anpin. The arms, torso, legs, and circumcision, in the allegory of the teacher and the student, the penultimate stage where the teacher gives a lesson, a compressed outline of the full concept to the student. Through this, the student gains an initial, external understanding of the concept, the Pesukei Dezimra in the Shacharit prayer service. Within the Western mystery tradition, the suit of swords in the occult tarot, the fixed, air, sign of Aquarius. Dion Fortune, The Mystical Qabalah, Samuel Weiser publisher,1984, p.64
13.
Isaac Luria
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Isaac Luria Ashkenazi, commonly known as HaARI, HaARI Hakadosh or ARIZaL, was a foremost rabbi and Jewish mystic in the community of Safed in the Galilee region of Ottoman Syria. He is considered the father of contemporary Kabbalah, his teachings being referred to as Lurianic Kabbalah, while his direct literary contribution to the Kabbalistic school of Safed was extremely minute, his spiritual fame led to their veneration and the acceptance of his authority. The works of his disciples compiled his oral teachings into writing, every custom of the Ari was scrutinized, and many were accepted, even against previous practice. Luria died at Safed on July 25,1572, and is buried at the Old Jewish Cemetery, the Ari Ashkenazi Synagogue, located in Safed, Israel, was built in memory of Luria during the late 16th century. Luria was born in 1534 in Jerusalem in what is now the Old Yishuv Court Museum to an Ashkenazi father, Solomon, and he shall begin to deliver Israel from the Klipot. Through him, numerous souls will receive their tikkun and he is also destined to reveal many hidden mysteries in the Torah and to expound on the Zohar. His fame will spread throughout the world, take care therefore that you not circumcise him before I come to be the Sandak. While still a child, Luria lost his father, and was brought up by his maternal uncle Mordechai Frances. His uncle placed him under the best Jewish teachers, including the leading rabbinic scholar David ibn Zimra, Luria showed himself a diligent student of rabbinical literature and under the guidance of another uncle, Rabbi Bezalel Ashkenazi, he became proficient in that branch of Jewish learning. At the age of fifteen, he married a cousin and, being provided for financially. Though he initially may have pursued a career in business, he turned to asceticism and mysticism. Around the age of twenty-two he became engrossed in the study of the Zohar, retreating to the banks of the Nile for seven years, he secluded himself in an isolated cottage, giving himself up entirely to meditation. He visited his family only on Shabbat, but even at home, he would not utter a word, even to his wife. When it was necessary for him to say something, he would say it in the fewest number of words possible. In 1569, Luria moved back to Eretz Israel, and after a sojourn in Jerusalem. Safed over the previous decades had become a center for cabalistic studies, there is evidence that Luria also regarded Cordovero as his teacher. Joseph Sambari, an important Egyptian chronicler, testified that Cordovero was the Aris teacher for a short time. Luria probably arrived in early 1570, and Cordovero died on June 27 that year, bereft of their most prominent authority and teacher, the community looked for new guidance, and Luria helped fill Cordoveros former role
14.
Kabbalah
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Kabbalah is an esoteric method, discipline, and school of thought that originated in Judaism. A traditional Kabbalist in Judaism is called a Mekubbal, Kabbalah is a set of esoteric teachings meant to explain the relationship between an unchanging, eternal, and mysterious Ein Sof and the mortal and finite universe. While it is used by some denominations, it is not a religious denomination in itself. It forms the foundations of religious interpretation. Kabbalah seeks to define the nature of the universe and the human being, the nature and purpose of existence and it also presents methods to aid understanding of the concepts and thereby attain spiritual realisation. Kabbalah originally developed within the realm of Jewish tradition, and kabbalists often use classical Jewish sources to explain, traditional practitioners believe its earliest origins pre-date world religions, forming the primordial blueprint for Creations philosophies, religions, sciences, arts, and political systems. Safed Rabbi Isaac Luria is considered the father of contemporary Kabbalah and it was popularised in the form of Hasidic Judaism from the 18th century onwards. According to the Zohar, a text for kabbalistic thought. These four levels are called pardes from their initial letters, peshat, the direct interpretations of meaning. Derash, midrashic meanings, often with imaginative comparisons with similar words or verses, sod, the inner, esoteric meanings, expressed in kabbalah. Kabbalah is considered by its followers as a part of the study of Torah – the study of Torah being an inherent duty of observant Jews. A third tradition, related but more shunned, involves the magical aims of Practical Kabbalah and they can be readily distinguished by their basic intent with respect to God, The Theosophical tradition of Theoretical Kabbalah seeks to understand and describe the divine realm. Consequently, it formed a minor tradition shunned from Kabbalah. According to traditional belief, early kabbalistic knowledge was transmitted orally by the Patriarchs, prophets, According to this view, early kabbalah was, in around the 10th century BC, an open knowledge practiced by over a million people in ancient Israel. Foreign conquests drove the Jewish spiritual leadership of the time to hide the knowledge and make it secret and it is hard to clarify with any degree of certainty the exact concepts within kabbalah. There are several different schools of thought with different outlooks, however. From the Renaissance onwards Jewish Kabbalah texts entered non-Jewish culture, where they were studied and translated by Christian Hebraists, syncretic traditions of Christian Kabbalah and Hermetic Qabalah developed independently of Jewish Kabbalah, reading the Jewish texts as universal ancient wisdom. Both adapted the Jewish concepts freely from their Judaic understanding, to merge with other theologies, religious traditions, with the decline of Christian Cabala in the Age of Reason, Hermetic Qabalah continued as a central underground tradition in Western esotericism
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Plato
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Plato was a philosopher in Classical Greece and the founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. He is widely considered the most pivotal figure in the development of philosophy, unlike nearly all of his philosophical contemporaries, Platos entire work is believed to have survived intact for over 2,400 years. Along with his teacher, Socrates, and his most famous student, Aristotle, Plato laid the foundations of Western philosophy. Alfred North Whitehead once noted, the safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato. In addition to being a figure for Western science, philosophy. Friedrich Nietzsche, amongst other scholars, called Christianity, Platonism for the people, Plato was the innovator of the written dialogue and dialectic forms in philosophy, which originate with him. He was not the first thinker or writer to whom the word “philosopher” should be applied, few other authors in the history of Western philosophy approximate him in depth and range, perhaps only Aristotle, Aquinas and Kant would be generally agreed to be of the same rank. Due to a lack of surviving accounts, little is known about Platos early life, the philosopher came from one of the wealthiest and most politically active families in Athens. Ancient sources describe him as a bright though modest boy who excelled in his studies, the exact time and place of Platos birth are unknown, but it is certain that he belonged to an aristocratic and influential family. Based on ancient sources, most modern scholars believe that he was born in Athens or Aegina between 429 and 423 BCE. According to a tradition, reported by Diogenes Laertius, Ariston traced his descent from the king of Athens, Codrus. Platos mother was Perictione, whose family boasted of a relationship with the famous Athenian lawmaker, besides Plato himself, Ariston and Perictione had three other children, these were two sons, Adeimantus and Glaucon, and a daughter Potone, the mother of Speusippus. The brothers Adeimantus and Glaucon are mentioned in the Republic as sons of Ariston, and presumably brothers of Plato, but in a scenario in the Memorabilia, Xenophon confused the issue by presenting a Glaucon much younger than Plato. Then, at twenty-eight, Hermodorus says, went to Euclides in Megara, as Debra Nails argues, The text itself gives no reason to infer that Plato left immediately for Megara and implies the very opposite. Thus, Nails dates Platos birth to 424/423, another legend related that, when Plato was an infant, bees settled on his lips while he was sleeping, an augury of the sweetness of style in which he would discourse about philosophy. Ariston appears to have died in Platos childhood, although the dating of his death is difficult. Perictione then married Pyrilampes, her mothers brother, who had served many times as an ambassador to the Persian court and was a friend of Pericles, Pyrilampes had a son from a previous marriage, Demus, who was famous for his beauty. Perictione gave birth to Pyrilampes second son, Antiphon, the half-brother of Plato and these and other references suggest a considerable amount of family pride and enable us to reconstruct Platos family tree
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Aristotle
