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111-438: The afterlife or life after death is a purported existence in which the essential part of an individual's stream of consciousness or identity continues to exist after the death of their physical body. The surviving essential aspect varies between belief systems; it may be some partial element, or the entire soul or spirit, which carries with it one's personal identity. In some views, this continued existence takes place in

222-474: A cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations. Typically, these traditions locate hell in another dimension or under the Earth's surface and often include entrances to hell from the land of the living. Other afterlife destinations include purgatory and limbo . Traditions that do not conceive of the afterlife as a place of punishment or reward merely describe hell as an abode of

333-603: A life review period occurring immediately after death and before entering the afterlife's planes of existence (before the silver cord is broken), followed by a judgment , more akin to a final review or end report over one's life. Heaven , the heavens, Seven Heavens , pure lands , Tian , Jannah , Valhalla , or the Summerland , is a common religious, cosmological , or transcendent place where beings such as gods , angels , jinn , saints , or venerated ancestors are said to originate, be enthroned , or live. According to

444-570: A narrative device is strongly associated with the modernist movement. The term was first applied in a literary context, transferred from psychology, in The Egoist , April 1918, by May Sinclair , in relation to the early volumes of Dorothy Richardson 's novel sequence Pilgrimage . Amongst other modernist novelists who used it are James Joyce in Ulysses (1922) and William Faulkner in The Sound and

555-403: A spiritual realm, while in others, the individual may be reborn into this world and begin the life cycle over again in a process referred to as reincarnation , likely with no memory of what they have done in the past. In this latter view, such rebirths and deaths may take place over and over again continuously until the individual gains entry to a spiritual realm or otherworld . Major views on

666-539: A distinction between a supreme, hidden God and a malevolent lesser divinity (sometimes associated with the biblical deity Yahweh ) who is responsible for creating the material universe . Consequently, Gnostics considered material existence flawed or evil, and held the principal element of salvation to be direct knowledge of the hidden divinity, attained via mystical or esoteric insight. Many Gnostic texts deal not in concepts of sin and repentance , but with illusion and enlightenment . According to James Dunn ,

777-440: A man, to bring back his soul from the pit to... the light of the living' (Job 33:29–30)." Reincarnation, called gilgul , became popular in folk belief and is found in much Yiddish literature among Ashkenazi Jews . Among a few kabbalists, it was posited that some human souls could end up being reincarnated into non-human bodies. These ideas were found in several Kabbalistic works from the 13th century and among many mystics in

888-518: A more diverse set of ideas developed. In some texts, Sheol is considered to be the home of both the righteous and the wicked, separated into respective compartments; in others, it was considered a place of punishment, meant for the wicked dead alone. When the Hebrew scriptures were translated into Greek in ancient Alexandria around 200 BC, the word " Hades " (the Greek underworld ) was substituted for Sheol. This

999-489: A period of reflection on their earthly actions and are made aware of what they have done wrong. Some view this period as "re-schooling", with the soul gaining wisdom as one's errors are reviewed. Others view this period as spiritual discomfort caused by past wrongs. At the end of this period, not longer than one year, the soul then takes its place in the world to come. Although discomforts are made part of certain Jewish conceptions of

1110-563: A reasonably common adjective in Classical Greek. By the Hellenistic period , it began also to be associated with Greco-Roman mysteries , becoming synonymous with the Greek term mysterion . Consequentially, Gnosis often refers to knowledge based on personal experience or perception. In a religious context, gnosis is mystical or esoteric knowledge based on direct participation with

1221-434: A sequence of human and animal forms. Traditional Hinduism teaches that each life helps the soul (jivas) learn until the soul becomes purified to the point of liberation . All major Indian religions , namely Buddhism , Hinduism , Jainism , and Sikhism have their own interpretations of the idea of reincarnation. The human idea of reincarnation is found in many diverse ancient cultures, and a belief in rebirth/ metempsychosis

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1332-410: A soul achieves Moksha or Nirvana . Any place of existence, either of humans, souls or deities, outside the tangible world (heaven, hell, or other) is referred to as otherworld . Hell , in many religious and folkloric traditions, is a place of torment and punishment in the afterlife. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hell as an eternal destination , while religions with

1443-647: A spokesman for the Egyptian Culture Ministry claimed it had unearthed a large red granite door in Luxor with inscriptions by User , a powerful adviser to the 18th Dynasty Queen Hatshepsut who ruled between 1479 BC and 1458 BC, the longest of any woman. It believes the false door is a 'door to the Afterlife'. According to the archaeologists, the door was reused in a structure in Roman Egypt . The Greek god Hades

1554-666: A thought relating to the past, present or the future) as well as various mental events that get generated, namely, feelings, perceptions and intentions/behaviour. These mental events are also described as being influenced by other factors such as attachments and past conditioning. Further, the moment-by-moment manifestation of the "stream of consciousness" is described as being affected by physical laws, biological laws, psychological laws, volitional laws, and universal laws. In his lectures circa 1838–1839 Sir William Hamilton, 9th Baronet described "thought" as "a series of acts indissolubly connected"; this comes about because of what he asserted

1665-426: A totality constitute the pleroma , the "region of light". The lowest regions of the pleroma are closest to the darkness; that is, the physical world. Two of the most commonly paired æons were Christ and Sophia (Greek: "Wisdom"); the latter refers to Christ as her "consort" in A Valentinian Exposition . In Gnostic tradition, the name Sophia (Σοφία, Greek for "wisdom") refers to the final emanation of God, and

