EEG
Ecstasy (mystical)
Ego
Eidetic image
Emanation
Emotions
Empathy
Enlightenment
Entelechy
Entropy vs. negentropy
Epiphany
Eschatological
Evidence
Evolution
Evolutionary model
Evolutionary psychology
Existential anguish
Existentialism
EEG
Word definition: A graphic record produced by an electroencephalograph.
Etymology: First recorded in 1930–35; electro- + encephalogram
Technical description: Electroencephalography (EEG) is an electrophysiological monitoring method to record electrical activity of the brain. It is typically noninvasive, with the electrodes placed along the scalp, although invasive electrodes are sometimes used such as in electrocorticography. EEG measures voltage fluctuations resulting from ionic current within the neurons of the brain. In clinical contexts, EEG refers to the recording of the brain’s spontaneous electrical activity over a period of time, as recorded from multiple electrodes placed on the scalp. Diagnostic applications generally focus either on event-related potentials or on the spectral content of EEG. The former investigates potential fluctuations time locked to an event like stimulus onset or button press. The latter analyses the type of neural oscillations (popularly called “brain waves”) that can be observed in EEG signals in the frequency domain. (Wikipedia)
Phenomenological description: Electroencephalography has proved more useful as a diagnostic aid in cases of serious head injuries, brain tumours, cerebral infections, sleep disorders, epilepsy, and various degenerative diseases of the nervous system. Electroencephalography is also useful in the assessment of patients with suspected brain death. This is particularly important if organs are to be saved for transplantation as soon as brain death has been confirmed. Sleep deprivation and other provocative tests, including photic (light) stimulation and hyperventilation, can be used to accentuate borderline findings. (Encyclopaedia Britannica)
Relevance of the concept: Electroencephalography, technique for recording and interpreting the electrical activity of the brain. The nerve cells of the brain generate electrical impulses that fluctuate rhythmically in distinct patterns. In 1929 German scientist Hans Berger published the results of the first study to employ an electroencephalograph, an instrument that measures and records these brain-wave patterns. The recording produced by such an instrument is called an electroencephalogram, commonly abbreviated EEG.
Berger was born in Neuses (now part of Coburg), Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Germany.
After attending Casimirianum, where he gained his abitur in 1892, Berger enrolled as a mathematics student at the Friedrich Schiller University of Jena with a view to becoming an astronomer. After one semester, he abandoned his studies and enlisted for a year of service in the cavalry. During a training exercise, his horse suddenly reared and he landed in the path of a horse-drawn cannon. The driver of the artillery battery halted the horses in time, leaving the young Berger shaken but with no serious injuries. His sister, at home many kilometres away, had a feeling he was in danger and insisted their father telegram him. The incident made such an impression on Berger that, years later in 1940, he wrote: “It was a case of spontaneous telepathy in which at a time of mortal danger, and as I contemplated certain death, I transmitted my thoughts, while my sister, who was particularly close to me, acted as the receiver.”
On completion of his military service, and obsessed by the idea of how his mind could have carried a signal to his sister, Berger returned to Jena to study medicine with the goal of discovering the physiological basis of “psychic energy”. His central theme became “the search for the correlation between objective activity in the brain and subjective psychic phenomena”. (Wikipedia)
Ecstasy (mystical)
Word definition: Rapturous delight, an overpowering emotion or exaltation; a state of sudden, intense feeling.
Etymology: Word Origin & History: late 14c., “in a frenzy or stupor, fearful, excited,” from Old French estaise “ecstasy, rapture,” from Late Latin extasis, from Greek ekstasis “entrancement, astonishment; any displacement,” in New Testament “a trance,” from existanai “displace, put out of place,” also “drive out of one’s mind” (existanai phrenon), from ek “out” (see ex-) + histanai “to place, cause to stand,” from PIE root *sta- “to stand” (see stet).
Used by 17c. mystical writers for “a state of rapture that stupefied the body while the soul contemplated divine things,” which probably helped the meaning shift to “exalted state of good feeling” .
Technical description: Ecstasy, rapture, transport, exaltation share a sense of being taken or moved out of one’s self or one’s normal state, and entering a state of intensified or heightened feeling. Ecstasy suggests an intensification of emotion so powerful as to produce a trancelike dissociation from all but the single overpowering feeling: an ecstasy of rage, grief, love. Rapture shares the power of ecstasy but most often refers to an elevated sensation of bliss or delight, either carnal or spiritual: the rapture of first love. Transport, somewhat less extreme than either ecstasy or rapture, implies a strength of feeling that results in expression of some kind.