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Aristotle was an ancient Greek philosopher and scientist born in the city of Stagira, Chalkidice, on the northern periphery of Classical Greece. His father, Nicomachus, died when Aristotle was a child, at seventeen or eighteen years of age, he joined Platos Academy in Athens and remained there until the age of thirty-seven. Shortly after Plato died, Aristotle left Athens and, at the request of Philip II of Macedon, teaching Alexander the Great gave Aristotle many opportunities and an abundance of supplies. He established a library in the Lyceum which aided in the production of many of his hundreds of books and he believed all peoples concepts and all of their knowledge was ultimately based on perception. Aristotles views on natural sciences represent the groundwork underlying many of his works, Aristotles views on physical science profoundly shaped medieval scholarship. Their influence extended from Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages into the Renaissance, some of Aristotles zoological observations, such as on the hectocotyl arm of the octopus, were not confirmed or refuted until the 19th century. His works contain the earliest known study of logic, which was incorporated in the late 19th century into modern formal logic. Aristotle was well known among medieval Muslim intellectuals and revered as The First Teacher and his ethics, though always influential, gained renewed interest with the modern advent of virtue ethics. All aspects of Aristotles philosophy continue to be the object of academic study today. Though Aristotle wrote many elegant treatises and dialogues – Cicero described his style as a river of gold – it is thought that only around a third of his original output has survived. Aristotle, whose means the best purpose, was born in 384 BC in Stagira, Chalcidice. His father Nicomachus was the physician to King Amyntas of Macedon. Aristotle was orphaned at a young age, although there is little information on Aristotles childhood, he probably spent some time within the Macedonian palace, making his first connections with the Macedonian monarchy. At the age of seventeen or eighteen, Aristotle moved to Athens to continue his education at Platos Academy and he remained there for nearly twenty years before leaving Athens in 348/47 BC. Aristotle then accompanied Xenocrates to the court of his friend Hermias of Atarneus in Asia Minor, there, he traveled with Theophrastus to the island of Lesbos, where together they researched the botany and zoology of the island. Aristotle married Pythias, either Hermiass adoptive daughter or niece and she bore him a daughter, whom they also named Pythias. Soon after Hermias death, Aristotle was invited by Philip II of Macedon to become the tutor to his son Alexander in 343 BC, Aristotle was appointed as the head of the royal academy of Macedon. During that time he gave not only to Alexander
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Classical element
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Ancient cultures in Egypt, Babylonia, Japan, Tibet, and India had similar lists, sometimes referring in local languages to air as wind and the fifth element as void. The Chinese Wu Xing system lists Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and these different cultures and even individual philosophers had widely varying explanations concerning their attributes and how they related to observable phenomena as well as cosmology. Sometimes these theories overlapped with mythology and were personified in deities, some of these interpretations included atomism but other interpretations considered the elements to be divisible into infinitely small pieces without changing their nature. Centuries of empirical investigation have proven that all the ancient systems were incorrect explanations of the physical world. It is now known that atomic theory is an explanation, and that atoms can be classified into more than a hundred chemical elements such as oxygen, iron. These elements form chemical compounds and mixtures, and under different temperatures and pressures, the concept of the five elements formed a basis of analysis in both Hinduism and Buddhism. In Hinduism, particularly in a context, the four states-of-matter describe matter. Similar lists existed in ancient China and Japan, in Buddhism the four great elements, to which two others are sometimes added, are not viewed as substances, but as categories of sensory experience. A Greek text called the Kore Kosmou ascribed to Hermes Trismegistus, names the four fire, water, air. And, on the contrary, again some are made enemies of fire, and some of water, some of earth, and some of air, and some of two of them, and some of three, and some of all. For instance, son, the locust and all flies flee fire, the eagle and the hawk and all high-flying birds flee water, fish, air and earth, the snake avoids the open air. Not that some of the animals as well do not love fire, for instance salamanders and it is because one or another of the elements doth form their bodies outer envelope. Each soul, accordingly, while it is in its body is weighted and constricted by these four. According to Galen, these elements were used by Hippocrates in describing the body with an association with the four humours, yellow bile, black bile, blood. Medical care was flexible and primarily about helping the patient stay in or return to his/her own personal natural balanced state. In other Babylonian texts these phenomena are considered independent of their association with deities, though they are not treated as the component elements of the universe, the five elements are associated with the five senses, and act as the gross medium for the experience of sensations. The basest element, earth, created using all the elements, can be perceived by all five senses – hearing, touch, sight, taste. The next higher element, water, has no odor but can be heard, felt, seen, next comes fire, which can be heard, felt and seen
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Aether (classical element)
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According to ancient and medieval science, aether, also spelled æther or ether, also called quintessence, is the material that fills the region of the universe above the terrestrial sphere. The concept of aether was used in several theories to explain natural phenomena, such as the traveling of light. The word αἰθήρ in Homeric Greek means pure, fresh air or clear sky, in Greek mythology, it was thought to be the pure essence that the gods breathed, filling the space where they lived, analogous to the air breathed by mortals. It is also personified as a deity, Aether, the son of Erebus, Aether is related to αἴθω to incinerate, and intransitive to burn, to shine. In Platos Timaeus speaking about air, Plato mentions that there is the most translucent kind which is called by the name of aether, but otherwise he adopted the classical system of four elements. Aristotle, who had been Platos student at the Akademia, agreed on this point with his former mentor, however, in his Book On the Heavens he introduced a new first element to the system of the classical elements of Ionian philosophy. He noted that the four classical elements were subject to change. The first element however, located in the regions and heavenly bodies. It was neither hot nor cold, neither wet nor dry, Aether did not follow Aristotelian physics either. Aether was also incapable of motion of quality or motion of quantity, Aether was only capable of local motion. Aether naturally moved in circles, and had no contrary, or unnatural, aristotle also noted that crystalline spheres made of aether held the celestial bodies. The idea of spheres and natural circular motion of aether led to Aristotles explanation of the observed orbits of stars. Medieval scholastic philosophers granted aether changes of density, in which the bodies of the planets were considered to be more dense than the medium which filled the rest of the universe, Robert Fludd stated that the aether was of the character that it was subtler than light. Fludd cites the 3rd-century view of Plotinus, concerning the aether as penetrative, Quintessence is the Latinate name of the fifth element used by medieval alchemists for a medium similar or identical to that thought to make up the heavenly bodies. It was noted there was very little presence of quintessence within the terrestrial sphere. Due to the low presence of quintessence, earth could be affected by what takes place within the heavenly bodies and this theory was developed in the 14th century text The testament of Lullius, attributed to Ramon Llull. The use of quintessence became popular within medieval alchemy and this elemental system spread rapidly throughout all of Europe and became popular with alchemists, especially in medicinal alchemy. Medicinal alchemy then sought to isolate quintessence and incorporate it within medicine, due to quintessences pure and heavenly quality, it was thought that through consumption one may rid oneself of any impurities or illnesses
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Timaeus (dialogue)
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Timaeus is one of Platos dialogues, mostly in the form of a long monologue given by the title character Timaeus of Locri, written c.360 BC. The work puts forward speculation on the nature of the physical world, participants in the dialogue include Socrates, Timaeus, Hermocrates, and Critias. Some scholars believe that it is not the Critias of the Thirty Tyrants who is appearing in this dialogue, but his grandfather and it has been suggested that Timaeus influenced a book about Pythagoras, written by Philolaus. The dialogue takes place the day after Socrates described his ideal state, in Platos works such a discussion occurs in the Republic. Hermocrates wishes to oblige Socrates and mentions that Critias knows just the account to do so, Critias proceeds to tell the story of Solons journey to Egypt where he hears the story of Atlantis, and how Athens used to be an ideal state that subsequently waged war against Atlantis. Critias believes that he is getting ahead of himself, and mentions that Timaeus will tell part of the account from the origin of the universe to man, the history of Atlantis is postponed to Critias. The main content of the dialogue, the exposition by Timaeus, Timaeus begins with a distinction between the physical world, and the eternal world. The physical one is the world changes and perishes, therefore it is the object of opinion. The eternal one never changes, therefore it is apprehended by reason, the speeches about the two worlds are conditioned by the different nature of their objects. Indeed, a description of what is changeless, fixed and clearly intelligible will be changeless and fixed, while a description of changes and is likely, will also change. As being is to becoming, so is truth to belief, therefore, in a description of the physical world, one should not look for anything more than a likely story. Timaeus suggests that since nothing becomes or changes without cause, then the cause of the universe must be a demiurge or a god, and since the universe is fair, the demiurge must have looked to the eternal model to make it, and not to the perishable one. Hence, using the eternal and perfect world of forms or ideals as a template, he set about creating our world, Timaeus continues with an explanation of the creation of the universe, which he ascribes to the handiwork of a divine craftsman. The demiurge, being good, wanted there to be as good as was the world. The demiurge is said to bring out of substance by imitating an unchanging. The ananke, often translated as necessity, was the only other co-existent element or presence in Platos cosmogony, later Platonists clarified that the eternal model existed in the mind of the Demiurge. Timaeus describes the substance as a lack of homogeneity or balance, in which the four elements were shapeless, mixed, considering that order is favourable over disorder, the essential act of the creator was to bring order and clarity to this substance. Therefore, all the properties of the world are to be explained by the choice of what is fair and good, or
