1.
Spirituality
–
Modern spirituality typically includes a belief in a supernatural realm, personal growth, a quest for an ultimate/sacred meaning, religious experience, or an encounter with ones own inner dimension. The meaning of spirituality has developed and expanded over time, the term spirituality originally developed within early Christianity, referring to a life oriented toward the Holy Spirit. The term spirit means animating or vital principle in man and animals and it is derived from the Old French espirit which comes from the Latin word spiritus and is related to spirare. In the Vulgate the Latin word spiritus is used to translate the Greek pneuma, the term spiritual, matters concerning the spirit, is derived from Old French spirituel, which is derived from Latin spiritualis, which comes from spiritus or spirit. The term spirituality is derived from Middle French spiritualité, from Late Latin spiritualitatem, there is no single, widely agreed definition of spirituality. A survey of reviews by McCarroll e. a. dealing with the topic of spirituality gave twenty-seven explicit definitions and this causes some difficulty in trying to study spirituality systematically, i. e. it impedes both understanding and the capacity to communicate findings in a meaningful fashion. To accomplish this, the re-formation is oriented at a mold, which represents the shape, in Judaism the Torah, in Christianity there is Christ, for Buddhism, Buddha. Houtman and Aupers suggest that modern spirituality is a blend of humanistic psychology, mystical and esoteric traditions, Spirituality is sometimes associated with philosophical, social, or political movements such as liberalism, feminist theology, and green politics. Some argue spirituality is intimately linked to resolving mental health issues, managing substance abuse, marital functioning, parenting, words translatable as spirituality first began to arise in the 5th century and only entered common use toward the end of the Middle Ages. In a Biblical context the term means being animated by God, to be driven by the Holy Spirit, in the 11th century this meaning changed. Spirituality began to denote the mental aspect of life, as opposed to the material and sensual aspects of life, in the 13th century spirituality acquired a social and psychological meaning. In the 17th and 18th century a distinction was made higher and lower forms of spirituality, A spiritual man is one who is Christian more abundantly. The word was associated with mysticism and quietism, and acquired a negative meaning. Modern notions of spirituality developed throughout the 19th and 20th century, mixing Christian ideas with westen esoteric traditions and elements of Asian, especially Indian, Spirituality became increasingly disconnected from traditional religious organisations and institutions. Ralph Waldo Emerson was a pioneer of the idea of spirituality as a distinct field, the Transcendentalists emphasised an intuitive, experiential approach of religion. Following Schleiermacher, an individuals intuition of truth was taken as the criterion for truth, in the late 18th and early 19th century, the first translations of Hindu texts appeared, which were also read by the Transcendentalists, and influenced their thinking. A major influence on modern spirituality was the Theosophical Society, which searched for secret teachings in Asian religions and it aims to present Hinduism as a homogenized ideal of Hinduism with Advaita Vedanta as its central doctrine. Due to the colonisation of Asia by the world, since the 19th century an exchange of ideas has been taking place between the western world and Asia, which also influenced western religiosity
2.
Religion
–
Religions have sacred histories and narratives, which may be preserved in sacred scriptures, and symbols and holy places, that aim mostly to give a meaning to life. Religions may contain symbolic stories, which are said by followers to be true, that have the side purpose of explaining the origin of life. Traditionally, faith, in addition to reason, has considered a source of religious beliefs. There are an estimated 10,000 distinct religions worldwide, about 84% of the worlds population is affiliated with one of the five largest religions, namely Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism or forms of folk religion. With the onset of the modernisation of and the revolution in the western world. The religiously unaffiliated demographic include those who do not identify with any religion, atheists. While the religiously unaffiliated have grown globally, many of the religiously unaffiliated still have various religious beliefs, about 16% of the worlds population is religiously unaffiliated. The study of religion encompasses a variety of academic disciplines, including theology, comparative religion. Theories of religion offer various explanations for the origins and workings of religion, Religion is derived from the Latin religiō, the ultimate origins of which are obscure. One possible interpretation traced to Cicero, connects lego read, i. e. re with lego in the sense of choose, go over again or consider carefully. The medieval usage alternates with order in designating bonded communities like those of monastic orders, we hear of the religion of the Golden Fleece, of a knight of the religion of Avys. In the ancient and medieval world, the etymological Latin root religio was understood as a virtue of worship, never as doctrine, practice. In the Quran, the Arabic word din is often translated as religion in modern translations and it was in the 19th century that the terms Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, and Confucianism first emerged. Max Müller characterized many other cultures around the world, including Egypt, Persia, what is called ancient religion today, they would have only called law. Some languages have words that can be translated as religion, but they may use them in a different way. For example, the Sanskrit word dharma, sometimes translated as religion, throughout classical South Asia, the study of law consisted of concepts such as penance through piety and ceremonial as well as practical traditions. Medieval Japan at first had a union between imperial law and universal or Buddha law, but these later became independent sources of power. There is no equivalent of religion in Hebrew, and Judaism does not distinguish clearly between religious, national, racial, or ethnic identities
3.
Timeline of religion
–
The timeline of religion is a chronological catalogue of important and noteworthy religious events in pre-historic and modern times. This article reaches into pre-historic times, as the bulk of the religious experience pre-dates written history. Written history is only c.5000 years old, a lack of written records results in most of the knowledge of pre-historic religion being derived from archaeological records and other indirect sources, and from suppositions. Much pre-historic religion is subject to continued debate, homo heidelbergensis deliberately disposed of deceased individuals, usually in funerary caches. 98,000 BCE In the area of present-day France and Belgium,40,000 BCE The remains of one of the earliest anatomically modern humans to be cremated was buried near Lake Mungo. 38,000 BCE The Aurignacian Löwenmensch figurine, the oldest known sculpture in the world. The sculpture has also interpreted as anthropomorphic, giving human characteristics to an animal. All convincing evidence for Neanderthal burials ceased and this practice may be the origin of sacred relics. The oldest discovered Venus figurines appeared in graves, Some were deliberately broken or repeatedly stabbed, possibly representing the murders of the men with whom they were buried, or owing to some other unknown social dynamic. 25, 000–21,000 BCE Clear examples of burials are present in Iberia, Wales and these, too, incorporate the heavy use of red ochre. Additionally, various objects were included in the graves,13, 000–8,000 BCE Noticeable burial activity resumed. Prior mortuary activity had taken a less obvious form or contemporaries retained some of their burial knowledge in the absence of such activity. Dozens of men, women, and children were being buried in the caves which were used for burials 10,000 years beforehand. All these graves are delineated by the walls and large limestone blocks. The burials share a number of characteristics that go back thousands of years, Some burials were double, comprising an adult male with a juvenile male buried by his side. They were now beginning to take on the form of modern cemeteries, old burials were commonly re-dug and moved to make way for new ones, with the older bones often being gathered and cached together. Large stones may have acted as grave markers, pairs of ochred antlers were sometimes mounted on poles within the cave, this is compared to the modern practice of leaving flowers at a grave. 9831 BCE The Neolithic Revolution began and resulted in a population explosion
4.