1776-854: Is "learned" or "intellectual", such as used by Plato in the comparison of "practical" ( praktikos ) and "intellectual" ( gnostikos ). Plato's use of "learned" is fairly typical of Classical texts. Sometimes employed in the Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Bible , the adjective is not used in the New Testament, but Clement of Alexandria who speaks of the "learned" ( gnostikos ) Christian quite often, uses it 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"

1887-560: Is a specific designation. The term "Gnosticism" does not appear in ancient sources, and was first coined in the 17th century by Henry More in a commentary on the seven letters of the Book of Revelation , where More used the term "Gnosticisme" to describe the heresy in Thyatira . The term Gnosticism was derived from the use of the Greek adjective gnostikos (Greek γνωστικός, "learned", "intellectual") by St. Irenaeus (c. 185 AD) to describe

1998-399: Is a valid or useful historical term, or if it was an artificial category framed by proto-orthodox theologians to target miscellaneous Christian heretics . Gnosis is a feminine Greek noun which means "knowledge" or "awareness." It is often used for personal knowledge compared with intellectual knowledge ( εἴδειν eídein ). A related term is the adjective gnostikos , "cognitive",

2109-737: Is an "ancient, mainstream belief in Judaism". The Zohar makes frequent and lengthy references to reincarnation. Onkelos , a righteous convert and authoritative commentator of the same period, explained the verse, "Let Reuben live and not die ..." (Deuteronomy 33:6) to mean that Reuben should merit the World to Come directly and not have to die again as a result of being reincarnated. Torah scholar, commentator and kabbalist, Nachmanides (Ramban 1195–1270), attributed Job's suffering to reincarnation, as hinted in Job's saying "God does all these things twice or three times with

2220-400: Is an illusion I do not mean that consciousness does not exist. I mean that consciousness is not what it appears to be. If it seems to be a continuous stream of rich and detailed experiences, happening one after the other to a conscious person, this is the illusion." However, she also says that a good way to observe the "stream of consciousness" may be to calm the mind in meditation. The criticism

2331-455: Is based on the stream of perception data from the senses rather than about consciousness itself. Also, it is not explained the reason why some things are conscious at all. Suggestions have also been made regarding the importance of separating "two levels of analyses" when attempting to understand the "stream of consciousness". Baars is in agreement with these points. The continuity of the "stream of consciousness" may in fact be illusory, just as

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2442-510: Is commissioned by the Father] And I heard the voice of the Most High, the father of my LORD as he said to my LORD Christ who will be called Jesus, 'Go out and descend through all the heavens... The Shepherd of Hermas is a Christian literary work considered as canonical scripture by some of the early Church fathers such as Irenaeus. Jesus is identified with angel Christology in parable 5, when

2553-543: Is determined directly by the actions of the individual in the ended life. Theist immortalists generally believe some afterlife awaits people when they die. Members of some generally non-theistic religions believe in an afterlife without reference to a deity. Many religions, such as Christianity , Islam , and various pagan belief systems, believe in the soul's existence in another world, while others, like many forms of Hinduism and Buddhism , believe in reincarnation. In both cases, these religions hold that one's status in

2664-562: Is identified with the anima mundi or world-soul. She is occasionally referred to by the Hebrew equivalent of Achamoth (this is a feature of Ptolemy's version of the Valentinian gnostic myth). Jewish Gnosticism with a focus on Sophia was active by 90 AD. In most, if not all, versions of the gnostic myth, Sophia births the demiurge, who in turn brings about the creation of materiality. The positive and negative depictions of materiality depend on

2775-568: Is interpreted as an intermediary aeon who was sent from the pleroma, with whose aid humanity can recover the lost knowledge of the divine origins of humanity. The term is thus a central element of Gnostic cosmology . Pleroma is also used in the general Greek language, and is used by the Greek Orthodox church in this general form, since the word appears in the Epistle to the Colossians . Proponents of

2886-503: Is known in Greek mythology as the king of the underworld , a place where souls live after death. The Greek god Hermes , the messenger of the gods, would take the dead soul of a person to the underworld (sometimes called Hades or the House of Hades). Hermes would leave the soul on the banks of the River Styx , the river between life and death. Charon , also known as the ferry-man, would take

2997-574: Is no reference to reincarnation in the Talmud or any prior writings, according to rabbis such as Avraham Arieh Trugman, reincarnation is recognized as being part and parcel of Jewish tradition. Trugman explains that it is through oral tradition that the meanings of the Torah, its commandments, and stories are known and understood. The classic work of Jewish mysticism, the Zohar, is quoted liberally in all Jewish learning; in

3108-516: Is not uncommon among many Jews, including Orthodox. Other well-known rabbis who are reincarnationists include Yonassan Gershom , Abraham Isaac Kook , Talmud scholar Adin Steinsaltz, DovBer Pinson, David M. Wexelman, Zalman Schachter , and many others. Reincarnation is cited by authoritative Biblical commentators, including Ramban (Nachmanides), Menachem Recanti, and Rabbenu Bachya. Among the many volumes of Yitzchak Luria, most of which come down from

3219-505: Is reflected in the New Testament where Hades is both the underworld of the dead and the personification of the evil it represents. The Talmud offers several thoughts relating to the afterlife. After death, the soul is brought for judgment. Those who have led pristine lives immediately enter the Olam Haba or world to come . Most do not enter the world to come immediately but experience