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Hermeticism
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Hermeticism, also called Hermetism, is a religious, philosophical, and esoteric tradition based primarily upon writings attributed to Hermes Trismegistus. These writings have influenced the Western esoteric tradition and were considered to be of great importance during both the Renaissance and the Reformation. The tradition claims descent from a prisca theologia, a doctrine that affirms the existence of a single, true theology that is present in all religions, st. Thomas Aquinas reported that Trismegistus arrived at something akin to the doctrine of the Trinity. The three parts of the wisdom are alchemy, astrology, and theurgy, the Poimandres, from which Marsilio Ficino formed his opinion, states that They called him Trismegistus because he was the greatest philosopher and the greatest priest and the greatest king. The Suda states that He was called Trismegistus on account of his praise of the trinity, much of the importance of Hermeticism arises from its connection with the development of science during the time from 1300 to 1600 AD. Consequently, it was the practical aspects of Hermetic writings that attracted the attention of scientists, Isaac Newton placed great faith in the concept of an unadulterated, pure, ancient doctrine, which he studied vigorously to aid his understanding of the physical world. The term Hermetic is from the medieval Latin hermeticus, which is derived from the name of the Greek god, in English, it has been attested since the 17th century, as in Hermetic writers. The word Hermetic was used by Dr. Everard in his English translation of The Pimander of Hermes, Mary Anne Atwood mentioned the use of the word Hermetic by Dufresnoy in 1386. The synonymous term Hermetical is also attested in the 17th century, sir Thomas Browne in his Religio Medici of 1643 wrote, Now besides these particular and divided Spirits, there may be a universal and common Spirit to the whole world. It was the opinion of Plato, and is yet of the Hermeticall Philosophers, Hermes Trimegistus supposedly invented the process of making a glass tube airtight using a secret seal. Hence, the term completely sealed is implied in hermetically sealed, in Late Antiquity, Hermetism emerged in parallel with early Christianity, Gnosticism, Neoplatonism, the Chaldaean Oracles, and late Orphic and Pythagorean literature. These doctrines were characterized by a resistance to the dominance of either rationality or doctrinal faith. The books now known as the Corpus Hermeticum were part of a renaissance of syncretistic and these post-Christian Greek texts dwell upon the oneness and goodness of God, urge purification of the soul, and defend pagan religious practices such as the veneration of images. Their predominant literary form is the dialogue, Hermes Trismegistus instructs a perplexed disciple upon various teachings of the hidden wisdom, many lost Greek texts and many surviving vulgate books contained discussions of alchemy clothed in philosophical metaphor. One of these, known as The Asclepius, contained a prophecy of the end of Roman rule in Egypt. Plutarchs mention of Hermes Trismegistus dates back to the 1st century AD, and Tertullian, Iamblichus, after centuries of falling out of favor, Hermeticism was reintroduced to the West when, in 1460, a man named Leonardo de Candia Pistoia brought the Corpus Hermeticum to Pistoia. He was one of agents sent out by Pistoias ruler, Cosimo de Medici. In 1614, Isaac Casaubon, a Swiss philologist, analyzed the Greek Hermetic texts for linguistic style and he concluded that the writings attributed to Hermes Trismegistus were not the work of an ancient Egyptian priest but in fact dated to the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD
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Gnosticism
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Gnosticism is a modern name for a variety of ancient religious ideas and systems, originating in Jewish milieus in the first and second century CE. This Divine spark could be liberated by gnosis of this Divine spark, the Gnostic ideas and systems flourished in Mediterranean in the second century CE, in conjunction with and influenced by the early Christian movements and Middle Platonism. In the Persian Empire Gnosticism spread as far as China with Manicheism, a major question in scholarly research is the qualification of Gnosticism, based on the study of its texts, as either an interreligious phenomenon or as an independent religion. The word Gnosticism is a construction, from the Greek word gnosis. Gnosis refers to knowledge based on experience or perception. In a religious context, gnosis is mystical or esoteric knowledge based on direct participation with the divine, in most Gnostic systems the sufficient cause of salvation is this knowledge of the divine. It is a knowing, comparable to that encouraged by Plotinus. With gnosis comes a fuller insight, and gives an understanding of the deeper meanings of doctrines, scriptures. The usual meaning of gnostikos in Classical Greek texts is learned or intellectual, platos use of learned is fairly typical of Classical texts. By the Hellenistic period, it began to also be associated with Greco-Roman mysteries, the adjective is not used in the New Testament, but Clement of Alexandria speaks of the learned Christian in complimentary terms. The use of gnostikos in relation to heresy originates with interpreters of Irenaeus, some scholars consider that Irenaeus sometimes uses gnostikos to simply mean intellectual, whereas his mention of the intellectual sect is a specific designation. The term Gnosticism was derived from the use of the Greek adjective gnostikos by St. Irenaeus to describe the school of Valentinus as he legomene gnostike haeresis the heresy called Learned, the Syrian-Egyptian traditions postulate a remote, supreme Godhead, the Monad. From this highest divinity emanate lower divine beings, known as Aeons, the Demiurg, one of those Aeons, creates the physical world. Divine elements fall into the realm, and are locked within human beings. This divine element returns to the realm when Gnosis, esoteric or intuitive knowledge of the divine element within is obtained. Gnostic systems postulate a dualism between God and the world, varying from the radical dualist systems of Manicheanism to the dualism of classic gnostic movements. Radical dualism, or absolute dualism, posits two co-equal divine forces, while in mitigated dualism one of the two principles is in some way inferior to the other, in qualified monism the second entity may be divine or semi-divine. Valentinian Gnosticism is a form of monism, expressed in terms previously used in a dualistic manner, Gnostics tended toward asceticism, especially in their sexual and dietary practice
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Astral projection
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The idea of astral travel is rooted in esotericism and occultism, and was promoted by 19th century Theosophists—philosophers who explored the mystical and preternatural origins of the natural world. It is sometimes reported in association with dreams, and forms of meditation, some individuals have reported perceptions similar to descriptions of astral projection that were induced through various hallucinogenic and hypnotic means. There is no evidence that there is a consciousness or soul which is separate from normal neural activity or that one can consciously leave the body. Claims of scientific evidence of astral projection are pseudoscientific and these astral spheres were held to be populated by angels, demons and spirits. The subtle bodies, and their planes of existence, form an essential part of the esoteric systems that deal with astral phenomena. In the neo-platonism of Plotinus, for example, the individual is a microcosm of the universe, the rational soul. is akin to the great Soul of the World while the material universe, like the body, is made as a faded image of the Intelligible. Often these bodies and their planes of existence are depicted as a series of circles or nested spheres. Some have claimed that the Bible contains mentions of astral projection, Carrington, Muldoon, Peterson, and Williams—renowned experts in the field of astral projection—claim that the subtle body is attached to the physical body by means of a psychic silver cord. Scherman, however, contends that the points to this being merely a metaphor, comparing the body to a machine. Pauls Second Epistle to the Corinthians is more generally agreed to refer to the planes, I know a man in Christ, fourteen years ago. This statement gave rise to the Visio Pauli, a tract that offers a vision of heaven and hell, similar concepts of soul travel appear in various other religious traditions. For example, ancient Egyptian teachings present the soul as having the ability to hover outside the body via the ka. Taoist alchemical practice involves creation of a body by breathing meditations. With a drum as his pillow fell fast asleep, snoring and his primordial spirit, however, went straight into the banquet room and said, My lords, here I am again. With the officials to take a look, there really was a Taoist sleeping on the ground, yet inside, in the side room, there was another Taoist beating a fisher drum and singing Taoist songs. The officials all said, Although there are two different people, their faces and clothes are exactly alike, clearly he is a divine immortal who can divide his body and appear in several places at once. At that moment, the Taoist in the room came walking out. Similar ideas such as the Linga Sari-ra are found in ancient Hindu scriptures such as the YogaVashishta-Maharamayana of Valmiki and he may then undertake astral journeys in his astral body, leaving the physical body in sleep or wakefulness