Christian mysticism
–
Christian mysticism refers to the development of mystical practices and theory within Christianity. It has often connected to mystical theology, especially in the Roman Catholic. The attributes and means by which Christian mysticism is studied and practiced are varied and they range from ecstatic visions of the souls mystical union with God to simple prayerful contemplation of Holy Scripture. Mysticism is derived from the Greek μυω, meaning to conceal, in the Hellenistic world, a mystikos was an initiate of a mystery religion. Mystical referred to religious rituals and use of the word lacked any direct references to the transcendental. In early Christianity the term referred to three dimensions, which soon became intertwined, namely the biblical, the liturgical and the spiritual or contemplative. The biblical dimension refers to hidden or allegorical interpretations of Scriptures, the liturgical dimension refers to the liturgical mystery of the Eucharist, the presence of Christ at the Eucharist. The third dimension is the contemplative or experiential knowledge of God, William James popularized the use of the term religious experience in his 1902 book The Varieties of Religious Experience. It has also influenced the understanding of mysticism as an experience which supplies knowledge. Wayne Proudfoot traces the roots of the notion of religious experience further back to the German theologian Friedrich Schleiermacher, the notion of religious experience was used by Schleiermacher to defend religion against the growing scientific and secular critique. It was adopted by scholars of religion, of which William James was the most influential. Other critics point out that the stress on experience is accompanied by favoring the atomic individual, transformation has particular importance in the theology of Origen. Mystical experience is not simply a matter between the mystic and God, but is shaped by cultural issues. Thus, the nature of experience could be tailored to the particular cultural and theological issues of the time. The link between mysticism and the vision of the Divine was introduced by the early Church Fathers, who used the term as an adjective, as in mystical theology, in Christian mysticism, Shekhinah became mystery, Daat became gnosis, and poverty became an important component of monasticism. The Alexandrian contribution to Christian mysticism centers on Origen and Clement of Alexandria, given the importance of reason, Clement stresses apatheia as a reasonable ordering of our passions in order to live within Gods love, which is seen as a form of truth. Alexandrian mysticism developed alongside Hermeticism and Neoplatonism and therefore some of the same ideas, images. In particular, Philo taught that allegorical interpretations of the Hebrew Scriptures provides access to the meanings of the texts
5.
Mysticism
–
Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute, but may refer to any kind of ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or spiritual meaning. It may also refer to the attainment of insight in ultimate or hidden truths, the term mysticism has Ancient Greek origins with various historically determined meanings. Derived from the Greek word μυω, meaning to conceal, mysticism referred to the liturgical, spiritual. During the early period, the definition of mysticism grew to include a broad range of beliefs. In modern times, mysticism has acquired a limited definition, with applications, as meaning the aim at the union with the Absolute. This limited definition has been applied to a range of religious traditions and practices. Since the 1960s scholars have debated the merits of perennial and constructionist approaches in the research of mystical experiences. The perennial position is now largely dismissed by scholars, most scholars using a contextual approach, Mysticism is derived from the Greek μυω, meaning I conceal, and its derivative μυστικός, mystikos, meaning an initiate. The verb μυώ has received a different meaning in the Greek language. The primary meanings it has are induct and initiate, secondary meanings include introduce, make someone aware of something, train, familiarize, give first experience of something. The related form of the verb appears in the New Testament. As explained in Strongs Concordance, it properly means shutting the eyes and its figurative meaning is to be initiated into the mystery revelation. The meaning derives from the rites of the pagan mysteries. Also appearing in the New Testament is the related noun μυστήριον, the term means anything hidden, a mystery or secret, of which initiation is necessary. According to Thayers Greek Lexicon, the term μυστήριον in classical Greek meant a hidden thing, a particular meaning it took in Classical antiquity was a religious secret or religious secrets, confided only to the initiated and not to be communicated by them to ordinary mortals. In the Septuagint and the New Testament the meaning it took was that of a purpose or counsel. It is sometimes used for the hidden wills of humans, but is often used for the hidden will of God. Elsewhere in the Bible it takes the meaning of the mystic or hidden sense of things and it is used for the secrets behind sayings, names, or behind images seen in visions and dreams
6.
New religious movement
–
NRMs can be novel in origin or part of a wider religion, in which case they are distinct from pre-existing denominations. Some NRMs deal with the challenges posed by the world by embracing individualism whereas others seek tightly knit collective means. Scholars have estimated that NRMs now number in the tens of thousands worldwide, with most of their members living in Asia, most have only a few members, some have thousands, and only very few have more than one million members. New religions have often faced a hostile reception from established religious organisations, in Western nations, a secular anti-cult movement and a Christian countercult movement emerged during the 1970s and 1980s to oppose emergent groups. In the 1970s, the field of new religions studies developed within the academic study of religion. There are now several organisations and peer-reviewed journals devoted to the subject. Scholars continue to try to reach definitions and define boundaries, there is no singular, agreed upon criteria for defining a new religious movement. However, the term usually requires that the group be both of recent origin and different from existing religions, there is debate as to what the term new should designate in this context. According to him, NRMs constituted those religious groups that have found, from the perspective of the dominant religious community, to be not just different. This definition would mean that which religions were regarded as NRMs would differ from country to country and would be open to change, as noted by scholars of religion Olav Hammer and Mikael Rothstein, new religions are just young religions. Melton has stated that those NRMs which were offshoots of older religious groups, tended to resemble their parent group far more than each other. One question that faces scholars of religion is when a new religious movement ceases to be new, some NRMs are strongly counter-cultural and alternative in the society they appear in, while others are far more similar to a societys established traditional religions. There are also problems in the use of religion within the new religious movements. Since at least the early 2000s, most sociologists of religion have used the new religious movement to avoid the pejorative undertones of terms like cult. These are words that have used in different ways by different groups. For instance, from the nineteenth century onward a number of sociologists used the terms cult, the term cult is used in reference to devotion or dedication to a particular person or place. For instance, within the Roman Catholic Church devotion to Mary and it is also used in non-religious contexts to refer to fandoms devoted to television shows like The Prisoner, The X-Files, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In the United States, the term began to be used in a pejorative manner to refer to Spiritualism
7.
Scholarly approaches of mysticism
–
Since the 19th century, mystical experience has evolved as a distinctive concept. Perennialists regard various mystical traditions as pointing to one universal transcendental reality, the perennial position is largely dismissed by scholars but has lost none of its popularity. Neurological research reveals which areas in the brain are involved in so-called mystical experience both spontaneous and behavioral induced, especially the brains temporal lobe seems to have a significant role here. In mystical and contemplative traditions, mystical experiences are not a goal in themselves, the term mystical experience has become synonymous with the terms religious experience, spiritual experience and sacred experience. A religious experience is an experience which is interpreted within a religious framework. The concept originated in the 19th century, as a defense against the rationalism of western society. William James popularized the use of the religious experience in his The Varieties of Religious Experience. William James, In mystic states we both become one with the Absolute and we become aware of our oneness and this is the everlasting and triumphant mystical tradition, hardly altered by differences of clime or creed. The concept of mystical experience has influenced the understanding of mysticism as an experience which supplies knowledge of a transcendental reality, cosmic unity. Wayne Proudfoot traces the roots of the notion of religious experience further back to the German theologian Friedrich Schleiermacher, the notion of religious experience was used by Schleiermacher to defend religion against the growing scientific and secular critique. It was adopted by scholars of religion, of which William James was the most influential. The notion of experience, however, has criticized in religious studies today. Robert Sharf points out that experience is a typical Western term, the notion of experience introduces a false notion of duality between experiencer and experienced, whereas the essence of kensho is the realisation of the non-duality of observer and observed. Pure experience does not exist, all experience is mediated by intellectual, a pure consciousness without concepts, reached by cleaning the doors of perception, would be an overwhelming chaos of sensory input without coherence. Constructivists such as Steven Katz reject any typology of experiences since each mystical experience is deemed unique, other critics point out that the stress on experience is accompanied with favoring the atomic individual, instead of the shared life of the community. Dan Merkur makes a distinction between states and reverie states. According to Merkur, in trance states the functions of consciousness are temporarily inhibited, and trance experiences are not filtered by ordinary judgements. Most mystical traditions warn against an attachment to mystical experiences, and offer a protective, perennialists regard those various experiences traditions as pointing to one universal transcendental reality, for which those experiences offer the prove
8.