3330-419: Is sometimes ignorant of the superior god, and sometimes opposed to it; thus in the latter case he is correspondingly malevolent. Other names or identifications are Ahriman , El , Satan , and Yahweh . This image of this particular creature is again identified in the Book of Revelation as such: Now in my vision this is how I saw the horses and their riders. They wore red, blue, and yellow breastplates, and

3441-570: Is still being explored. The very few women in most Gnostic literature are portrayed as chaotic, disobedient, and enigmatic. However, the Nag Hammadi texts place women in roles of leadership and heroism. In many Gnostic systems, God is known as the Monad , the One . God is the high source of the pleroma , the region of light. The various emanations of God are called æons. According to Hippolytus , this view

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3552-556: The Fields of Aaru , Osiris demanded work as restitution for the protection he provided. Statues were placed in the tombs to serve as substitutes for the deceased. Arriving at one's reward in afterlife was a demanding ordeal, requiring a sin-free heart and the ability to recite the spells, passwords, and formulae of the Book of the Dead . In the Hall of Two Truths, the deceased's heart was weighed against

3663-419: The Hebrew Bible , is a place of darkness ( Job 10 :21–22) to which all the dead go—both the righteous and the unrighteous—regardless of the moral choices made in life (Genesis 35:37; Book of Ezekiel 32; Isaiah 16; Job 30 :23), a place of stillness ( Psalm 88 :13, 94 :17; Ecclesiastes 9:10), at the longest possible distance from Heaven ( Job 11 :8; Amos 9 :2; Psalm 139 :8). The inhabitants of Sheol were

3774-499: The Rosh and Leon de Modena . Saadia Gaon, in Emunoth ve-Deoth (Hebrew: "beliefs and opinions"), concludes Section VI with a refutation of the doctrine of metempsychosis (reincarnation). While rebutting reincarnation, Saadia Gaon further states that Jews who hold to reincarnation have adopted non-Jewish beliefs. By no means do all Jews today believe in reincarnation, but belief in reincarnation

3885-445: The Shu feather of truth and justice taken from the headdress of the goddess Ma'at . If the heart was lighter than the feather, they could pass on, but if it were heavier they would be devoured by the demon Ammit . Egyptians also believed that being mummified and put in a sarcophagus (an ancient Egyptian "coffin" carved with complex symbols and designs, as well as pictures and hieroglyphs)

3996-722: The Synoptics . Gnosticism was a mix of Jewish and early Christian religious ideas. Gnostic writings flourished among certain Christian groups in the Mediterranean world around the second century, when the Fathers of the early Church denounced them as heresy . Efforts to destroy these texts proved largely successful, resulting in the survival of very little writing by Gnostic theologians. Nonetheless, early Gnostic teachers such as Valentinus saw their beliefs as aligned with Christianity. In

4107-567: The dead live again in the Fields of Yalu and accompany the Sun on its daily ride. Due to the dangers the afterlife posed, the Book of the Dead was placed in the tomb with the body as well as food, jewelry, and 'curses'. They also used the "opening of the mouth". Ancient Egyptian civilization was based on religion. The belief in the rebirth after death became the driving force behind funeral practices; for them, death

4218-480: The gnostikos Valentinus (c.   170) or the Nag Hammadi texts (3rd century) is not supported by modern scholarship, although Elaine Pagels called it a "possibility". The Syrian–Egyptian traditions postulate a remote, supreme Godhead, the Monad . From this highest divinity emanate lower divine beings, known as Aeons . The Demiurge arises among the Aeons and creates the physical world. Divine elements "fall" into

4329-401: The horses’ heads were like heads of lions , and out of their mouths came fire, smoke, and sulfur. By these three plagues of fire, smoke, and sulfur that came out of their mouths a third of the human race was killed. For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails are like snakes , with heads that inflict harm." This is corroborated in the article above quoting

4440-414: The will of God . Some believe in the possibility of a heaven on Earth in a world to come . In Hinduism , heaven is termed Svarga loka . There are seven positive regions and seven negative regions to which the soul can go after death. After completing its stay in the respective region, the soul is subjected to rebirth in different living forms according to its karma . This cycle can be broken after

4551-582: The "shades" ( rephaim ), entities without personality or strength. Under some circumstances, they were thought to be able to be contacted by the living (as the Witch of Endor contacts the shade of Samuel for Saul ), but such practices were forbidden ( Deuteronomy 18:10). Whereas the Hebrew Bible appears to describe Sheol as the permanent place of the dead, in the Second Temple period (roughly 500 BC – 70 AD),

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4662-581: The "stream of consciousness" ( Pali ; viññāna-sota ) where it is referred to as the Mind Stream . The practice of mindfulness , which is about being aware moment-to-moment of one's subjective conscious experience aid one to directly experience the "stream of consciousness" and to gradually cultivate self-knowledge and wisdom. Buddhist teachings describe the continuous flow of the "stream of mental and material events" that include sensory experiences (i.e., seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touch sensations, or

4773-418: The "stream of consciousness." Bernard Baars has developed Global Workspace Theory which bears some resemblance to stream of consciousness. Conceptually understanding what is meant by the "present moment," "the past" and "the future" can aid one to systematically understand the "stream of consciousness." Susan Blackmore challenged the concept of stream of consciousness. "When I say that consciousness

4884-464: The 19th and 20th centuries in Europe and North America, including some that explicitly identify themselves as revivals or even continuations of earlier gnostic groups. Dillon notes that Gnosticism raises questions about the development of early Christianity . The Christian heresiologists , most notably Irenaeus , regarded Gnosticism as a Christian heresy. Modern scholarship notes that early Christianity