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Quran
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The Quran is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims believe to be a revelation from God. It is widely regarded as the finest work in classical Arabic literature, the Quran is divided into chapters, which are then divided into verses. The word Quran occurs some 70 times in the text of the Quran, although different names, according to the traditional narrative, several companions of Muhammad served as scribes and were responsible for writing down the revelations. Shortly after Muhammads death, the Quran was compiled by his companions who wrote down and these codices had differences that motivated the Caliph Uthman to establish a standard version now known as Uthmans codex, which is generally considered the archetype of the Quran known today. There are, however, variant readings, with minor differences in meaning. The Quran assumes familiarity with major narratives recounted in the Biblical scriptures and it summarizes some, dwells at length on others and, in some cases, presents alternative accounts and interpretations of events. The Quran describes itself as a book of guidance and it sometimes offers detailed accounts of specific historical events, and it often emphasizes the moral significance of an event over its narrative sequence. The Quran is used along with the hadith to interpret sharia law, during prayers, the Quran is recited only in Arabic. Someone who has memorized the entire Quran is called a hafiz, some Muslims read Quranic ayah with elocution, which is often called tajwid. During the month of Ramadan, Muslims typically complete the recitation of the whole Quran during tarawih prayers, in order to extrapolate the meaning of a particular Quranic verse, most Muslims rely on the tafsir. The word qurʼān appears about 70 times in the Quran itself and it is a verbal noun of the Arabic verb qaraʼa, meaning he read or he recited. The Syriac equivalent is qeryānā, which refers to reading or lesson. While some Western scholars consider the word to be derived from the Syriac, regardless, it had become an Arabic term by Muhammads lifetime. An important meaning of the word is the act of reciting, as reflected in an early Quranic passage, It is for Us to collect it, in other verses, the word refers to an individual passage recited. Its liturgical context is seen in a number of passages, for example, So when al-qurʼān is recited, listen to it, the word may also assume the meaning of a codified scripture when mentioned with other scriptures such as the Torah and Gospel. The term also has closely related synonyms that are employed throughout the Quran, each synonym possesses its own distinct meaning, but its use may converge with that of qurʼān in certain contexts. Such terms include kitāb, āyah, and sūrah, the latter two terms also denote units of revelation. In the large majority of contexts, usually with an article, the word is referred to as the revelation
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Hindu
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Hindu refers to any person who regards themselves as culturally, ethnically, or religiously adhering to aspects of Hinduism. It has historically used as a geographical, cultural, or religious identifier for people indigenous to South Asia. The historical meaning of the term Hindu has evolved with time, by the 16th century, the term began to refer to residents of India who were not Turks or Muslims. The historical development of Hindu self-identity within the Indian population, in a religious or cultural sense, is unclear, competing theories state that Hindu identity developed in the British colonial era, or that it developed post-8th century CE after the Islamic invasion and medieval Hindu-Muslim wars. A sense of Hindu identity and the term Hindu appears in texts dated between the 13th and 18th century in Sanskrit and regional languages. The 14th- and 18th-century Indian poets such as Vidyapati, Kabir and Eknath used the phrase Hindu dharma, the Christian friar Sebastiao Manrique used the term Hindu in religious context in 1649. In the 18th century, the European merchants and colonists began to refer to the followers of Indian religions collectively as Hindus, in contrast to Mohamedans for Mughals, scholars state that the custom of distinguishing between Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs is a modern phenomenon. Hindoo is a spelling variant, whose use today may be considered derogatory. At more than 1.03 billion, Hindus are the third largest group after Christians. The vast majority of Hindus, approximately 966 million, live in India, according to Indias 2011 census. After India, the next 9 countries with the largest Hindu populations are, in decreasing order, Nepal, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, United States, Malaysia, United Kingdom and Myanmar. These together accounted for 99% of the worlds Hindu population, the word Hindu is derived from the Indo-Aryan and Sanskrit word Sindhu, which means a large body of water, covering river, ocean. It was used as the name of the Indus river and also referred to its tributaries, the Punjab region, called Sapta Sindhava in the Vedas, is called Hapta Hindu in Zend Avesta. The 6th-century BCE inscription of Darius I mentions the province of Hidush, the people of India were referred to as Hinduvān and hindavī was used as the adjective for Indian in the 8th century text Chachnama. The term Hindu in these ancient records is an ethno-geographical term, the Arabic equivalent Al-Hind likewise referred to the country of India. Among the earliest known records of Hindu with connotations of religion may be in the 7th-century CE Chinese text Record of the Western Regions by the Buddhist scholar Xuanzang, Xuanzang uses the transliterated term In-tu whose connotation overflows in the religious according to Arvind Sharma. The Hindu community occurs as the amorphous Other of the Muslim community in the court chronicles, wilfred Cantwell Smith notes that Hindu retained its geographical reference initially, Indian, indigenous, local, virtually native. Slowly, the Indian groups themselves started using the term, differentiating themselves, the poet Vidyapatis poem Kirtilata contrasts the cultures of Hindus and Turks in a city and concludes The Hindus and the Turks live close together, Each makes fun of the others religion
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Zoroastrianism
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Ascribed to the teachings of the Iranian prophet Zoroaster, it exalts a deity of wisdom, Ahura Mazda, as its Supreme Being. Zoroastrianism was suppressed from the 7th century onwards following the Muslim conquest of Persia of 633-654, recent estimates place the current number of Zoroastrians at around 2.6 million, with most living in India and in Iran. Besides the Zoroastrian diaspora, the older Mithraic faith Yazdânism is still practised amongst Kurds, the religious philosophy of Zoroaster divided the early Iranian gods of Proto-Indo-Iranian tradition. The most important texts of the religion are those of the Avesta, in Zoroastrianism, the creator Ahura Mazda, through the Spenta Mainyu is an all-good father of Asha, in opposition to Druj and no evil originates from him. He and his works are evident to humanity through the six primary Amesha Spentas, Spenta Mainyu adjoined unto truth oppose the Spirits opposite, Angra Mainyu and its forces born of Akəm Manah. In Zoroastrianism, the purpose in life is to be among those who renew the world. to make the progress towards perfection. Its basic maxims include, Humata, Hukhta, Huvarshta, which mean, Good Thoughts, Good Words, there is only one path and that is the path of Truth. Do the right thing because it is the thing to do. The full name by which Zoroaster addressed the deity is, Ahura, The Lord Creator and he proclaimed that there is only one God, the singularly creative and sustaining force of the Universe. He also stated that human beings are given a right of choice, Zoroasters teachings focused on responsibility, and did not introduce a devil per se. The contesting force to Ahura Mazda was called Angra Mainyu, or angry spirit, post-Zoroastrian scripture introduced the concept of Ahriman, the Devil, which was effectively a personification of Angra Mainyu. The name Zoroaster is a Greek rendering of the name Zarathustra and he is known as Zartosht and Zardosht in Persian and Zaratosht in Gujarati. The Zoroastrian name of the religion is Mazdayasna, which combines Mazda- with the Avestan language word yasna, meaning worship, in English, an adherent of the faith is commonly called a Zoroastrian or a Zarathustrian. An older expression still used today is Behdin, meaning The best Religion | Beh < Middle Persian Weh + Din < Middle Persian dēn < Avestan Daēnā. In Zoroastrian liturgy the term is used as a title for an individual who has formally inducted into the religion in a Navjote ceremony. The term Mazdaism /ˈmæzdə. ɪzəm/ is a typical 19th century construct, taking Mazda- from the name Ahura Mazda, the March 2001 draft edition of the Oxford English Dictionary also records an alternate form, Mazdeism, perhaps derived from the French Mazdéisme, which first appeared in 1871. In older English sources, the terms Gheber and Gueber were used to refer to Zoroastrians, however, Zoroastrian philosophy is identified as having been known to Italian Renaissance Europe through an image of Zoroaster in Raphaels School of Athens by Giorgio Vasari in 1550. The Oxford English Dictionary records use of the term Zoroastrianism in 1874 in Archibald Sayces Principles of Comparative Philology, Zoroastrians believe that there is one universal, transcendent, supreme god, Ahura Mazda, or the Wise Lord
26.