Phenomenological description: Ecstasy is the activation of subtle energies on a high ontological level. Ecstasy is the felt experience of those activated subtle energies. ( M.J.M.)
See further: https://marinusjanmarijs.com/subtle-energies/subtle-energies-and-mystical-ecstasy/
Synonyms: Rapture, beatitude.
Schemas / Maps: There are different levels of mystical ecstasy.
Ecstasy on a low -subtle level;
Ecstasy on a high-subtle level;
Ecstasy on a low -causal level;
Ecstasy on a high-causal level.
Cross-cultural comparisons: Ecstasy, (Greek: ekstasis, “to stand outside of or transcend [oneself”) in mysticism, the experience of an inner vision of God or of one’s relation to or union with the divine. Various methods have been used to achieve ecstasy, which is a primary goal in most forms of religious mysticism. The most typical consists of four stages: (1) purgation (of bodily desire); (2) purification (of the will); (3) illumination (of the mind); and (4) unification (of one’s being or will with the divine). Other methods are: dancing (as used by the Mawlawīyah, or whirling dervishes, a Muslim Ṣūfī sect); the use of sedatives and stimulants (as utilized in some Hellenistic mystery religions); and the use of certain drugs, such as peyote, mescaline, hashish, LSD, and similar products (in certain Islāmic sects and modern experimental religious groups). Most mystics, both in the East and in the West, frown on the use of drugs because no permanent change in the personality (in the mystical sense) has been known to occur. (Encyclopaedia Britannica)
Relevance of the concept: Ecstasy, Ecstasis (Greek) [from ekstasis displacement, standing out from the proper place, hence rising above A transference of consciousness from the physical plane to another inner and superior plane, accompanied by awareness and memory of the experience. It is the state of illumination spoken of by Plotinus, resulting from the true asceticism of the disciple, and in its highest form is the same as the high stage of meditation of the Hindu yogi.
The concept in mythology: The opening of the heavens.
Literature: Books / Articles / Websites:
Marghanita Laski ” Ecstasy in Religious and Secular Experiences”, 1961
Ego
Word definition: The “I” or self of any person; a person as thinking, feeling, and willing, and distinguishing itself from the selves of others and from objects of its thought.
Psychoanalysis. the part of the psychic apparatus that experiences and reacts to the outside world and thus mediates between the primitive drives of the id and the demands of the social and physical environment.
Etymology: Word Origin & History: 1714, as a term in metaphysics, from Latin ego “I” (cognate with Old English ic, see I). Psychoanalytic sense is from 1894; sense of “conceit” is 1891. Ego trip first recorded 1969.
Technical description: The ego is the organized part of the personality structure that includes defensive, perceptual, intellectual-cognitive, and executive functions. Conscious awareness resides in the ego, although not all of the operations of the ego are conscious. Originally, Freud used the word ego to mean a sense of self, but later revised it to mean a set of psychic functions such as judgment, tolerance, reality testing, control, planning, defense, synthesis of information, intellectual functioning, and memory. The ego separates out what is real. It helps us to organize our thoughts and make sense of them and the world around us. “The ego is that part of the id which has been modified by the direct influence of the external world. …The ego represents what may be called reason and common sense, in contrast to the id, which contains the passions…in its relation to the id it is like a person on horseback, who has to hold in check the superior strength of the horse; with this difference, that the rider tries to do so with their own strength, while the ego uses borrowed forces.”
(Wikipedia)
Ego (Latin: “I”), according to Freud, comprises the executive functions of personality by serving as the integrator of the outer and inner worlds as well as of the id and the superego. The ego gives continuity and consistency to behaviour by providing a personal point of reference which relates the events of the past (retained in memory) with actions of the present and of the future (represented in anticipation and imagination). The ego is not coextensive with either the personality or the body, although body concepts form the core of early experiences of self. The ego, once developed, is capable of change throughout life, particularly under conditions of threat, illness, and significant changes in life circumstances. (Encyclopaedia Britannica)
Phenomenological description: Self sense.
Synonyms: Self, personality.