Religious experience
–
A religious experience is a subjective experience which is interpreted within a religious framework. The concept originated in the 19th century, as a defense against the rationalism of Western society. Many religious and mystical traditions see religious experiences as revelations caused by divine agency rather than natural processes. They are considered real encounters with God or gods, or real contact with realities of which humans are not ordinarily aware. Skeptics may hold that religious experience is a feature of the human brain amenable to normal scientific study. The commonalities and differences between religious experiences across different cultures have enabled scholars to categorize them for academic study, psychologist and Philosopher William James described four characteristics of mystical experience in The Varieties of Religious Experience. According to James, such an experience is, Transient – the experience is temporary and it is outside our normal perception of space and time. Ineffable – the experience cannot be put into words. Noetic – the individual feels that he or she has learned something valuable from the experience, gives us knowledge that is normally hidden from human understanding. Passive – the experience happens to the individual, largely without conscious control, although there are activities, such as meditation, that can make religious experience more likely, it is not something that can be turned on and off at will. Religious experiences are by their very nature preternatural, that is and they may be difficult to distinguish observationally from psychopathological states such as psychoses or other forms of altered awareness. Not all preternatural experiences are considered to be religious experiences, moore and Habel identify two classes of religious experiences, the immediate and the mediated religious experience. Mediated – In the mediated experience, the experiences the sacred through mediators such as rituals, special persons, religious groups. Immediate – The immediate experience comes to the believer without any intervening agency or mediator. g, private – a non-specific, general feeling of God working in ones life. g. If one sees someone walking on water, one should believe that it is occurring, principle of Testimony – with the absence of any reason to disbelieve them, one should accept that eyewitnesses or believers are telling the truth when they testify about religious experiences. The German thinker Rudolf Otto argues that there is one factor to all religious experience. In his book The Idea of the Holy he identifies this factor as the numinous, the numinous experience has two aspects, mysterium tremendum, which is the tendency to invoke fear and trembling, mysterium fascinans, the tendency to attract, fascinate and compel. The numinous experience also has a quality to it, in that the person feels to be in communion with a holy other
9.
Ego death
–
Ego death is a complete loss of subjective self-identity. The term is used in various intertwined contexts, with related meanings, in Jungian psychology the synonymous term psychic death is used, which refers to a fundamental transformation of the psyche. In the death and rebirth mythology, ego death is a phase of self-surrender and transition and it is a recurrent theme in world mythology and is also used as a metaphor in some strands of contemporary western thinking. In psychedelic experiences, the term is used synonymously with ego-loss, the term was used as such by Timothy Leary et al. to describe the death of the ego in the first phase of an LSD-trip, in which a complete transcendence of the self and the game occurs. Various definitions can be found of ego death, an imageless experience in which there is no sense of personal identity. A fundamental transformation of the psyche, such a shift in personality has been labeled an ego death in Buddhism or a psychic death by Jung. Ego death is the phase of Joseph Campbells description of The Heros Journey, which includes a phase of separation, transition. The second phase is a phase of self-surrender and ego-death, where-after the hero returns to enrich the world with his discoveries. According to Leary, Metzer & Alpert, ego death, or ego loss as they call it, is part of the experience of death in which the old ego must die before one can be spiritually reborn, complete transcendence − beyond words, beyond space−time, beyond self. There are no visions, no sense of self, no thoughts, there are only pure awareness and ecstatic freedom from all game involvements. Daniel Merkur uses the term to refer to the crisis which may occur during a trip. It is sometimes termed ego loss The death crisis takes various forms, the early examples in a series of death crises are usually attended by extreme panic. Michael Hoffman, Ego death is the cessation, in the intense mystic altered state, of the sense and feeling of being a control-wielding agent moving through time and space. John Harrison, emporary ego death loss of the self or, in the affirmative. Carter Phipps, Enlightenment equals ego death the renunciation, rejection and, ultimately, the problem of healing and improving the global quality of life seems strongly connected to the unpleasantness of the ego-death experience. Ventegodt and Merrick refer to Jungs publications The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious, first published 1933, in Jungian psychology, a unification of archetypal opposites has to be reached, during a process of conscious suffering, in which consciousness dies and resurrects. Jung called this process the transcendent function, which leads to a more inclusive, Jung used analogies with alchemy to describe the individuation process, and the transference-processes which occur during therapy. According to Leeming et al. from a point of view psychic death is related to St. John of the Cross Ascent of Mt. Carmel
10.
Divine illumination
–
According to divine illumination, the process of human thought needs to be aided by divine grace. It is the oldest and most influential alternative to naturalism in the theory of mind and it was an important feature of ancient Greek philosophy, Neoplatonism, medieval philosophy, and the Illuminationist school of Islamic philosophy. Socrates says in The Apology that he had a divine or spiritual sign that began when he was a child and it was a voice that turned him away from something he was about to do, although it never encouraged him to do anything. Apuleius later suggested the voice was of a demon and that Socrates deserved this help as he was the most perfect of human beings. You will light my lamp, Lord and You hear nothing true from me which you have not first told me, according to Augustine, God does not give us certain information, but rather gives us insight into the truth of the information we received for ourselves. If we both see that what you say is true, and we see that what I say is true, then where do we see that. Not I in you, nor you in me, but both of us in that unalterable truth that is above our minds, augustines theory was defended by Christian philosophers of the later Middle Ages, particularly Franciscans such as Bonaventura and Matthew of Aquasparta. According to Bonaventura, Things have existence in the mind, in their own nature, Aquinas also denied that there is a special continuing divine influence on human thought. People have sufficient capacity for thought on their own, without needing new illumination added onto their natural illumination, the theory was defended by Henry of Ghent. Henry argued against Aquinas that Aristotles theory of abstraction is not enough to explain how we can acquire knowledge of the truth. A thing has two exemplars against which it can be compared, the first is a created exemplar which exists in the soul. The second is an exemplar which exists outside the soul, but no comparison to a created exemplar can give us infallible truth. Since the dignity of man requires that we can acquire such truth, Henrys defence of divine illumination was strongly criticised by the Franciscan theologian Duns Scotus, who argued that Henrys version of the theory led to scepticism
11.
Pantheism
–
Pantheism is the belief that all reality is identical with divinity, or that everything composes an all-encompassing, immanent god. Pantheists thus do not believe in a personal or anthropomorphic god. The term pantheism was not coined until after Spinozas death, and his work, Ethics, was the major source from which Western pantheism spread. Pantheistic concepts may date back thousands of years, and some religions in the East continue to contain pantheistic elements, Pantheism derives from the Greek πᾶν pan and θεός theos. There are a variety of definitions of pantheism, some consider it a theological and philosophical position concerning God. As a religious position, some describe pantheism as the polar opposite of atheism, from this standpoint, pantheism is the view that everything is part of an all-encompassing, immanent God. All forms of reality may then be considered either modes of that Being, some hold that pantheism is a non-religious philosophical position. To them, pantheism is the view that the Universe and God are identical, pantheistic tendencies existed in a number of early Gnostic groups, with pantheistic thought appearing throughout the Middle Ages. These included a section of Johannes Scotus Eriugenas 9th-century work De divisione naturae, the Roman Catholic Church has long regarded pantheistic ideas as heresy. Giordano Bruno, an Italian monk who evangelized about an immanent and he has since become known as a celebrated pantheist and martyr of science. Bruno influenced many later thinkers including Baruch Spinoza, in the West, pantheism was formalized as a separate theology and philosophy based on the work of the 17th-century philosopher Baruch Spinoza. Spinoza was a Dutch philosopher of Sephardi Portuguese origin, whose book Ethics was an answer to Descartes famous dualist theory that the body, Spinoza held the monist view that the two are the same, and monism is a fundamental part of his philosophy. He was described as a God-intoxicated man, and used the word God to describe the unity of all substance, although the term pantheism was not coined until after his death, Spinoza is regarded as its most celebrated advocate. His work, Ethics, was the source from which Western pantheism spread. The breadth and importance of Spinozas work was not fully realized until years after his death. Spinozas magnum opus, the posthumous Ethics, in which he opposed Descartes mind–body dualism, has earned him recognition as one of Western philosophys most important thinkers, Hegel said, You are either a Spinozist or not a philosopher at all. His philosophical accomplishments and moral character prompted 20th-century philosopher Gilles Deleuze to name him the prince of philosophers, Spinoza was raised in the Portuguese Jewish community in Amsterdam. He developed highly controversial ideas regarding the authenticity of the Hebrew Bible, the Jewish religious authorities issued a cherem against him, effectively excluding him from Jewish society at age 23
12.