Avicenna
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Avicenna or Ibn Sīnā was a Persian polymath who is regarded as one of the most significant thinkers and writers of the Islamic Golden Age. Of the 450 works he is known to have written, around 240 have survived, in 1973, Avicennas Canon Of Medicine was reprinted in New York. Besides philosophy and medicine, Avicennas corpus includes writings on astronomy, alchemy, geography and geology, psychology, Islamic theology, logic, mathematics, physics and poetry. Avicenna is a Latin corruption of the Arabic patronym Ibn Sīnā, meaning Son of Sina, however, Avicenna was not the son, but the great-great-grandson of a man named Sina. His full name was Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī ibn Sīnā, Ibn Sina created an extensive corpus of works during what is commonly known as the Islamic Golden Age, in which the translations of Greco-Roman, Persian, and Indian texts were studied extensively. Under the Samanids, Bukhara rivaled Baghdad as a capital of the Islamic world. The study of the Quran and the Hadith thrived in such a scholarly atmosphere, philosophy, Fiqh and theology were further developed, most noticeably by Avicenna and his opponents. Al-Razi and Al-Farabi had provided methodology and knowledge in medicine and philosophy, Avicenna had access to the great libraries of Balkh, Khwarezm, Gorgan, Rey, Isfahan and Hamadan. Various texts show that he debated philosophical points with the greatest scholars of the time, aruzi Samarqandi describes how before Avicenna left Khwarezm he had met Al-Biruni, Abu Nasr Iraqi, Abu Sahl Masihi and Abu al-Khayr Khammar. Avicenna was born c. 980 in Afshana, a village near Bukhara, the capital of the Samanids, a Persian dynasty in Central Asia and Greater Khorasan. His mother, named Setareh, was from Bukhara, his father, Abdullah, was a respected Ismaili scholar from Balkh and his father worked in the government of Samanid in the village Kharmasain, a Sunni regional power. After five years, his brother, Mahmoud, was born. Avicenna first began to learn the Quran and literature in such a way that when he was ten years old he had learned all of them. According to his autobiography, Avicenna had memorised the entire Quran by the age of 10 and he learned Indian arithmetic from an Indian greengrocer, ءMahmoud Massahi and he began to learn more from a wandering scholar who gained a livelihood by curing the sick and teaching the young. He also studied Fiqh under the Sunni Hanafi scholar Ismail al-Zahid, Avicenna was taught some extent of philosophy books such as Introduction s Porphyry, Euclids Elements, Ptolemys Almagest by an unpopular philosopher, Abu Abdullah Nateli, who claimed philosophizing. As a teenager, he was troubled by the Metaphysics of Aristotle. For the next year and a half, he studied philosophy, in such moments of baffled inquiry, he would leave his books, perform the requisite ablutions, then go to the mosque, and continue in prayer till light broke on his difficulties. Deep into the night, he would continue his studies, and even in his dreams problems would pursue him and work out their solution
27.
Brethren of Purity
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The Brethren of Purity were a secret society of Muslim philosophers in Basra, Iraq, in the 8th or 10th century CE. The structure of this organization and the identities of its members have never been clear. A good deal of Muslim and Western scholarship has been spent on just pinning down the identities of the Brethren, the story concerns a Barbary dove and its companions who get entangled in the net of a hunter seeking birds. Together, they themselves and the ensnaring net to a nearby rat, who is gracious enough to gnaw the birds free of the net, impressed by the rats altruistic deed. Soon a tortoise and gazelle also join the company of animals, in the final turn of events, the gazelle repays the tortoise by serving as a decoy and distracting the hunter while the rat and the others free the tortoise. After this, the animals are designated as the Ikwhan al-Safa, the Brethren regularly met on a fixed schedule. Compare the similar division of the Encyclopedia into four sections and the Jabirite symbolism of 4, the ranks were, The Craftsmen – a craftsman had to be at least 15 years of age, their honorific was the pious and compassionate. There have been a number of theories as to the authors of the Brethren, though some members of the Ikhwan are known, it is not easy to work out exactly who, or how many, were part of this group of writers. The members referred to themselves as sleepers in the cave, an intellectual presence. In one passage they give as their reason for hiding their secrets from the people, not as fear of earthly violence, but as desire to protect their God-given gifts from the world. Yet they were aware that their esoteric teachings might provoke unrest. Some modern scholars have argued for an Ismaili origin to the writings, ian Richard Netton writes in Muslim Neoplatonists that, The Ikhwans concepts of exegesis of both Quran and Islamic tradition were tinged with the esoterism of the Ismailis. Ibn Qifti, reporting in the 7th/13th century in Tarikh-i Hukama that, some people attributed to an Alid Imam, proffering various names, whereas other put forward as author some early Mutazalite theologians. Among the Syrian Ismailis, the earliest reference of the Epistles and it implies the Epistles being the product of the joint efforts of the Ismaili dais. He charged him with the mission as was necessary and asked him to keep his identity concealed and this source not only asserts the connection of the Epistles with the Ismailis, but also indicates that the Imam himself was not the sole author, but only the issuer or presenter. Since the orthodox circles and the power had portrayed a wrong image of Ismailism. The prominent members of the secret association seem to be however, Abul Hasan al-Tirmizi, Abdullah bin Mubarak, Abdullah bin Hamdan, Abdullah bin Maymun, Said bin Hussain etc. The other Yamenite source connecting the Epistles with the Ismailis was the writing of Sayyadna Ibrahim bin al-Hussain al-Hamidi, among us too there are merchants, artisans, agriculturists and stock breeders
28.
Dante Alighieri
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Durante degli Alighieri, simply called Dante, was a major Italian poet of the Late Middle Ages. In the late Middle Ages, the majority of poetry was written in Latin. In De vulgari eloquentia, however, Dante defended use of the vernacular in literature, as a result, Dante played an instrumental role in establishing the national language of Italy. In addition, the first use of the interlocking three-line rhyme scheme, Dante has been called the Father of the Italian language and one of the greatest poets of world literature. In Italy, Dante is often referred to as il Sommo Poeta and il Poeta, he, Petrarch, Dante was born in Florence, Republic of Florence, present-day Italy. The exact date of his birth is unknown, although it is believed to be around 1265. This can be deduced from autobiographic allusions in the Divine Comedy, in 1265, the sun was in Gemini between approximately May 11 and June 11. Dante claimed that his family descended from the ancient Romans, but the earliest relative he could mention by name was Cacciaguida degli Elisei, born no earlier than about 1100. Dantes father, Alaghiero or Alighiero di Bellincione, was a White Guelph who suffered no reprisals after the Ghibellines won the Battle of Montaperti in the middle of the 13th century. Dantes family had loyalties to the Guelphs, an alliance that supported the Papacy and which was involved in complex opposition to the Ghibellines. The poets mother was Bella, likely a member of the Abati family and she died when Dante was not yet ten years old, and Alighiero soon married again, to Lapa di Chiarissimo Cialuffi. When Dante was 12, he was promised in marriage to Gemma di Manetto Donati, daughter of Manetto Donati, contracting marriages at this early age was quite common and involved a formal ceremony, including contracts signed before a notary. But by this time Dante had fallen in love with another, Beatrice Portinari, years after his marriage to Gemma he claims to have met Beatrice again, he wrote several sonnets to Beatrice but never mentioned Gemma in any of his poems. The exact date of his marriage is not known, the certain information is that, before his exile in 1301. Dante fought with the Guelph cavalry at the Battle of Campaldino and this victory brought about a reformation of the Florentine constitution. To take any part in life, one had to enroll in one of the citys many commercial or artisan guilds, so Dante entered the Physicians. In the following years, his name is recorded as speaking or voting in the various councils of the republic. A substantial portion of minutes from meetings in the years 1298–1300 was lost, however
29.
Renaissance
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The Renaissance was a period in European history, from the 14th to the 17th century, regarded as the cultural bridge between the Middle Ages and modern history. It started as a movement in Italy in the Late Medieval period and later spread to the rest of Europe. This new thinking became manifest in art, architecture, politics, science, Early examples were the development of perspective in oil painting and the recycled knowledge of how to make concrete. Although the invention of movable type sped the dissemination of ideas from the later 15th century. In politics, the Renaissance contributed to the development of the customs and conventions of diplomacy, the Renaissance began in Florence, in the 14th century. Other major centres were northern Italian city-states such as Venice, Genoa, Milan, Bologna, the word Renaissance, literally meaning Rebirth in French, first appeared in English in the 1830s. The word also occurs in Jules Michelets 1855 work, Histoire de France, the word Renaissance has also been extended to other historical and cultural movements, such as the Carolingian Renaissance and the Renaissance of the 12th century. The Renaissance was a movement that profoundly affected European intellectual life in the early modern period. Renaissance scholars employed the humanist method in study, and searched for realism, however, a subtle shift took place in the way that intellectuals approached religion that was reflected in many other areas of cultural life. In addition, many Greek Christian works, including the Greek New Testament, were back from Byzantium to Western Europe. Political philosophers, most famously Niccolò Machiavelli, sought to describe life as it really was. Others see more competition between artists and polymaths such as Brunelleschi, Ghiberti, Donatello, and Masaccio for artistic commissions as sparking the creativity of the Renaissance. Yet it remains much debated why the Renaissance began in Italy, accordingly, several theories have been put forward to explain its origins. During the Renaissance, money and art went hand in hand, Artists depended entirely on patrons while the patrons needed money to foster artistic talent. Wealth was brought to Italy in the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries by expanding trade into Asia, silver mining in Tyrol increased the flow of money. Luxuries from the Eastern world, brought home during the Crusades, increased the prosperity of Genoa, unlike with Latin texts, which had been preserved and studied in Western Europe since late antiquity, the study of ancient Greek texts was very limited in medieval Western Europe. One of the greatest achievements of Renaissance scholars was to bring this entire class of Greek cultural works back into Western Europe for the first time since late antiquity, Arab logicians had inherited Greek ideas after they had invaded and conquered Egypt and the Levant. Their translations and commentaries on these ideas worked their way through the Arab West into Spain and Sicily and this work of translation from Islamic culture, though largely unplanned and disorganized, constituted one of the greatest transmissions of ideas in history
30.