Relevance of the concept: Ego development
The newborn human infant reacts to but cannot control, anticipate, or alter sources of stimulation, be they external or internal. At this stage perception is primitive and diffuse, motor activity is gross and uncoordinated, and self-locomotion is impossible. Learning is limited to the simplest type of stimulus-response conditioning.
The infantile ego develops in relation to the external world and reflects (as psychoanalysis has emphasized) the helpless and dependent infant’s efforts to alter or alleviate painfully intense stimuli. Mechanisms evolve for controlling tension while seeking means by which gratifications can be obtained, and these mechanisms develop into increasingly complex forms of mastery.
At the outset, perception and motor activity are closely tied, with stimulation immediately provoking motor action. The delay of action, while tolerating the consequent tension, is the basis for all more-advanced ego functions. This delay is prototypic of the ego’s role in later personality functioning. The learned separation of stimulation and response allows the interposition of more complex intellectual activities such as thinking, imagining, and planning. By not reacting directly, the ego develops the capacity to test reality vicariously, to imagine the consequences of one or another course of action, and to decide upon future directions to achieve probable ends. The accumulation and retention of memories of past events is necessary for internal processes of thought and judgment. The acquisition of language, started during the second and third years, provides a powerful tool for the development of logical thought processes as well as allowing communication and control of the environment.
As the individual continues to develop, the ego is further differentiated and the superego develops. The superego represents the inhibitions of instinct and the control of impulses through the incorporation of parental and societal standards. Thus, moral standards as perceived by the ego become part of the personality. Conflict, a necessary ingredient for the growth and maturity of the personality, is introduced. The ego comes to mediate between the superego and the id by building up what have been called defense mechanisms.
Since the concept and structure of the ego were defined by Freud and explored by Carl Jung, other theorists have developed somewhat different conceptualizations of the ego. (Encyclopaedia Britannica)
Eidetic image
Word definition: marked by or involving extraordinarily accurate and vivid recall especially of visual images
Etymology: Eidetic is the technical adjective used to describe what we more commonly call a photographic memory. The word ultimately derives from the Greek noun eidos, meaning “form.”
Technical description: Eidetic memory (/aɪˈdɛtɪk/; sometimes called photographic memory) is an ability to vividly recall images from memory after only a few instances of exposure, with high precision for a brief time after exposure, without using a mnemonic device. Although the terms eidetic memory and photographic memory are popularly used interchangeably, they are also distinguished, with eidetic memory referring to the ability to view memories like photographs for a few minutes, and photographic memory referring to the ability to recall pages of text or numbers, or similar, in great detail. When the concepts are distinguished, eidetic memory is reported to occur in a small number of children and as something generally not found in adults, (Wikipedia)
Phenomenological description: Eidetic image, an unusually vivid subjective visual phenomenon. An eidetic person claims to continue to “see” an object that is no longer objectively present. Eidetic persons behave as if they are actually seeing an item, either with their eyes closed or while looking at some surface that serves as a convenient background for the image. Furthermore, eidetic persons describe the image as if it is still present and not as if they are recalling a past event. The incidence of eidetic imagery is very low in children (2–10 percent) and almost nonexistent in adults. (Encyclopaedia Britannica)
Synonyms: Photographic memory.
Supporting evidence: The ability of certain individuals to recall images has been clearly proven by Stephen Wiltshire, who is able to draw a skyline in great detail after a single helicopter ride. ( M.J.M.)
Literature: Books / Articles / Websites:
Stephen Wiltshire: The autistic urban artist with the photographic memory | DW
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqKRfZHpYBs
Emanation
Word definition: An act or instance of emanating, something that emanates or is emanated.
Etymology: Word Origin & History: 1560s, from Late Latin emanationem (nominative emanatio), noun of action from past participle stem of Latin emanare “flow out, arise, proceed,” from ex- “out” (see ex-) + manare “to flow,” from PIE root *ma- “damp.”
Technical description: Emanationism is an idea in the cosmology or cosmogony of certain religious or philosophical systems. Emanation, from the Latin emanare meaning “to flow from” or “to pour forth or out of”, is the mode by which all things are derived from the first reality, or principle. All things are derived from the first reality or perfect God by steps of degradation to lesser degrees of the first reality or God, and at every step the emanating beings are less pure, less perfect, less divine. Emanationism is a transcendent principle from which everything is derived, and is opposed to both creationism (wherein the universe is created by a sentient God who is separate from creation) and materialism (which posits no underlying subjective and/or ontological nature behind phenomena being immanent).