Gnosticism
–
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
13.
Hermeticism
–
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
14.
Neoplatonism
–
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
15.
Western esotericism
–
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
16.
Emanuel Swedenborg
–
Emanuel Swedenborg was a Swedish scientist, philosopher, theologian, revelator, and mystic. He is best known for his book on the afterlife, Heaven, Swedenborg had a prolific career as an inventor and scientist. In 1741, at age 53, he entered into a phase in which he began to experience dreams and visions. This culminated in a spiritual awakening, in which he received revelation that he was appointed by the Lord Jesus Christ to write The Heavenly Doctrine to reform Christianity. For the remaining 28 years of his life, Swedenborg wrote eighteen published theological works and he termed himself a Servant of the Lord Jesus Christ in True Christian Religion, a work he published himself. Some followers of The Heavenly Doctrine believe that, of his theological works, Swedenborgs father, Jesper Swedberg, descended from a wealthy mining family. He travelled abroad and studied theology, and on returning home he was eloquent enough to impress the Swedish king, Charles XI, through the Kings influence he would later become professor of theology at Uppsala University and Bishop of Skara. Jesper took an interest in the beliefs of the dissenting Lutheran Pietist movement, sola fide is a tenet of the Lutheran Church, and Jesper was charged with being a pietist heretic. While controversial, the beliefs were to have a impact on his son Emanuels spirituality. Jesper furthermore held the belief that angels and spirits were present in everyday life. This also came to have a impact on Emanuel. In 1703–1709 Swedenborg lived in Erik Benzelius the youngers house and it was also a flourishing center of scientific ideas and discoveries. Swedenborg studied physics, mechanics and philosophy and read and wrote poetry, in 1715 Swedenborg returned to Sweden, where he devoted himself to natural science and engineering projects for the next two decades. A first step was his meeting with King Charles XII of Sweden in the city of Lund, the Swedish inventor Christopher Polhem, who became a close friend of Swedenborg, was also present. Swedenborgs purpose was to persuade the king to fund an observatory in northern Sweden, however, the warlike king did not consider this project important enough, but did appoint Swedenborg assessor-extraordinary on the Swedish Board of Mines in Stockholm. From 1716 to 1718, Swedenborg published a periodical entitled Daedalus Hyperboreus. One notable description was that of a machine, the same he had been sketching a few years earlier. In 1718 Swedenborg published an article that attempted to explain spiritual and mental events in terms of minute vibrations or tremulations, upon the death of Charles XII, Queen Ulrika Eleonora ennobled Swedenborg and his siblings
17.
Pietism
–
Pietism was an influential movement within Lutheranism that combined Lutheran emphasis on Biblical doctrine with the Reformed emphasis on individual piety and living a vigorous Christian life. Although the movement was active exclusively within Lutheranism, it had a impact on Protestantism worldwide, particularly in North America. Pietism spread from Germany to Switzerland and the rest of German-speaking Europe, Scandinavia and the Baltics, and it was further taken to North America, primarily by German and Scandinavian immigrants. The movement reached its zenith in the century, and declined through the 19th century. A substantial part of the Pietistic Protestants was formed by German Sectarians, Norwegian Lutherans, Swedish Lutherans, as the forerunners of the Pietists in the strict sense, certain voices had been heard bewailing the shortcomings of the Church and advocating a revival of practical and devout Christianity. The direct originator of the movement was Philipp Jakob Spener and he studied theology at Strasbourg, where the professors at the time were more inclined to practical Christianity than to theological disputation. In 1675, Spener published his Pia desideria or Earnest Desire for a Reform of the True Evangelical Church and this was originally a pejorative term given to the adherents of the movement by its enemies as a form of ridicule, like that of Methodists somewhat later in England. While large numbers of orthodox Lutheran theologians and pastors were deeply offended by Speners book, in 1686 Spener accepted an appointment to the court-chaplaincy at Dresden, which opened to him a wider though more difficult sphere of labor. In Leipzig, a society of young theologians was formed under his influence for the learned study, the theological chairs in the new university were filled in complete conformity with Speners proposals. Orthodox Lutherans rejected this viewpoint as a simplification, stressing the need for the church. Spener died in 1705, but the movement, guided by Francke and fertilized from Halle, spread through the whole of Middle, Spener stressed the necessity of a new birth and separation of Christians from the world. Many Pietists maintained that the new birth always had to be preceded by agonies of repentance, the whole school shunned all common worldly amusements, such as dancing, the theatre, and public games. Some believe this led to a new form of justification by works and its ecclesiolae in ecclesia also weakened the power and meaning of church organization. These Pietistic attitudes caused a counter-movement at the beginning of the 18th century, one leader was Valentin Ernst Löscher, a movement which cultivated religious feeling almost as an end itself. Yet some claim that Pietism contributed largely to the revival of Biblical studies in Germany and to making religion once more an affair of the heart and of life and it likewise gave a new emphasis to the role of the laity in the church. Then came a time when another intellectual power took possession of the minds of men, bonhoeffer denounced the basic aim of Pietism, to produce a desired piety in a person, as unbiblical. Pietism is considered the influence that led to the creation of the Evangelical Church of the Union in Prussia in 1817. The King of Prussia ordered the Lutheran and Reformed churches in Prussia to unite and this union movement spread through many German lands in the 1800s
18.
Romanticism
–
Romanticism was characterized by its emphasis on emotion and individualism as well as glorification of all the past and nature, preferring the medieval rather than the classical. It was embodied most strongly in the arts, music, and literature, but had a major impact on historiography, education. It elevated folk art and ancient custom to something noble, Romanticism assigned a high value to the achievements of heroic individualists and artists, whose examples, it maintained, would raise the quality of society. It also promoted the individual imagination as a critical authority allowed of freedom from classical notions of form in art, there was a strong recourse to historical and natural inevitability, a Zeitgeist, in the representation of its ideas. In the second half of the 19th century, Realism was offered as a polar opposite to Romanticism, the decline of Romanticism during this time was associated with multiple processes, including social and political changes and the spread of nationalism. Defining the nature of Romanticism may be approached from the point of the primary importance of the free expression of the feelings of the artist. The importance the Romantics placed on emotion is summed up in the remark of the German painter Caspar David Friedrich that the feeling is his law. Samuel Taylor Coleridge and others believed there were laws that the imagination—at least of a good creative artist—would unconsciously follow through artistic inspiration if left alone. As well as rules, the influence of models from other works was considered to impede the creators own imagination, so that originality was essential. The concept of the genius, or artist who was able to produce his own work through this process of creation from nothingness, is key to Romanticism. This idea is called romantic originality. Not essential to Romanticism, but so widespread as to be normative, was a strong belief, however, this is particularly in the effect of nature upon the artist when he is surrounded by it, preferably alone. Romantic art addressed its audiences with what was intended to be felt as the voice of the artist. So, in literature, much of romantic poetry invited the reader to identify the protagonists with the poets themselves. In both French and German the closeness of the adjective to roman, meaning the new literary form of the novel, had some effect on the sense of the word in those languages. It is only from the 1820s that Romanticism certainly knew itself by its name, the period typically called Romantic varies greatly between different countries and different artistic media or areas of thought. Margaret Drabble described it in literature as taking place roughly between 1770 and 1848, and few dates much earlier than 1770 will be found. In English literature, M. H. Abrams placed it between 1789, or 1798, this latter a very typical view, and about 1830, however, in most fields the Romantic Period is said to be over by about 1850, or earlier
19.