Paracelsus
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Paracelsus, born Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim, was a Swiss German philosopher, physician, botanist, astrologer, and general occultist. He is credited as the founder of toxicology and he is also a famous revolutionary for utilizing observations of nature, rather than referring to ancient texts, something of radical defiance during his time. He is credited for giving zinc its name, calling it zincum, modern psychology often also credits him for being the first to note that some diseases are rooted in psychological conditions. Paracelsus most important legacy is likely his critique of the methods in medicine, science. Much of his work does not withstand modern scientific thought. Paracelsus was born and raised in the village of Einsiedeln in Switzerland and his father, Wilhelm Bombast von Hohenheim, was a Swabian chemist and physician. His mother was Swiss and probably a bondswoman of the abbey of Einsiedeln in Switzerland where he was born, in 1502 the family moved to Villach, Carinthia where Paracelsus father worked as a physician, attending to the medical needs of the pilgrims and inhabitants of the cloister. Paracelsus was educated by his father in botany, medicine, mineralogy, mining and he also received a profound humanistic and theological education from local clerics and the convent school of St. Pauls Abbey in the Lavanttal. He specifically accounts for being tutored by Johannes Trithemius, abbot of Sponheim, at the age of 16 he started studying medicine at the University of Basel, later moving to Vienna. He gained his degree from the University of Ferrara in 1515 or 1516. He was employed as a surgeon in the Venetian service in 1522. His wanderings as an itinerant physician and sometime journeyman miner took him through Germany, France, Spain, Hungary, Paracelsus was well known as a difficult man. He gained a reputation for being arrogant and soon garnered the anger of other physicians in Europe, some even claim he was a habitual drinker. He was prone to outbursts of abusive language, abhorred untested theory. He held the chair of medicine at the University of Basel and he angered his colleagues by lecturing in German instead of Latin in order to make medical knowledge more accessible to the common people. He is credited as the first to do so and he was the first to publicly condemn the medical authority of Avicenna and Galen and threw their writings into a bonfire on St. Johns Day in 1527. In 1526 he bought the rights of citizenship in Strasbourg to establish his own practice, but soon after he was called to Basel to the sickbed of Johann Froben or Frobenius, a successful printer and publisher. Based on historical accounts, Paracelsus cured Frobenius and he was a contemporary of Copernicus, Leonardo da Vinci and Martin Luther
31.
Subtle body
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A subtle body is one of a series of psycho-spiritual constituents of living beings, according to various esoteric, occult, and mystical teachings. According to such beliefs each subtle body corresponds to a plane of existence. According to Bhagavad Gita, one of the most sacred texts of Hinduism, the body is composed of mind, intelligence and ego. The expression subtile body appears suddenly in English literature in about 1650, at that time, the more common term subtle body comes into use. The latter expression gradually gains in currency through the nineteenth century, further research is needed to clarify the actual authors who used the phrase, and what they meant by it. But the word may have a connection with the Sanskrit Sūkṣma Śarīra which is described in the Vedas and these invisible channels and points are understood to determine the characteristics of the visible physical form. By understanding and mastering the subtlest levels of reality one gains mastery over the physical realm, see also, Vedanta Samkhya Tantra Kundalini The subtle body in Vedantic philosophy is composed of three Koshas or sheaths. The subtle body is the vehicle of consciousness with which one passes from life to life, the Liṅga Śarīra is the vehicle of consciousness in later Samkhya, Vedanta, and Yoga, and is propelled by past-life tendencies, or bhavas. Linga can be translated as characteristic mark or impermanence and the term Sarira as form or mold, karana or instrument is a synonymous term. In the Classical Samkhya system of Isvarakrsna, the Lińga is the mark of the transmigrating entity. The idea was adopted by Vedanta and Yoga philosophy, and from there, in the 19th century, at this stage the soul completely transcends the phenomenal world and becomes Self-conscious and Self-realised. H. P. Blavatskys Theosophical teaching represented the convergence of 19th century Western occultism, Eastern philosophy, religion, science, the Secret Doctrine, and The Key to Theosophy combined the Vedantic concept of five koshas with Western esoteric traditions. She refers to three bodies, Linga Sharira - the Double or Astral body Mayavi-rupa - the Illusion-body. Causal Body - the vehicle of the higher Mind, the linga sarira can be separated or projected a limited distance from the body. When separated from the body it can be wounded by sharp objects, when it returns to the physical frame, the wound will be reflected in the physical counterpart, a phenomenon called repercussion. At death, it is discarded together with the physical body, Theosophy was further systematized in the writings of C. W. Leadbeater and Annie Besant. For example, they divided Blavatskys dual mayavi-rupa into two different bodies, the emotional and the mental bodies, the Linga Sarira was denominated by Annie Besant as Etheric double. C. W. Leadbeater, regarding the body as the seat of the kamic principle of Blavatskys constitution
32.
Divinity
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Such things are regarded as divine due to their transcendental origins or because their attributes or qualities are superior or supreme relative to things of the Earth. Divine things are regarded as eternal and based in truth, while things are regarded as ephemeral. Such things that may qualify as divine are apparitions, visions, prophecies, miracles, and in some also the soul, or more general things like resurrection, immortality, grace. Otherwise what is or is not divine may be loosely defined, the root of the word divine is literally godly, but the use varies significantly depending on which deity is being discussed. This article outlines the major distinctions in the use of the terms. For specific related academic terms, see Divinity, or Divine, for instance, Jehovah is closely associated with storms and thunder throughout much of the Old Testament. He is said to speak in thunder, and thunder is seen as a token of his anger and this power was then extended to prophets like Moses and Samuel, who caused thunderous storms to rain down on their enemies. Divinity always carries connotations of goodness, beauty, beneficence, justice, pantheistic and polytheistic faiths make no such distinction, gods and other beings of transcendent power often have complex, ignoble, or even irrational motivations for their acts. Note that while the demon and demonic are used in monotheistic faiths as antonyms to divine, they are in fact derived from the Greek word daimón. There are three distinct usages of divinity and divine in religious discourse, In monotheistic faiths, the divinity is often used to refer to the singular God central to that faith. Often the word takes the article and is capitalized — the Divinity — as though it were a proper name or definitive honorific. Divine — capitalized — may be used as an adjective to refer to the manifestations of such a Divinity or its powers and this leads to the second usage of the word divine, to refer to the operation of transcendent power in the world. In its most direct form, the operation of transcendent power implies some form of divine intervention, for pan- and polytheistic faiths this usually implies the direct action of one god or another on the course of human events. In monotheistic religions, divine intervention may take very direct forms, miracles, visions, transcendent force or power may also operate through more subtle and indirect paths. Monotheistic faiths generally support some version of divine providence, which acknowledges that the divinity of the faith has a profound but unknowable plan always unfolding in the world. Unforeseeable, overwhelming, or seemingly unjust events are often thrown on the will of the Divine, in deferences like the Muslim inshallah, in the third usage, extensions of divinity and divine power are credited to living, mortal individuals. More commonly, and more pertinent to recent history, leaders merely claim some form of divine mandate, in Greek mythology, Achilles mother bathed him in the river Styx to give him immortality, and Hercules — as the son of Zeus — inherited near-godly powers. In religious Taoism, Lao Tsu is venerated as a saint with his own powers, various individuals in the Buddhist faith, beginning with Siddhartha, are considered to be enlightened, and in religious forms of Buddhism they are credited with divine powers
33.