4995-561: The Church administered and prescribed the correct behavior for Christians, while in Gnosticism it was the internalised motivation that was important. Ptolemy's Epistle to Flora describes a general asceticism, based on the moral inclination of the individual. For example, ritualistic behavior was not seen to possess as much importance as any other practice, unless it was based on a personal, internal motivation. The role women played in Gnosticism

5106-556: The Earth, looking down at the small planet, from far away. In Book VI of Virgil 's Aeneid , the hero, Aeneas , travels to the underworld to see his father. By the River Styx, he sees the souls of those not given a proper burial, forced to wait by the river until someone buries them. While down there, along with the dead, he is shown the place where the wrongly convicted reside, the fields of sorrow where those who committed suicide and now regret it reside, including Aeneas' former lover,

5217-563: The Fury (1929). Gnosticism Gnosticism (from Ancient Greek : γνωστικός , romanized : gnōstikós , Koine Greek : [ɣnostiˈkos] , 'having knowledge') is a collection of religious ideas and systems that coalesced in the late 1st century AD among Jewish and early Christian sects. These various groups emphasized personal spiritual knowledge ( gnosis ) above the proto-orthodox teachings, traditions, and authority of religious institutions. Gnostic cosmogony generally presents

5328-554: The Gnostic Christian tradition, Christ is seen as a divine being which has taken human form in order to lead humanity back to recognition of its own divine nature. However, Gnosticism is not a single standardized system, and the emphasis on direct experience allows for a wide variety of teachings, including distinct currents such as Valentinianism and Sethianism . In the Persian Empire , Gnostic ideas spread as far as China via

5439-573: The Gnostic emphasis on an inherent difference between flesh and spirit represented a significant departure from the teachings of the Historical Jesus and his earliest followers. Some scholars say Gnosticism may contain historical information about Jesus from the Gnostic viewpoint, though the majority predominantly conclude that apocryphal sources, Gnostic or not, are later than the canonical ones and that many, such as Thomas , depends on or harmonizes

5550-661: The Godhead emanates two savior aeons, Christ and the Holy Spirit ; Christ then embodies itself in the form of Jesus, in order to be able to teach humans how to achieve gnosis, by which they may return to the pleroma. The term demiurge derives from the Latinized form of the Greek term dēmiourgos , δημιουργός, literally "public or skilled worker". This figure is also called "Yaldabaoth", Samael ( Aramaic : sæmʻa-ʼel , "blind god"), or "Saklas" ( Syriac : sækla , "the foolish one"), who

5661-813: The Mandaeans likely have a historical connection with John the Baptist's inner circle of disciples. Charles Häberl, who is also a linguist specializing in Mandaic , finds Palestinian and Samaritan Aramaic influence on Mandaic and accepts Mandaeans having a "shared Palestinian history with Jews". In 1966, at the Congress of Median, Buddhologist Edward Conze noted phenomenological commonalities between Mahayana Buddhism and Gnosticism, in his paper Buddhism and Gnosis , following an early suggestion put forward by Isaac Jacob Schmidt . The influence of Buddhism in any sense on either

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5772-431: The Nag Hammadi texts. Since the 1990s, the category of "Gnosticism" has come under increasing scrutiny from scholars. One such issue is whether Gnosticism ought to be considered one form of early Christianity , an interreligious phenomenon, or an independent religion. Going further than this, other contemporary scholars such as Michael Allen Williams, Karen Leigh King , and David G. Robertson contest whether "Gnosticism"

5883-522: The Zohar, the idea of reincarnation is mentioned repeatedly. Trugman states that in the last five centuries, the concept of reincarnation, which until then had been a much-hidden tradition within Judaism, was given open exposure. Shraga Simmons commented that within the Bible itself, the idea [of reincarnation] is intimated in Deut. 25:5–10, Deut. 33:6 and Isaiah 22:14, 65:6. Yirmiyahu Ullman wrote that reincarnation

5994-493: The aeons are the various emanations of the superior God or Monad. Beginning in certain Gnostic texts with the hermaphroditic aeon Barbelo , the first emanated being, various interactions with the Monad occur which result in the emanation of successive pairs of aeons, often in male–female pairings called syzygies . The numbers of these pairings varied from text to text, though some identify their number as being thirty. The aeons as

6105-520: The afterlife derive from religion, esotericism , and metaphysics . Some belief systems, such as those in the Abrahamic tradition , hold that the dead go to a specific place (e.g., paradise or hell ) after death, as determined by their god, based on their actions and beliefs during life. In contrast, in systems of reincarnation, such as those of the Indian religions , the nature of the continued existence

6216-459: The afterlife is determined by their conduct during life. Reincarnation is the philosophical or religious concept that an aspect of a living being starts a new life in a different physical body or form after each death. This concept is also known as rebirth or transmigration and is part of the Saṃsāra /karma doctrine of cyclic existence. Samsara refers to the process in which souls ( jivas ) go through

6327-429: The afterlife, the concept of eternal damnation is not a tenet of the Jewish afterlife. According to the Talmud, extinction of the soul is reserved for a far smaller group of malicious and evil leaders whose very evil deeds go way beyond norms or who lead large groups of people to utmost evil. This is also part of Maimonides' 13 principles of faith . Maimonides describes the Olam Haba in spiritual terms, relegating