German idealism
–
German idealism was a speculative philosophical movement that emerged in Germany in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. It began as a reaction to Immanuel Kants Critique of Pure Reason and was linked with both Romanticism and the revolutionary politics of the Enlightenment. The word idealism has more than one meaning, the question of what properties a thing might have independently of the mind is thus unknowable and a moot point within the idealist tradition. Kants solution was to propose that while we can know, via sensory experience, particular facts about the world and that is, we cannot know what objects we will encounter, but we can know how we will encounter them. Kant called his mode of philosophising critical philosophy, in that it was less concerned with setting out positive doctrine than with critiquing the limits to the theories we can set out. The conclusion he presented, as above, he called transcendental idealism, Kant said that there are things-in-themselves, noumena, that is, things that exist other than being merely sensations and ideas in our minds. Kant held in the Critique of Pure Reason that the world of appearances is empirically real, the mind plays a central role in influencing the way that the world is experienced, we perceive phenomena through time, space and the categories of the understanding. It is this notion that was taken to heart by Kants philosophical successors, arthur Schopenhauer considered himself to be a transcendental idealist. In his major work The World as Will and Representation he discusses his indebtedness to Kant, the Young Hegelians, a number of philosophers who developed Hegels work in various directions, were in some cases idealists. On the other hand, Karl Marx, who was numbered among them, had professed himself to be a materialist, Kants transcendental idealism consisted of taking a point of view outside of and above oneself and understanding that the mind directly knows only phenomena or ideas. Whatever exists other than mental phenomena, or ideas that appear to the mind, is a thing-in-itself and he wanted to restrict reasoning, judging, and speaking only to objects of possible experience. The main German Idealists, who had been students, reacted against Kant’s stringent limits. In 1787, Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi addressed, in his book On Faith, or Idealism and Realism, Jacobi agreed that the objective thing-in-itself cannot be directly known. However, he stated, it must be taken on belief, a subject must believe that there is a real object in the external world that is related to the representation or mental idea that is directly known. This belief is a result of revelation or immediately known, but logically unproved, the real existence of a thing-in-itself is revealed or disclosed to the observing subject. In this way, the subject directly knows the ideal, subjective representations that appear in the mind, by presenting the external world as an object of belief, Jacobi legitimized belief. …y reducing the world to a matter of faith, he wanted merely to open a little door for faith in general…. Karl Leonhard Reinhold published two volumes of Letters Concerning the Kantian Philosophy in 1790 and 1792 and they provided a clear explication of Kants thoughts, which were previously inaccessible due to Kants use of complex or technical language
20.
Transcendentalism
–
Transcendentalism is a philosophical movement that developed in the late 1820s and 1830s in the eastern United States. It arose as a reaction to or protest against the state of intellectualism. The doctrine of the Unitarian church as taught at Harvard Divinity School was of particular interest, miller and Versluis regard Emanuel Swedenborg as a pervasive influence on transcendentalism. It was also influenced by Hindu texts on philosophy of the mind and spirituality, a core belief of transcendentalism is in the inherent goodness of people and nature. Adherents believe that society and its institutions have corrupted the purity of the individual, Transcendentalism emphasizes subjective intuition over objective empiricism. Adherents believe that individuals are capable of generating completely original insights with as little attention, Transcendentalism is closely related to Unitarianism, the dominant religious movement in Boston in the early nineteenth century. Rather than as a rejection of Unitarianism, Transcendentalism evolved as a consequence of the Unitarian emphasis on free conscience. They were not, however, content with the sobriety, mildness, instead, they longed for a more intense spiritual experience. Stated in alternate terms, Transcendentalism was not born as a counter-movement to Unitarianism, from 1840, the group frequently published in their journal The Dial, along with other venues. By the late 1840s, Emerson believed the movement was dying out, all that can be said, Emerson wrote, is that she represents an interesting hour and group in American cultivation. There was, however, a wave of transcendentalists, including Moncure Conway, Octavius Brooks Frothingham, Samuel Longfellow. Notably, the transgression of the spirit, most often evoked by the poets voice, is said to endow in the reader a sense of purposefulness. This is the theme in the majority of transcendentalist essays. Though the group was made up of struggling aesthetes, the wealthiest among them was Samuel Gray Ward. Transcendentalists are strong believers in the power of the individual and their beliefs are closely linked with those of the Romantics, but differ by an attempt to embrace or, at least, to not oppose the empiricism of science. The transcendental movement can be described as an American outgrowth of English Romanticism, Transcendentalists believe that society and its institutions—particularly organized religion and political parties—corrupt the purity of the individual. They have faith that people are at their best when truly self-reliant and independent and it is only from such real individuals that true community can form. Even with this necessary individuality, transcendentalists also believe all people possess a piece of the Over-soul
21.
New Thought
–
The New Thought movement is a philosophical movement which developed in the United States in the 19th century, considered by many to have been derived from the unpublished writings of Phineas Quimby. There are numerous groups, most of which are incorporated in the International New Thought Alliance. And teaching and healing one another, and our mental states are carried forward into manifestation, the teachings of Christian Science are in some ways similar to Quimbys teachings. Its founder, Mary Baker Eddy, was a student and patient of Quimbys, William James, in The Varieties of Religious Experience, described New Thought as follows. for the sake of having a brief designation, I will give the title of the Mind-cure movement. It is a scheme of life, with both a speculative and a practical side. In its gradual development during the last quarter of a century, it has taken up into itself a number of contributory elements, but the most characteristic feature of the mind-cure movement is an inspiration much more direct. Their belief has in a general way been corroborated by the experience of their disciples. The New Thought movement was based on the teachings of Phineas Quimby, Quimby had developed a belief system which included the tenet that illness originated in the mind as a consequence of erroneous beliefs and that a mind open to Gods wisdom could overcome any illness. By my theory or truth, I come in contact with your enemy and this I do partly mentally, and partly by talking till I correct the wrong impression and establish the Truth, and the Truth is the cure. During the late 19th century, the healing practices of Quimby mingled with the Mental Science of Warren Felt Evans. Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science, has sometimes been cited as having used Quimby as inspiration for theology, Eddy was a patient of Quimby’s and shared his view that disease is rooted in a mental cause. Because of its theism, Christian Science differs from the teachings of Quimby, New Thought is also largely a movement of the printed word. In 1906, William Walker Atkinson wrote and published Thought Vibration or the Law of Attraction in the Thought World, Atkinson was the editor of New Thought magazine and the author of more than 100 books on an assortment of religious, spiritual, and occult topics. These magazines were used to reach a large audience then, as others are now, nautilus magazine, for example, had 45,000 subscribers and a total circulation of 150,000. One Unity Church magazine, Wee Wisdom, was the childrens magazine in the United States. Today, New Thought magazines include Daily Word published by Unity, by 1916, the International New Thought Alliance had encompassed many smaller groups around the world, adopting a creed known as the Declaration of Principles. The declaration was revised in 1957, with all references to Christianity removed, the chief tenets of New Thought are, Infinite Intelligence or God is omnipotent and omnipresent. Divinely attuned thought is a force for good
22.