Spirit
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The English word spirit, from Latin spiritus breath, has many different meanings and connotations, most of them relating to a non-corporeal substance contrasted with the material body. It can also refer to a subtle as opposed to gross material substance, the word spirit is often used metaphysically to refer to the consciousness or personality. e. A manifestation of the spirit of a deceased person, the term may also refer to any incorporeal or immaterial being, such as demons or deities. In the Bible, the Spirit, specifically denotes the Holy Spirit, the English word spirit comes from the Latin spiritus, meaning breath, but also spirit, soul, courage, vigor, ultimately from a Proto-Indo-European *peis. It is distinguished from Latin anima, soul, in Greek, this distinction exists between pneuma, breath, motile air, spirit, and psykhē, soul. The word spirit came into Middle English via Old French, the distinction between soul and spirit also developed in the Abrahamic religions, Arabic nafs opposite rūħ, Hebrew neshama or nephesh נֶ֫פֶשׁ nép̄eš opposite ruach. In a lecture delivered to the literary Society of Augsburg, October 20,1926, on the theme of “Nature and Spirit, the mistrust of verbal concepts, inconvenient as it is, nevertheless seems to me to be very much in place in speaking of fundamentals. Spirit and Life are familiar enough words to us, very old acquaintances in fact, pawns that for thousands of years have pushed back. It can scarcely be an accident onomatopoeic words like ruach, ruch, roho mean ‘spirit’ no less clearly than the Greek πνεύμα and the Latin spiritus”. In spiritual and metaphysical terms, spirit has acquired a number of meanings, An incorporeal but ubiquitous, unlike the concept of souls a spirit develops and grows as an integral aspect of a living being. This concept of the individual spirit occurs commonly in animism, note the distinction between this concept of spirit and that of the pre-existing or eternal soul, belief in souls occurs specifically and far less commonly, particularly in traditional societies. One might more properly term this type/aspect of spirit life or aether rather than spirit, people usually conceive of a ghost as a wandering spirit from a being no longer living, having survived the death of the body yet maintaining at least vestiges of mind and consciousness. In religion and spirituality, the respiration of a human has for obvious reasons become seen as linked with the very occurrence of life. A similar significance has become attached to human blood, Spirit, in this sense, means the thing that separates a living body from a corpse—and usually implies intelligence, consciousness, and sentience. Latter-day Saint prophet Joseph Smith Jr. taught that the concept of spirit as incorporeal or without substance was incorrect, all spirit is matter, but it is more fine or pure, and can only be discerned by purer eyes. In some Native American spiritual traditions the Great Spirit or Wakan Tanka is a term for the Supreme Being, individual spirits envisaged as interconnected with all other spirits and with The Spirit. This concept relates to theories of a unified spirituality, to universal consciousness, the experience of such a connection can become a primary basis for spiritual belief. Christian spiritual theology can use the term Spirit to describe God, or aspects of God — as in the Holy Spirit, Spirit forms a central concept in pneumatology
34.
Logos
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Logos is the logic behind an argument. Logos tries to persuade an audience using logical arguments and supportive evidence, Logos is a persuasive technique often used in writing and rhetoric. Ancient Greek philosophers used the term in different ways, the sophists used the term to mean discourse, and Aristotle applied the term to refer to reasoned discourse or the argument in the field of rhetoric. The Stoic philosophers identified the term with the animating principle pervading the Universe. Under Hellenistic Judaism, Philo adopted the term into Jewish philosophy, the Gospel of John identifies the Logos, through which all things are made, as divine, and further identifies Jesus Christ as the incarnate Logos. Despite the conventional translation as word, it is not used for a word in the sense, instead. However, both logos and lexis derive from the same verb legō, meaning count, tell, say, jeanne Fahnestock describes logos as a premise. She states that, to find the reason behind a rhetors backing of a position or stance. The rhetors success, she argues, will come down to objects of agreement. between arguer and audience. Logos is logical appeal, and the logic is derived from it. It is normally used to describe facts and figures that support the speakers topic, furthermore, logos is credited with appealing to the audiences sense of logic, with the definition of “logic” being concerned with the thing as it is known. Philo distinguished between logos prophorikos and the logos endiathetos, the Stoics also spoke of the logos spermatikos, which is not important in the Biblical tradition but is relevant in Neoplatonism. Early translators from Greek, such as Jerome in the 4th century, were frustrated by the inadequacy of any single Latin word to convey the Logos expressed in the Gospel of John. The Vulgate Bible usage of in principio erat verbum was thus constrained to use the noun verbum for word, but later romance language translations had the advantage of nouns such as le mot in French. Martin Luther rejected Zeitwort in favor of Wort, for instance, although later commentators repeatedly turned to a dynamic use involving the living word as felt by Jerome. For Heraclitus, logos provided the link between rational discourse and the rational structure. This logos holds always but humans always prove unable to understand it, but other people fail to notice what they do when awake, just as they forget what they do while asleep. For this reason it is necessary to follow what is common, but although the logos is common, most people live as if they had their own private understanding
35.
Holy Spirit
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Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost is a term found in English translations of the Bible that is understood differently among the Abrahamic religions. Holy Spirit is stated to be a realm beyond the ability of words to properly convey and it must be experienced, realized, kindled within like a holy fire. The term is used to describe aspects of other religions. The word Spirit appears as either alone or with words, in the Hebrew Bible. Combinations include expressions such as the Holy Spirit, Spirit of God, the word Spirit is rendered as רוּחַ in Hebrew-language parts of the Old Testament. In its Aramaic parts, the term is rûacḥ, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, the Septuagint, translates the word as πνεῦμα. This is the word that is used throughout the New Testament. The English term Spirit comes from its Latin origin, spiritus, the alternative term, Holy Ghost, comes from Old English translations of spiritus. The Hebrew Bible contains the term Spirit of God in the sense of the might of a unitary God and this meaning is different from the Christian concept of Holy Spirit as one personality of God in the Trinity. According to theologian Rudolf Bultmann, there are two ways to think about the Holy Spirit, animistic and dynamistic, both kinds of thought appear in Jewish and Christian scripture, but animistic is more typical of the Old Testament whereas dynamistic is more common in the New Testament. The distinction coincides with the Holy Spirit as either a temporary or permanent gift, in the Old Testament and Jewish thought, it is primarily temporary with a specific situation or task in mind, whereas in the Christian concept the gift resides in man permanently. The Holy Spirit also has an equivalent in non-Abrahamic Hellenistic mystery religions and they included a distinction of the Spirit and psyche, which Paul the Apostle later incorporated into his epistles. According to proponents of the History of religions school, the Christian concept of the Holy Spirit cannot be explained from Jewish ideas alone without reference to the Hellenistic religions. However, according to theologian Erik Konsmo, the views are so dissimilar that the only legitimate connection one can make is with the term πνεῦμα itself, Another link with ancient Greek thought is the Stoic idea of the Spirit as anima mundi—or world soul—that unites all people. In his Introduction to the 1964 book Meditations, the Anglican priest Maxwell Staniforth wrote, cleanthes, wishing to give more explicit meaning to Zenos creative fire, had been the first to hit upon the term pneuma, or spirit, to describe it. The Hebrew language phrase ruach ha-kodesh is a used in the Hebrew Bible. It literally means spirit of the holiness or spirit of the holy place, the Hebrew terms ruacḥ qodshəka, thy holy spirit, and ruacḥ qodshō, his holy spirit also occur. The Holy Spirit in Judaism generally refers to the aspect of prophecy
36.