6438-521: The angel Christology of some early Christians, Darrell Hannah notes: [Some] early Christians understood the pre-incarnate Christ, ontologically, as an angel. This "true" angel Christology took many forms and may have appeared as early as the late First Century, if indeed this is the view opposed in the early chapters of the Epistle to the Hebrews. The Elchasaites , or at least Christians influenced by them, paired

6549-910: The author mentions a Son of God, as a virtuous man filled with a Holy "pre-existent spirit". In the 1880s Gnostic connections with neo-Platonism were proposed. Ugo Bianchi, who organised the Congress of Messina of 1966 on the origins of Gnosticism, also argued for Orphic and Platonic origins. Gnostics borrowed significant ideas and terms from Platonism, using Greek philosophical concepts throughout their text, including such concepts as hypostasis (reality, existence), ousia (essence, substance, being), and demiurge (creator God). Both Sethian Gnostics and Valentinian Gnostics seem to have been influenced by Plato , Middle Platonism , and Neo-Pythagoreanism academies or schools of thought. Both schools attempted "an effort towards conciliation, even affiliation" with late antique philosophy, and were rebuffed by some Neoplatonists , including Plotinus. Early research into

6660-511: The beliefs of some religions, heavenly beings can descend to earth or incarnate , and earthly beings can ascend to heaven in the afterlife, or in exceptional cases, enter heaven alive. Heaven is often described as a "higher place", the holiest place, a paradise , in contrast to hell or the underworld or the "low places", and universally or conditionally accessible by earthly beings according to various standards of divinity , goodness , piety , faith or other virtues or right beliefs or

6771-488: The brain functions involved in this model and may help shed light on how we understand signs or symbols and reference these to our semiotic registers. In literature, stream of consciousness writing is a literary device which seeks to portray an individual's point of view by giving the written equivalent of the character's thought processes, either in a loose interior monologue, or in connection to his or her sensory reactions to external occurrences. Stream-of-consciousness as

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6882-482: The broad category of Gnosticism, viewing materiality as being inherently evil, or as merely flawed and as good as its passive constituent matter allows. In late antiquity some variants of Gnosticism used the term archon to refer to several servants of the demiurge. According to Origen 's Contra Celsum , a sect called the Ophites posited the existence of seven archons, beginning with Iadabaoth or Ialdabaoth, who created

6993-595: The capricious nature of the form (calling itself many different names) and of Gnosticism founder, Simon Magus, whom in the Biblical Narrative the Acts of the Apostles is quoted as being a magician or sorcerer able to perform great tasks with his mouth but not with the Holy Spirit of YHWH the same Spirit of Yeshuah of Nazareth and Simon Peter, Simon Magus' opponent. Moral judgements of the demiurge vary from group to group within

7104-405: The continuity of a movie is illusory. Nevertheless, the seriality of mutually incompatible conscious events is well supported by objective research over some two centuries of experimental work. A simple illustration would be to try to be conscious of two interpretations of an ambiguous figure or word at the same time. When timing is precisely controlled, as in the case of the audio and video tracks of

7215-514: The dead , the grave, a neutral place (for example, Sheol or Hades ) located under the surface of Earth. The afterlife played an important role in Ancient Egyptian religion , and its belief system is one of the earliest known in recorded history. When the body died, parts of its soul known as ka (body double) and the ba (personality) would go to the Kingdom of the Dead. While the soul dwelt in

7326-526: The dead: the faithful saints who await resurrection in Paradise , the merely virtuous who await their reward, the wicked who await punishment, and the wicked who have already been punished and will not be resurrected on Judgment Day. The Book of Enoch is considered apocryphal by most denominations of Christianity and all of Judaism. The book of 2 Maccabees clearly describes the dead waiting for future resurrection and judgment, along with prayers and offerings for

7437-506: The deceased to alleviate their sins. The author of the Gospel of Luke recounts the story of Lazarus and the rich man , which shows people in Hades awaiting the resurrection either in comfort or torment. The author of the Book of Revelation writes about God and the angels versus Satan and demons in an epic battle at the end of times when all souls are judged. There is mention of ghostly bodies of

7548-581: The development of Gnosticism: During the first period, three types of tradition developed: The movement spread in areas controlled by the Roman Empire and Arian Goths, and the Persian Empire . It continued to develop in the Mediterranean and Middle East before and during the 2nd and 3rd centuries, but decline also set in during the third century, due to a growing aversion from the Nicene Church, and

7659-481: The divine. In most Gnostic systems, the sufficient cause of salvation is this "knowledge of" ("acquaintance with") the divine. It is an inward "knowing", comparable to that encouraged by Plotinus ( neoplatonism ), and differs from proto-orthodox Christian views. Gnostics are "those who are oriented toward knowledge and understanding – or perception and learning – as a particular modality for living". The usual meaning of gnostikos in Classical Greek texts

7770-623: The economic and cultural deterioration of the Roman Empire. Conversion to Islam, and the Albigensian Crusade (1209–1229), greatly reduced the remaining number of Gnostics throughout the Middle Ages, though Mandaean communities still exist in Iraq, Iran and diaspora communities. Gnostic and pseudo-gnostic ideas became influential in some of the philosophies of various esoteric mystical movements of

7881-576: The form we now call Gnostic, and it may well have existed some time before the Christian era." Many heads of Gnostic schools were identified as Jewish Christians by Church Fathers, and Hebrew words and names of God were applied in some gnostic systems. The cosmogonic speculations among Christian Gnostics had partial origins in Maaseh Breshit and Maaseh Merkabah . This thesis is most notably put forward by Gershom Scholem (1897–1982) and Gilles Quispel (1916–2006). Scholem detected Jewish gnosis in