Anthroposophy
–
Anthroposophy aims to attain in its study of spiritual experience the precision and clarity attained by the natural sciences in their investigations of the physical world. The philosophy has double roots in German idealism and German mysticism and was expressed in language drawn from Theosophy. The Anthroposophical Society has its center at the Goetheanum in Dornach. Modern critics, particularly Michael Shermer, have termed anthroposophys application in such as medicine, biology. Anthroposophy has also been termed the most important esoteric society in European history, the early work of the founder of anthroposophy, Rudolf Steiner, culminated in his Philosophy of Freedom. Here, Steiner developed a concept of free will based on inner experiences, by the beginning of the twentieth century, Steiners interests turned to explicitly spiritual areas of research. His work began to interest others interested in ideas, among these was the Theosophical Society. From 1900 on, thanks to the reception given to his ideas. During the years of his leadership, membership increased dramatically, from a few individuals to sixty-nine Lodges, by 1907, a split between Steiner and the mainstream Theosophical Society had begun to become apparent. While the Society was oriented toward an Eastern and especially Indian approach, Steiner was trying to develop a path that embraced Christianity, the split became irrevocable when Annie Besant, then president of the Theosophical Society, began to present the child Jiddu Krishnamurti as the reincarnated Christ. Steiner strongly objected and considered any comparison between Krishnamurti and Christ to be nonsense, many later, Krishnamurti also repudiated the assertion. By this time, Steiner had reached considerable stature as a spiritual teacher and he spoke about what he considered to be his direct experience of the Akashic Records, thought to be a spiritual chronicle of the history, pre-history, and future of the world and mankind. In a number of works, Steiner described a path of development he felt would let anyone attain comparable spiritual experiences. In 1912, the Anthroposophical Society was founded, after World War I, the Anthroposophical movement took on new directions. Projects such as schools, centers for those with needs, organic farms and medical clinics were established. As a spiritual basis for the movement, Steiner wrote a Foundation Stone Meditation which remains a central meditative expression of anthroposophical ideas. Steiner died just over a year later, in 1925, by 2007, national branches of the Anthroposophical Society had been established in fifty countries, and about 10,000 institutions around the world were working on the basis of anthroposophy. In the same year, the Anthroposophical Society was called the most important esoteric society in European history, anthroposophy is an amalgam of the Greek terms ἄνθρωπος and σοφία
23.
Occult
–
The occult is knowledge of the hidden. In common English usage, occult refers to knowledge of the paranormal, as opposed to knowledge of the measurable, the terms esoteric and arcane can also be used to describe the occult, in addition to their meanings unrelated to the supernatural. Occultism is the study of practices, including magic, alchemy, extra-sensory perception, astrology, spiritualism, religion. Alchemy was common among important seventeenth-century scientists, such as Isaac Newton, Newton was even accused of introducing occult agencies into natural science when he postulated gravity as a force capable of acting over vast distances. By the eighteenth century these unorthodox religious and philosophical concerns were well-defined as occult, inasmuch as they lay on the outermost fringe of accepted forms of knowledge and they were, however, preserved by antiquarians and mystics. Occult science is the research into or formulation of occult concepts in a manner that resembles the way natural science researches or describes phenomena. In his 1871 book Primitive Culture, the anthropologist Edward Tylor used the term occult science as a synonym for magic, Occult qualities are properties that have no known rational explanation, in the Middle Ages, for example, magnetism was considered an occult quality. Newtons contemporaries severely criticized his theory that gravity was effected through action at a distance, some religions and sects enthusiastically embrace occultism as an integral esoteric aspect of mystical religious experience. This attitude is common within Wicca and many other modern pagan religions, some other religious denominations disapprove of occultism in most or all forms. They may view the occult as being anything supernatural or paranormal which is not achieved by or through God, monistic in contrast to Christian dualistic beliefs of a separation between body and spirit, Gnostic i. e. Walker, Benjamin. Encyclopedia of the Occult, the Esoteric and the Supernatural, harold W. Percival, Joined the Theosophical Society in 1892. Blavatsky, Occultism versus the Occult Arts, Lucifer, May 1888 Bardon, true to His Ways, Purity & Safety in Christian Spiritual Practice, ISBN 1-932124-61-6. ISBN 1-57863-150-5 Forshaw, Peter, The Occult Middle Ages, in Christopher Partridge, The Occult World, London, Routledge,2014 Gettings, Fred, Vision of the Occult, ISBN 0-7126-1438-9 Kontou, Tatiana – Willburn, Sarah. The Ashgate Research Companion to Nineteenth-Century Spiritualism and the Occult, ISBN 978-0-7546-6912-8 Martin, W. Rische, J. Rische, K. & VanGordon, K. W. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.201 p. N. B, the scope of this study also embraces the occult. ISBN 0-8028-0262-1 Partridge, Christopher, The Occult World, London, the Tree of Life, An Illustrated Study in Magic. Newton, Isaac, Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel, Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel, and the Apocalypse of St. John by Sir Isaac Newton Rogers, L. W. Hints to Young Students of Occultism. Albany, NY, The Theosophical Book Company, joseph H. Peterson, Twilit Grotto, Archives of Western Esoterica Occult Science and Philosophy of the Renaissance
24.
Spiritualism
–
Spiritualism is the belief that the spirits of the dead have both the ability and the inclination to communicate with the living. The afterlife, or the world, is seen by spiritualists, not as a static place. Some spiritualists will speak of a concept which they refer to as spirit guides—specific spirits, often contacted, Spiritism, a branch of spiritualism developed by Allan Kardec and today practiced mostly in Continental Europe and Latin America, especially in Brazil, emphasizes reincarnation. Spiritualism developed and reached its peak growth in membership from the 1840s to the 1920s, by 1897, spiritualism was said to have more than eight million followers in the United States and Europe, mostly drawn from the middle and upper classes. Many prominent spiritualists were women, and like most spiritualists, supported such as the abolition of slavery. By the late 1880s the credibility of the movement had weakened due to accusations of fraud perpetrated by mediums. Spiritualism is currently practiced primarily through various denominational spiritualist churches in the United States, Canada and they believe that spirit mediums are gifted to carry on such communication, but that anyone may become a medium through study and practice. They believe that spirits are capable of growth and perfection, progressing through higher spheres or planes, and that the afterlife is not a static state, many believers therefore speak of spirit guides—specific spirits, often contacted, and relied upon for worldly and spiritual guidance. According to spiritualists, anyone may receive messages, but formal communication sessions are held by mediums. Nevertheless, on significant points Christian Protestantism and spiritualism are different and this view is self-evidently incompatible with spiritualism, where the merely spiritual existence is superior to the embodied one. There are quite a number of spiritualist churches which are explicitly Christian in theology, forms of worship and praise, judaism It is held by some adherents of the Jewish religion that spiritualism is strictly forbidden by the Bible. Islam Within Islam, only rarely do some traditions - notably Sufism, despite this, the majority of the followers of Islam believe in the existence of spirits as a fundamental aspect of their religion. However, these spirits are not those of humans but of a third sapient creation said to be made by God called the jinn. Jinn are spirits made from fire, in a realm not visible to the eyes of people. A famous jinn in the Muslim tradition is Satan, as opposed to the Christian belief that he is a fallen angel, communication with these spirits, whether the spirit is good or evil in nature, is generally not encouraged in Islam. Additionally, the concept of Tawassul recognises the existence of spirits on a higher plane of existence closer to God. Spiritism Spiritism, the branch of spiritualism developed by Allan Kardec, Occultism Spiritualism also differs from occult movements, such as the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn or the contemporary wiccan covens, in that spirits are not contacted to obtain magical powers. Eliphas Lévi, who is regarded as the founder of occultism, strongly rejected Spiritism, later on, Madame Blavatsky, the founder of the Theosophical Society, only practiced mediumship to contact powerful spirits capable of conferring esoteric knowledge
25.