Soul
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In many religious, philosophical and mythological traditions, the soul is the incorporeal essence of a living being. Depending on the system, a soul can either be mortal or immortal. In Judeo-Christianity, only human beings have immortal souls, for example, the Catholic theologian Thomas Aquinas attributed soul to all organisms but argued that only human souls are immortal. Other religions hold that all organisms have souls, as did Aristotle, while some teach that even non-biological entities possess souls. The latter belief is called animism, Greek philosophers, such as Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, understood that the soul must have a logical faculty, the exercise of which was the most divine of human actions. Anima mundi is the concept of a world soul connecting all living organisms on planet Earth, the Modern English word soul, derived from Old English sáwol, sáwel, was first attested in the 8th-century poem Beowulf v.2820 and in the Vespasian Psalter 77.50. Further etymology of the Germanic word is uncertain, the Koine Greek word ψυχή psychē, life, spirit, consciousness, is derived from a verb meaning to cool, to blow, and hence refers to the breath, as opposed to σῶμα, meaning body. Vulgate, et nolite timere eos qui occidunt corpus animam autem non possunt occidere sed potius eum timete qui potest et animam et corpus perdere in gehennam. Authorized King James Version And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul, vulgate Creavitque Deus cete grandia, et omnem animam viventem atque motabilem. KJV And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, Paul of Tarsus used ψυχή and πνεῦμα specifically to distinguish between the Jewish notions of נפש nephesh and רוח ruah. The ancient Greeks used the word alive for the concept of being ensouled, the soul was considered the incorporeal or spiritual breath that animates the living organism. Francis M. Cornford quotes Pindar by saying that the soul sleeps while the limbs are active, but when one is sleeping, the soul is active and reveals an award of joy or sorrow drawing near in dreams. Erwin Rohde writes that an early pre-Pythagorean belief presented the soul as lifeless when it departed the body, drawing on the words of his teacher Socrates, Plato considered the psyche to be the essence of a person, being that which decides how we behave. He considered this essence to be an incorporeal, eternal occupant of our being, Socrates says that even after death, the soul exists and is able to think. He believed that as bodies die, the soul is reborn in subsequent bodies and Plato believed this as well, however. Thymos is located near the chest region and is related to anger, eros is located in the stomach and is related to ones desires. Plato also compares the three parts of the soul or psyche to a caste system. According to Platos theory, the soul is essentially the same thing as a states class system because, to function well
37.
Mental plane
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This reality itself constitutes only one gradation in a whole series of planes of existence. In India in the seventh century b. c. e, the Taittiriyan concept of the five selves would represent an important element of Vedantic ontology, for example the five koshas of Advaita Vedanta. Meanwhile in Greece, and coming from a rather than a yogic perspective. These ideas were not equivalent to mind or thought as such, but they did eventually help inspire Middle Platonic and Neoplatonic metaphysics in which the ideas exist in the mind of God or the Demiurge, or the Divine Mind or Nous. In the metaphysics of Proclus, the Nous is only one level of hypostasis, with higher ones like Life, Being, H. P. Blavatsky taught a cosmology and ontology consisting of seven principles and seven planes. She relates the mind with the principle of Manas, and also talks about a kosmic Manasic plane, however, the latter represents a very sublime level of consciousness which can be experienced only by enlightened beings. In The Kabbalah Unveiled, MacGregor Mathers divides the sephirot of the Tree of Life into three triads, the Intellectual, Moral, and Astral triads, the Intellectual triad could be compared to the Neoplatonic ideas and this here represents the highest subdivision. Around the turn of the century, Max and Alma Theon were producing The Tradition. This involved a Lurianic Kabbalistic-inspired cosmology in which the ineffable Godhead emanates a number of sublime worlds, the third or fourth lowest State is the Mental or Intellectual, which again corresponds to a very high, spiritual level of consciousness. A discipline prevalent in the West is mathematics, the field was strengthened by Pythagoreanism and Philosophy, which were, alongside ancient Egyptian philosophy, among the oldest non-mythical wisdom paradigms. Math once meant magic and is important within occultism, especially topics farther beyond the earthly. Any mathematician who considers the mental planes dimensionality equal to or more than the earthly one defines them as hyperplanes, however, contemporary philosophers are considering dimensions of M-theory physics. The influence of C. W. Leadbeaters work on the New Age movement has been underrated. A detailed account of The Mental Plane and the Mental Body and their associated phenomena, as described by Leadbeater and his co-worker Annie Besant, can be found in Arthur E. Powells The Mental Body. Sri Aurobindo developed a different concept of the Mental Plane, through his own synthesis of Vedanta, Tantra, Theosophy. The Secret Doctrine ----- The Key to Theosophy Dillon, J. M, jyoti and Prem Sobel The Hierarchy of Minds, Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, Pondicherry C. W. Leadbeater, Man, Visible and Invisible MacGregor Mathers, S. L. The Kabbalah Unveiled Powell, Arthur E, the Mental Body Radhakrishnan, The Principle Upanishads Rosan, Laurence J. The Final Phase of Ancient Thought, New York, Cosmos,1949, wallis, R. T. Neoplatonism Heindel, Max, The Rosicrucian Mysteries,1911, ISBN 0-911274-86-3
38.
Mind
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The mind is a set of cognitive faculties including consciousness, perception, thinking, judgement, and memory. It is usually defined as the faculty of an entitys reasoning and it holds the power of imagination, recognition, and appreciation, and is responsible for processing feelings and emotions, resulting in attitudes and actions. One open question regarding the nature of the mind is the mind–body problem, pre-scientific viewpoints included dualism and idealism, which considered the mind somehow non-physical. Modern views center around physicalism and functionalism, which hold that the mind is identical with the brain or reducible to physical phenomena such as neuronal activity. Another question concerns which types of beings are capable of having minds, the concept of mind is understood in many different ways by many different cultural and religious traditions. Some see mind as a property exclusive to humans whereas others ascribe properties of mind to non-living entities, to animals, important philosophers of mind include Plato, Descartes, Leibniz, Searle, Dennett, Fodor, Nagel, and Chalmers. Psychologists such as Freud and James, and computer scientists such as Turing, the original meaning of Old English gemynd was the faculty of memory, not of thought in general. Hence call to mind, come to mind, keep in mind, to have mind of, the word retains this sense in Scotland. Old English had other words to mind, such as hyge mind. The meaning of memory is shared with Old Norse, which has munr, the word is originally from a PIE verbal root *men-, meaning to think, remember, whence also Latin mens mind, Sanskrit manas mind and Greek μένος mind, courage, anger. The generalization of mind to all mental faculties, thought, volition, feeling and memory. The attributes that make up the mind is debated, some psychologists argue that only the higher intellectual functions constitute mind, particularly reason and memory. In this view the emotions — love, hate, fear, joy — are more primitive or subjective in nature and should be seen as different from the mind as such. Others argue that rational and emotional states cannot be so separated, that they are of the same nature and origin. In popular usage, mind is frequently synonymous with thought, the conversation with ourselves that we carry on inside our heads. Thus we make up our minds, change our minds or are of two minds about something, one of the key attributes of the mind in this sense is that it is a private sphere to which no one but the owner has access. No one else can know our mind and they can only interpret what we consciously or unconsciously communicate. Broadly speaking, mental faculties are the functions of the mind
39.
Out-of-body experience
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It can also be deliberately induced by some. One in ten people have an OBE once, or more commonly, neuroscientists and psychologists regard OBEs as dissociative experiences arising from different psychological and neurological factors. Those experiencing OBEs sometimes report a preceding and initiating lucid-dream state, in many cases, people who claim to have had an OBE report being on the verge of sleep, or being already asleep shortly before the experience. A large percentage of these refer to situations where the sleep was not particularly deep. In most of these cases subjects perceive themselves as being awake, another form of spontaneous OBE is the near-death experience. Some subjects report having had an OBE at times of severe physical trauma such as near-drownings or major surgery, along the same lines as an NDE, extreme physical effort during activities such as high-altitude climbing and marathon running can induce OBEs. A sense of bilocation may be experienced, with ground and air-based perspectives being experienced simultaneously. OBEs can be induced by such as psilocybin, ketamine, DMT, MDA. Falling asleep physically without losing awareness, the Mind Awake, Body Asleep state is widely suggested as a cause of OBEs, voluntary and otherwise. Thomas Edison used this state to tackle problems while working on his inventions and he would rest a silver dollar on his head while sitting with a metal bucket in a chair. As he drifted off, the coin would noisily fall into the bucket, OBE pioneer Sylvan Muldoon more simply used a forearm held perpendicular in bed as the falling object. Salvador Dalí was said to use a similar method to gain odd visions which inspired his paintings. Deliberately teetering between awake and asleep states is known to cause spontaneous trance episodes at the onset of sleep which are helpful when attempting to induce an OBE. By moving deeper and deeper into relaxation, one encounters a slipping feeling if the mind is still alert. This slipping is reported to feel like leaving the physical body, some consider progressive relaxation a passive form of sensory deprivation. The types of visualizations vary, some common analogies include climbing a rope to pull out of body, floating out of ones body, getting shot out of a cannon. This technique is considered hard to use for people who cannot properly relax, one example of such a technique is the popular Golden Dawn Body of Light Technique. Binaural beats can be used to induce specific brainwave frequencies, notably those predominant in various mind awake/body asleep states, simultaneous introduction of mind awake beta frequencies was also observed as constructive
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