7992-594: The future heroes of Rome who will live if Aeneas fulfills his destiny in founding the city. Other eschatological views populate the ancient-Greek worldview. For instance, Plato argued for reincarnation in several dialogues, including the Timaeus . The Poetic and Prose Eddas , the oldest sources for information on the Norse concept of the afterlife, vary in their description of the several realms that are described as falling under this topic. The most well-known are: Sheol , in

8103-509: The highest and most important of the first created archangels, a view similar in many respects to Hermas' equation of Christ with Michael. Finally, a possible exegetical tradition behind the Ascension of Isaiah and attested by Origen's Hebrew master, may witness to yet another angel Christology, as well as an angel Pneumatology. The pseudepigraphical Christian text Ascension of Isaiah identifies Jesus with angel Christology: [The Lord Christ

8214-723: The imagery of merkabah mysticism , which can also be found in certain Gnostic documents. Quispel sees Gnosticism as an independent Jewish development, tracing its origins to Alexandrian Jews , to which group Valentinus was also connected. Many of the Nag Hammadi texts make reference to Judaism, in some cases with a violent rejection of the Jewish God. Gershom Scholem once described Gnosticism as "the Greatest case of metaphysical anti-Semitism". Professor Steven Bayme said gnosticism would be better characterized as anti-Judaism . Research into

8325-508: The late 16th century. Martin Buber 's early collection of stories of the Baal Shem Tov 's life includes several that refer to people reincarnating in successive lives. Among well-known (generally non-kabbalist or anti-kabbalist) rabbis who rejected the idea of reincarnation are Saadia Gaon , David Kimhi , Hasdai Crescas , Yedayah Bedershi (early 14th century), Joseph Albo , Abraham ibn Daud ,

8436-752: The mainstream historical and contemporary followers of Kabbalah , the Cathars , Alawites , the Druze , and the Rosicrucians . The historical relations between these sects and the beliefs about reincarnation that were characteristic of neoplatonism , Orphism , Hermeticism , Manicheanism , and Gnosticism of the Roman era as well as the Indian religions have been the subject of scholarly research. Unity Church and its founder Charles Fillmore teach reincarnation. Rosicrucians speak of

8547-516: The male Christ with the female Holy Spirit, envisioning both as two gigantic angels. Some Valentinian Gnostics supposed that Christ took on an angelic nature and that he might be the Saviour of angels. The author of the Testament of Solomon held Christ to be a particularly effective "thwarting" angel in the exorcism of demons. The author of De Centesima and Epiphanius' " Ebionites " held Christ to have been

8658-509: The material realm, and are latent in human beings. Redemption from the fall occurs when the humans obtain Gnosis, esoteric or intuitive knowledge of the divine. Gnostic systems postulate a dualism between God and the world, varying from the "radical dualist" systems of Manichaeism to the "mitigated dualism" of classic gnostic movements. Radical dualism, or absolute dualism, posits two co-equal divine forces, while in mitigated dualism one of

8769-666: The media and are taken for granted by unassuming Jews." Mainstream Christianity professes belief in the Nicene Creed , and English versions of the Nicene Creed in current use include the phrase: "We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come." When questioned by the Sadducees about the resurrection of the dead (in a context relating to who one's spouse would be if one had been married several times in life), Jesus said that marriage would be irrelevant after

8880-521: The myth's depictions of Sophia's actions. Sophia in this highly patriarchal narrative is described as unruly and disobedient, which is due to her bringing a creation of chaos into the world. The creation of the Demiurge was an act done without her counterpart's consent and because of the predefined hierarchy between the two of them, this action contributed to the narrative that she was unruly and disobedient. Sophia , emanating without her partner, resulted in

8991-457: The notion as follows: He was enormously skeptical about using introspection as a technique to understand the stream of consciousness. "The attempt at introspective analysis in these cases is in fact like seizing a spinning top to catch its motion, or trying to turn up the gas quickly enough to see how the darkness looks." However, the epistemological separation of two levels of analyses appears to be important in order to systematically understand

9102-598: The origin of Mandaean Gnosticism in Mazdean (Zoroastrianism) Zurvanism , in conjunction with ideas from the Aramaic Mesopotamian world. However, scholars specializing in Mandaeism such as Kurt Rudolph , Mark Lidzbarski , Rudolf Macúch , Ethel S. Drower , James F. McGrath , Charles G. Häberl , Jorunn Jacobsen Buckley , and Şinasi Gündüz argue for a Judean–Israelite origin. The majority of these scholars believe that

9213-619: The origins of Gnosticism proposed Persian origins or influences, spreading to Europe and incorporating Jewish elements. According to Wilhelm Bousset (1865–1920), Gnosticism was a form of Iranian and Mesopotamian syncretism , and Richard August Reitzenstein (1861–1931) situated the origins of Gnosticism in Persia. Carsten Colpe (b. 1929) has analyzed and criticised the Iranian hypothesis of Reitzenstein, showing that many of his hypotheses are untenable. Nevertheless, Geo Widengren (1907–1996) argued for

9324-507: The origins of Gnosticism shows a strong Jewish influence, particularly from Hekhalot literature . Within early Christianity, the teachings of Paul the Apostle and John the Evangelist may have been a starting point for Gnostic ideas, with a growing emphasis on the opposition between flesh and spirit, the value of charisma, and the disqualification of the Jewish law. The mortal body belonged to