Esoteric Christianity
–
Early Christians used the Greek word μυστήριον to describe the Christian Mystery. The Old Testament versions use the word mysterion as an equivalent to the Hebrew sôd, the word mysticism is derived from the Greek μυω, meaning to conceal, and its derivative μυστικός, mystikos, meaning an initiate. In the Hellenistic world, mystical referred to religious rituals. The use of the word lacked any references to the transcendental. A mystikos was an initiate of a mystery religion, theologians give the name mystery to revealed truths that surpass the powers of natural reason, so, in a narrow sense, the Mystery is a truth that transcends the created intellect. Even though revealed and believed, the Mystery remains nevertheless obscure and veiled during the life, if the deciphering of the mysteries, made possible by esotericism. This esoteric knowledge would allow a deep comprehension of the Christian mysteries that otherwise would remain obscure, some modern scholars believe that in the early stages of Christianity, a nucleus of oral teachings were inherited from Palestinian and Hellenistic Judaism. In the 4th century, it was believed to form the basis of an oral tradition which came to be called disciplina arcani. The mainstream theologians, however, believe that it contained liturgical details. Important influences on Esoteric Christianity are the Christian theologians Clement of Alexandria and Origen, Origen was a most prolific writer – according to Epiphanius of Salamis, he wrote about 6,000 books – making it a difficult task to define the central core of his teachings. Thus, it is unclear whether reincarnation and the pre-existence of souls formed part of Origens beliefs, while hypothetically considering a complex multiple-world transmigration scheme in De Principiis, Origen denies reincarnation in unmistakable terms in his work Against Celsus and elsewhere. Despite this apparent contradiction, most modern Esoteric Christian movements refer to Origens writings to validate these ideas as part of the Esoteric Christian tradition. In the later Middle Ages, forms of Western esotericism such as alchemy and astrology were constructed on Christian foundations, combining Christian theology, giovanni Pico della Mirandolas Apologia states that there are two types of magic, which are theurgy, and goetia. These disciplines were explained as the Operation of the Stars, just as alchemy was the Operation of the Sun, Kabbalah was also an active discipline. These spiritual traditions allegedly aided the esoteric to arise to higher forms of consciousness, and arise to an understanding of God, The Self. Esoteric Christians practice these forms or traditions, which they believe are all a part of the spiritual truth. The latter help to convey mystery knowledge, which can only be learned directly from spiritual experience via Theurgy, Kabbalah, in the 16th and 17th centuries, this was followed by the development of Theosophy and Rosicrucianism. Behmenism also evolved around this time, as did Freemasonry, many modern Esoteric Christian movements acknowledge reincarnation among their beliefs, as well as a complex energetic structure for the human being
26.
New Age
–
The New Age is a term applied to a range of spiritual or religious beliefs and practices that developed in Western nations during the 1970s. Precise scholarly definitions of the New Age differ in their emphasis, although analytically often considered to be religious, those involved in it typically prefer the designation of spiritual and rarely use the term New Age themselves. Many scholars of the subject refer to it as the New Age movement, although others contest this term, such prominent occult influences include the work of Emanuel Swedenborg and Franz Mesmer, as well as the ideas of Spiritualism, New Thought, and Theosophy. Although the exact origins of the phenomenon remain contested, it is agreed that it developed in the 1970s and it expanded and grew largely in the 1980s and 1990s, in particular within the United States. By the start of the 21st century, the term New Age was increasingly rejected within this milieu, despite its highly eclectic nature, a number of beliefs commonly found within the New Age have been identified. Theologically, the New Age typically adopts a belief in a form of divinity which imbues all of the universe. There is thus a strong emphasis on the authority of the self. This is accompanied by a belief in a wide variety of semi-divine non-human entities, such as angels and masters, with whom humans can communicate. There is also a focus on healing, particularly using forms of alternative medicine. Those involved in the New Age have been primarily from middle, the New Age has generated criticism from established Christian organisations as well as modern Pagan and indigenous communities. From the 1990s onward, the New Age became the subject of research by scholars of religious studies. The New Age phenomenon has proved difficult to define, with much scholarly disagreement as to its scope, the scholars Steven J. Sutcliffe and Ingvild Sælid Gilhus have even suggested that it remains among the most disputed of categories in the study of religion. According to Hammer, this New Age was a fluid and fuzzy cultic milieu and he thus argued against the idea that the New Age could be considered a unified ideology or Weltanschauung, although he believed that it could be considered a more of less unified movement. Conversely, various scholars have suggested that the New Age is insufficiently homogenous to be regarded as a singular movement. There is no authority within the New Age phenomenon that can determine what counts as New Age. Many of those groups and individuals who could analytically be categorised as part of the New Age reject the term New Age in reference to themselves, some even express active hostility to the term. Rather than terming themselves New Agers, those involved in this milieu commonly describe themselves as spiritual seekers, other figures have argued that the sheer diversity of the New Age renders it too problematic for such use. In discussing the New Age, academics have varyingly referred to New Age spirituality and those involved in the New Age rarely consider it to be religion—negatively associating that term solely with organized religion—and instead describe their practices as spirituality
27.
Comparative religion
–
Comparative religion is the branch of the study of religions concerned with the systematic comparison of the doctrines and practices of the worlds religions. In general the comparative study of religion yields a deeper understanding of the fundamental concerns of religion such as ethics, metaphysics. Studying such material is meant to give one a richer and more sophisticated understanding of human beliefs and practices regarding the sacred, numinous, spiritual, other religions that fit this description are sometimes included but are often omitted. The original belief in the One God of Abraham eventually became strictly monotheistic present-day Rabbinic Judaism, christians believe that Christianity is the fulfillment and continuation of the Jewish Old Testament. Christians believe that Jesus is the Messiah foretold in the Old Testament prophecy and this signaled a break with Islam and started a new religious system, that also represents the predecessor of the Baháí Faith. Christianity and Judaism are two other Abrahamic religions that diverge in theology and practice, the historical interaction of Islam and Judaism started in the 7th century CE with the origin and spread of Islam. There are many common aspects between Islam and Judaism, and as Islam developed, it became the major religion closest to Judaism. There are many traditions within Islam originating from traditions within the Hebrew Bible or from post-biblical Jewish traditions and these practices are known collectively as the Israiliyat. The historical interaction between Christianity and Islam connects fundamental ideas in Christianity with similar ones in Islam, Islam accepts many aspects of Christianity as part of its faith - with some differences in interpretation - and rejects other aspects. Islam believes the Quran is the revelation from God and a completion of all previous revelations. Several important religions and religious movements originated in Greater Iran, that is and they include Mithraism, Zoroastrianism, Ætsæg Din, Yazdanism, Ahl-e Haqq, Zurvanism, Mandaeism, Manichaeism, and Mazdakism. Indian religions refers to a number of religions that have originated on the Indian subcontinent and they encompass Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism. Buddhism and modern Hinduism are both post-Vedic religions, gautama Buddha is mentioned as an Avatar of Vishnu in the Puranic texts of Hinduism. Prominent Hindu reformers such as Gandhi and Vivekananda acknowledge Buddhist influence, Gandhi, like Hindus, did not believe Buddha established a non-Hindu tradition. He writes, I do not regard Jainism or Buddhism as separate from Hinduism, a Taoic religion is a religion, or religious philosophy, that focuses on the East Asian concept of Tao. This forms a group of religions including Taoism, Confucianism, Jeung San Do, Shinto, I-Kuan Tao, Chondogyo. In large parts of East Asia, Buddhism has taken on some taoic features, Tao can be roughly stated to be the flow of the universe, or the force behind the natural order. It is believed to be the influence that keeps the universe balanced and ordered and is associated with nature, the flow of Chi, as the essential energy of action and existence, is compared to the universal order of Tao
28.