9435-400: The pen of his primary disciple, Chaim Vital, are insights explaining issues related to reincarnation. His Shaar HaGilgulim ("The Gates of Reincarnation") is a book devoted exclusively to the subject of reincarnation in Judaism. Rabbi Naftali Silberberg of The Rohr Jewish Learning Institute notes that "Many ideas that originate in other religions and belief systems have been popularized in

9546-513: The production of the Demiurge (Greek: lit. "public builder"), who is also referred to as Yaldabaoth and variations thereof in some Gnostic texts. This creature is concealed outside the pleroma; in isolation, and thinking itself alone, it creates materiality and a host of co-actors, referred to as archons. The demiurge is responsible for the creation of humankind; trapping elements of the pleroma stolen from Sophia inside human bodies. In response,

9657-490: The prophesied physical resurrection to the status of a future miracle unrelated to the afterlife or the Messianic era . According to Maimonides, an afterlife continues for the soul of every human being: soul now separated from the body in which it was "housed" during its earthly existence. The Zohar describes Gehenna not as a place of punishment for the wicked but as a place of spiritual purification for souls. Although there

9768-413: The prophets and the transfiguration . The non-canonical Acts of Paul and Thecla speak of the efficacy of prayer for the dead so that they might be "translated to a state of happiness". Hippolytus of Rome pictures the underworld ( Hades ) as a place where the righteous dead, waiting in the bosom of Abraham for their resurrection, rejoice at their future prospect; the unrighteous are tormented at

9879-457: The related movement Manichaeism , while Mandaeism , which is the only surviving Gnostic religion from antiquity, is found in Iraq , Iran and diaspora communities. Jorunn Buckley posits that the early Mandaeans may have been among the first to formulate what would go on to become Gnosticism within the community of early followers of Jesus. For centuries, most scholarly knowledge about Gnosticism

9990-579: The resurrection as the resurrected will be like the angels in Heaven. Jesus also maintained that the time would come when the dead would hear the voice of the Son of God , and all who were in the tombs would come out; those who have heard his "[commandments] and believes in the one who sent [Him]" to the "resurrection of life", but those who do not to the "resurrection of condemnation". The Book of Enoch describes Sheol as divided into four compartments for four types of

10101-436: The same movie, seriality appears to be compulsory for potentially conscious events presented within the same 100 ms interval. J. W. Dalton has criticized the global workspace theory on the grounds that it provides, at best, an account of the cognitive function of consciousness, and fails even to address the deeper problem of its nature, of what consciousness is , and of how any mental process whatsoever can be conscious:

10212-494: The same. Others believed Jesus was divine, although did not have a physical body, reflected in the later Docetist movement. Among the Mandaeans , Jesus was considered a mšiha kdaba or " false messiah " who perverted the teachings entrusted to him by John the Baptist . Still other traditions identify Mani , the founder of Manichaeism, and Seth , third son of Adam and Eve , as salvific figures. Three periods can be discerned in

10323-789: The school of Valentinus as he legomene gnostike haeresis "the heresy called Learned (gnostic)". The origins of Gnosticism are obscure and still disputed. Gnosticism is largely influenced by platonism and its theory of forms . The proto-orthodox Christian groups called Gnostics a heresy of Christianity, but according to the modern scholars the theology's origin is closely related to Jewish sectarian milieus and early Christian sects. Some scholars debate Gnosticism's origins as having roots in Buddhism , due to similarities in beliefs, but ultimately, its origins are unknown. Some scholars prefer to speak of "gnosis" when referring to first-century ideas that later developed into Gnosticism, and to reserve

10434-480: The sight of the " lake of unquenchable fire " into which they are destined to be cast. Gregory of Nyssa discusses the long-before-believed possibility of purification of souls after death. Pope Gregory I repeats the concept, articulated over a century earlier by Gregory of Nyssa, that the saved suffer purification after death. In connection with this, he wrote of "purgatorial flames." Stream of consciousness (psychology) Early Buddhist scriptures describe

10545-465: The six that follow: Iao, Sabaoth , Adonaios, Elaios, Astaphanos, and Horaios. Ialdabaoth had a head of a lion. Other Gnostic concepts are: Jesus is identified by some Gnostics as an embodiment of the supreme being who became incarnate to bring gnōsis to the earth, while others adamantly denied that the supreme being came in the flesh, claiming Jesus to be merely a human who attained enlightenment through gnosis and taught his disciples to do

10656-481: The so-called " hard problem of consciousness ". A. C. Elitzur has argued, however, "While this hypothesis does not address the 'hard problem', namely, the very nature of consciousness, it constrains any theory that attempts to do so and provides important insights into the relation between consciousness and cognition.", as much as any consciousness theory is constrained by the natural brain perception limitations. New work by Richard Robinson shows promise in establishing

10767-427: The soul across the river to Hades, if the soul had gold: Upon burial, the family of the dead soul would put coins under the deceased's tongue. Once crossed, the soul would be judged by Aeacus , Rhadamanthus and King Minos . The soul would be sent to Elysium , Tartarus , or Asphodel Fields . The Elysian Fields were for the ones that lived pure lives. It consisted of green fields, valleys and mountains, everyone there

10878-635: The term "Gnosticism" for the synthesis of these ideas into a coherent movement in the second century. According to James M. Robinson , no gnostic texts clearly pre-date Christianity, and "pre-Christian Gnosticism as such is hardly attested in a way to settle the debate once and for all." Contemporary scholarship largely agrees that Gnosticism has Jewish Christian origins, originating in the late first century AD in nonrabbinical Jewish sects and early Christian sects. Ethel S. Drower adds, "heterodox Judaism in Galilee and Samaria appears to have taken shape in

10989-475: 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. In other areas of morality, Gnostics were less rigorously ascetic, and took a more moderate approach to correct behavior. In normative early Christianity,

11100-471: The underworld. The Romans had a similar belief system about the afterlife, with Hades becoming known as Pluto . In the ancient Greek myth about the Labours of Heracles , the hero Heracles had to travel to the underworld to capture Cerberus , the three-headed guard dog, as one of his tasks. In Dream of Scipio , Cicero describes what seems to be an out of body experience , of the soul traveling high above

11211-474: The view that Paul was actually a gnostic, such as Elaine Pagels, view the reference in Colossians as a term that has to be interpreted in a gnostic sense. The Supreme Light or Consciousness descends through a series of stages, gradations, worlds, or hypostases, becoming progressively more material and embodied. In time it will turn around to return to the One (epistrophe), retracing its steps through spiritual knowledge and contemplation. In many Gnostic systems,

11322-464: The warriors and shades, Tartarus (where the titans and powerful non-mortal enemies of the Olympians reside) where he can hear the groans of the imprisoned, the palace of Pluto , and the fields of Elysium where the descendants of the divine and bravest heroes reside. He sees the river of forgetfulness, Lethe , which the dead must drink to forget their life and begin anew. Lastly, his father shows him all of

11433-538: The world of inferior, worldly powers (the archons ), and only the spirit or soul could be saved. The term gnostikos may have acquired a deeper significance here. Alexandria was of central importance for the birth of Gnosticism. The Christian ecclesia (i. e. congregation, church) was of Jewish–Christian origin, but also attracted Greek members, and various strands of thought were available, such as "Judaic apocalypticism , speculation on divine wisdom , Greek philosophy, and Hellenistic mystery religions ." Regarding

11544-404: Was a fourth "law of thought" known as the "law of reason and consequent" : In this context the words "necessarily infer" are synonymous with "imply" . In further discussion Hamilton identified "the law" with modus ponens ; thus the act of "necessarily infer" detaches the consequent for purposes of becoming the (next) antecedent in a "chain" of connected inferences. William James asserts

11655-483: Was a temporary interruption rather than complete cessation of life. Eternal life could be ensured by means like piety to the gods, preservation of the physical form through mummification , and the provision of statuary and other funerary equipment. Each human consisted of the physical body, the ka , the ba , and the akh . The Name and Shadow were also living entities. To enjoy the afterlife, all these elements had to be sustained and protected from harm. On 30 March 2010,

11766-675: Was diverse, and Christian orthodoxy only settled in the 4th   century, when the Roman Empire declined and Gnosticism lost its influence. Gnostics and proto-orthodox Christians shared some terminology. Initially, they were hard to distinguish from each other. According to Walter Bauer, "heresies" may well have been the original form of Christianity in many regions. This theme was further developed by Elaine Pagels, who argues that "the proto-orthodox church found itself in debates with gnostic Christians that helped them to stabilize their own beliefs." According to Gilles Quispel, Catholicism arose in response to Gnosticism, establishing safeguards in

11877-561: Was held by historic Greek figures, such as Pythagoras and Plato . It is a common belief of various ancient and modern religions, such as Spiritism , theosophy , and Eckankar . It is found as well in many tribal societies around the world, in places such as Australia, East Asia, Siberia , and South America. Although the majority of denominations within the Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam do not believe that individuals reincarnate, particular groups within these religions do refer to reincarnation; these groups include

11988-554: Was inspired by the Pythagoreans , who called the first thing that came into existence the Monad , which begat the dyad, which begat the numbers, which begat the point , begetting lines , etc. Pleroma (Greek πλήρωμα, "fullness") refers to the totality of God's powers. The heavenly pleroma is the center of divine life, a region of light "above" (the term is not to be understood spatially) our world, occupied by spiritual beings such as aeons (eternal beings) and sometimes archons . Jesus

12099-512: Was limited to the anti-heretical writings of early Christian figures such as Irenaeus of Lyons and Hippolytus of Rome . There was a renewed interest in Gnosticism after the 1945 discovery of Egypt's Nag Hammadi library , a collection of rare early Christian and Gnostic texts, including the Gospel of Thomas and the Apocryphon of John . Elaine Pagels has noted the influence of sources from Hellenistic Judaism , Zoroastrianism , and Platonism on

12210-485: Was peaceful and contented, and the Sun always shone there. Tartarus was for the people that blasphemed against the gods or were rebellious and consciously evil. InTartarus, the soul would be punished by being burned in lava or stretched on racks. The Asphodel Fields were for a varied selection of human souls including those whose sins equaled their goodness, those who were indecisive in their lives, and those who were not judged. Some heroes of Greek legend are allowed to visit

12321-509: Was the only way to have an afterlife. What are referred to as the Coffin Texts , are inscribed on a coffin and serve as a guide for the challenges in the afterlife. The Coffin texts are more or less a duplication of the Pyramid Texts , which would serve as a guide for Egyptian pharaohs or queens in the afterlife. Only if the corpse had been properly embalmed and entombed in a mastaba , could

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