Nondualism
–
Nondualism, also called non-duality, means not two or one undivided without a second. It is a term and concept used to define various strands of religious and it is found in a variety of Asian religious traditions and modern western spirituality, but with a variety of meanings and uses. The term may refer to, Advaya, the nonduality of conventional, in Buddhist Madhyamaka it means that there is no absolute, transcendent reality beyond our everyday reality, and while things exist, they are ultimately empty of any existence on their own. This is an approach to nondualism, and asserts non-difference between Ātman and Brahman. The nondualism idea developed in the Vedic, post-Vedic Hindu and the Buddhist traditions, the oldest traces of nondualism in Indian thought is found as Advaita in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, as well as other pre-Buddhist Upanishads such as the Chandogya Upanishad. In Hinduism, nondualism has more commonly associated with the Advaita Vedanta tradition of Adi Shankara. Universalism and Perennialism are another important strand of thought, as reflected in various strands of modern spirituality, New Age, according to Espín and Nickoloff, nondualism is the thought in some Hindu, Buddhist and Taoist schools, which. Teaches that the multiplicity of the universe is reducible to one essential reality, the main definitions are the nonduality of Atman and Brahman, the nonduality of Absolute and relative, and nondual consciousness. According to Dasgupta and Mohanta, non-dualism developed in various strands of Indian thought, the oldest traces of nondualism in Indian thought may be found in the Chandogya Upanishad, which pre-dates the earliest Buddhism. Pre-sectarian Buddhism may also have been responding to the teachings of the Chandogya Upanishad, Advaya of Buddhism and Advaita of Hinduism both refer to nondualism. However, while Hinduism develops its concept of Advaita with an ontological approach, the nondual consciousness is a western, inclusive understanding of various strands of eastern religiosity. In Madhyamaka Buddhism Advaya refers to the nonduality of conventional and ultimate truth, or the relative world, in Yogacara, it may also refer to overcoming the dichotomies of cognitum and cognition imposed by conceptual thought. Another Buddhist formulation of the Advaya concept has been as non-two, which denies extremes such as the existence of reality, in Madhyamaka-Buddhism, Advaya refers to the non-duality of conventional and ultimate truth. The ultimate truth is emptiness, or non-existence of inherently existing things, and it is the Middle Way between eternalism and annihilationism or nihilism. According to Murti, Advaya is that knowledge which is free of distinctions, in Madhyamaka-Buddhism, Advaya is an epistemological approach. It is the recognition that everything is impermanent and devoid of self or essence. The Chinese Buddhist scholars posited that there is a third truth above the mundane truth of samsaric being, in one description, everything is posited to be simultaneously empty, real and neither. According to Lai, most scholars of Chinese Buddhism, unlike Nagarjuna and this mistake was identified and discussed by Jizang of Sanlun school
29.
Orientalism
–
In particular, Orientalist painting, representing the Middle East, was a genre of Academic art in the 19th century. Orientalism refers to the Orient, in reference and opposition to the Occident, the East, the word Orient entered the English language as the Middle French orient. In the “Monks Tale”, Geoffrey Chaucer wrote, “That they conquered many regnes grete / In the orient, with many a fair citee. ”The term “orient” refers to countries east of the Mediterranean Sea and Southern Europe. In Place of Fear, Aneurin Bevan used an expanded denotation of the Orient that comprehended East Asia, “the awakening of the Orient under the impact of Western ideas”. Edward Said said that Orientalism “enables the political, economic, cultural and social domination of the West, not just during colonial times, but also in the present. ”In art history, the term Orientalism refers to the works of the Western artists who specialized in Oriental subjects, produced from their travels in Western Asia, during the 19th century. In that time, artists and scholars were described as Orientalists, especially in France, in the 18th and 19th centuries, the term Orientalist identified a scholar who specialized in the languages and literatures of the Eastern world. Among such scholars is the philologist William Jones, whose studies of Indo-European languages established modern philology, additionally, Hebraism and Jewish studies gained popularity among British and German scholars in the 18th and 19th century. The academic field of Oriental studies, which comprehended the cultures of the Near East, the thesis of Orientalism develops Antonio Gramsci’s theory of cultural hegemony, and Michel Foucaults theorisation of discourse to criticise the scholarly tradition of Oriental studies. Said criticised contemporary scholars who perpetuated the tradition of outsider-interpretation of Arabo-Islamic cultures, especially Bernard Lewis, the analyses are of Orientalism in European literature, especially French literature, and do not analyse visual art and Orientalist painting. In that vein, the art historian Linda Nochlin applied Said’s methods of analysis to art. In the academy, the book Orientalism became a text of post-colonial cultural studies. Early architectural use of motifs lifted from the Indian subcontinent is known as Indo-Saracenic Revival architecture, one of the earliest examples is the façade of Guildhall, London. The style gained momentum in the west with the publication of views of India by William Hodges, examples of Hindoo architecture are Sezincote House in Gloucestershire, built for a nabob returned from Bengal, and the Royal Pavilion in Brighton. Venice, the trading partner of the Ottomans, was the earliest centre. Chinoiserie is the term for the fashion for Chinese themes in decoration in Western Europe, beginning in the late 17th century and peaking in waves, especially Rococo Chinoiserie. From the Renaissance to the 18th century, Western designers attempted to imitate the technical sophistication of Chinese ceramics with only partial success, Early hints of Chinoiserie appeared in the 17th century in nations with active East India companies, England, Denmark, the Netherlands and France. Tin-glazed pottery made at Delft and other Dutch towns adopted genuine Ming-era blue, Early ceramic wares made at Meissen and other centers of true porcelain imitated Chinese shapes for dishes, vases and teawares. Pleasure pavilions in Chinese taste appeared in the formal parterres of late Baroque and Rococo German palaces, Thomas Chippendales mahogany tea tables and china cabinets, especially, were embellished with fretwork glazing and railings, ca 1753–70
30.
Theosophical Society
–
The Theosophical Society was an organization formed in 1875 to advance Theosophy. The original organization, after splits and realignments, currently has several successors, the Theosophical Society was officially formed in New York City, United States, on 17 November 1875 by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, Colonel Henry Steel Olcott, William Quan Judge, and others. An unsecterian body of seekers after Truth, who endeavour to promote Brotherhood, Olcott was its first president, and remained president until his demise in 1907. In the early months of 1875, Olcott and Judge had come to realize that, if Blavatsky was a spiritualist, the societys initial objective was the study and elucidation of Occultism, the Cabala etc. After a few years Olcott and Blavatsky moved to India and established the International Headquarters at Adyar and they were also interested in studying Eastern religions, and these were included in the Societys agenda. After several iterations the Societys objectives evolved to be,1, to form a nucleus of the universal brotherhood of humanity without distinction of race, creed, sex, caste, or colour. To encourage the study of religion, philosophy, and science. To investigate the unexplained laws of nature and the powers latent in man, sympathy with the above objects was the sole condition of admission to the society. The Society was organized as a non-sectarian entity, the following was stated in the Constitution and Rules of the Theosophical Society ARTICLE I, Constitution 4. Any Fellow who shall in any way attempt to involve the Society in political disputes shall be immediately expelled. No Fellow, Officer, or Council of the Theosophical Society, or of any Section or Branch thereof, shall promulgate or maintain any doctrinas being that advanced, or advocated by the Society. The Society reformulated this view in a resolution passed by the General Council of the Theosophical Society on December 23,1924, the theory was originally promulgated in the Secret Doctrine, the 1888 magnum opus of Helena Blavatsky. According to this view, Humanitys evolution on Earth is part of the overall Cosmic evolution and it is overseen by a hidden Spiritual Hierarchy, the so-called Masters of the Ancient Wisdom, whose upper echelons consist of advanced spiritual beings. These attempts require an earthly infrastructure which she held was ultimately under the inspiration of a number of Mahatmas, after Helena Blavatskys death in 1891, the Societys leaders seemed at first to work together peacefully. The original organisation led by Olcott and Besant remains today based in India and is known as the Theosophical Society - Adyar, the group led by Judge further splintered into a faction led by Katherine Tingley, and another associated with Judges secretary Ernest Temple Hargrove. While Hargroves faction no longer survives, the led by Tingley is today known as the Theosophical Society with the clarifying statement, International Headquarters, Pasadena. A third organization, the United Lodge of Theosophists or ULT, in 1902, Rudolf Steiner became General Secretary of the German/Austrian division of the Theosophical Society. He maintained a Western-oriented course, relatively independent from the Adyar headquarters, the latter remains active today and has branches in several countries, including the US and Canada
31.
Zoroastrianism
–
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