Emanationism is a cosmological theory which asserts that all things “flow” from an underlying principle or reality, usually called the Absolute or Godhead. Any teachings which involve emanation are usually in opposition to creation ex nihilo as emanation advocates that everything has always existed and has not been “created” from nothing.
The primary classical exponent of emanationism was Plotinus, wherein his work, the Enneads, all things phenomenal and otherwise were an emanation (Greek: ἀπορροή aporrhoe (Ennead ΙΙ.3.2) or ἀπόρροια aporrhoia (II.3.11)) from the One (ἕν, hen). In 5.1.6, emanationism is compared to a diffusion from the One, of which there are three primary hypostases, the One, the Intellect (νοῦς, nous), and the Soul (ψυχή, psyche). (Wikipedia)
Phenomenological description: Within spiritual development there are certain developmental stages, which correspond to ontological levels. From this realisation the thought did arise that what are from a psychological perspective the highest levels, were the kosmological levels that were laid down first.
( M.J.M.)
Synonyms: proceeding, arising, emergence, derivation, origination the emanation of the created order from God
Cross-cultural comparisons: Hints of this doctrine occur in the first two centuries ad in the writings of Philo, a Hellenistic Jewish philosopher, and of Basilides and Valentinus, both founders of Gnostic schools (stressing esoteric knowledge); but its classic formulation is found in Neoplatonists such as Plotinus and Proclus. It played a prominent role in Gnostic religion. Early Christian writers modified the concept to explain the Trinity of divine Persons. The Jewish Kabbala, a system of mysticism, theosophy, and miracle working, explicates the doctrine; and logicians of the 16th and 17th centuries also employed it.
(Encyclopaedia Britannica)
The concept in mythology: Descent of the spheres.
Citations: According to the Aitareya-Brahmana, Brahma as Prajapati (lord of beings) manifests himself first of all as twelve bodies or attributes. (Twelve ontological worlds)
Emotions
Word definition: An affective state of consciousness in which joy, sorrow, fear, hate, or the like, is experienced, as distinguished from cognitive and volitional states of consciousness.
Etymology: Word Origin & History: 1570s, “a (social) moving, stirring, agitation,” from Middle French émotion (16c.), from Old French emouvoir “stir up” (12c.), from Latin emovere “move out, remove, agitate,” from ex- “out” (see ex-) + movere “to move”). Sense of “strong feeling” is first recorded 1650s; extended to any feeling by 1808.
Technical description: Emotion or Passion: An affective state of consciousness, often accompanied by physiological changes, (as joy, sorrow, fear, and hate), to be distinguished from cognitive (knowledge and perception) and volitional (willing and intending) states of consciousness [Dictionary definition]. According to Cognitive Theories of Emotions, an emotion can have a cognitive component, a judgment. Such cognitive theories go back to Aristotle and the Stoics. Emotion not to be confused with a bodily appetite, as hunger or thirst. Mood: A disposition to acquire certain emotional states of mind in certain situations. For instance, depression is a mood that weakens one’s ability to easily become elated or sad.
Phenomenological description:
For a List of 506 Emotions / feelings see: https://marinusjanmarijs.com/Lists/List%20of%20emotions/
Synonyms: Affections, feelings, passion, sentiment.
Cross-cultural comparisons: Intercultural similarities.
Relevance of the concept: The complexity of human affective experiences.
Literature: Books / Articles / Websites:
Max Scheler: “The nature of sympathy”
Empathy
Word definition: the psychological identification with or vicarious experiencing of the feelings, thoughts, or attitudes of another.
Etymology: Word Origin & History: 1903, from German Einfühlung (from ein “in” + Fühlung “feeling”), coined 1858 by German philosopher Rudolf Lotze (1817-1881) as a translation of Greek empatheia “passion, state of emotion,” from en “in” (see en- (2)) + pathos “feeling” (see pathos). A term from a theory of art appreciation that maintains appreciation depends on the viewer’s ability to project his personality into the viewed object.
Technical description: Empathy is the capacity to understand or feel what another person is experiencing from within their frame of reference, i.e., the capacity to place oneself in another’s position. There are many definitions for empathy that encompass a broad range of emotional states. Types of empathy include cognitive empathy, emotional empathy, and somatic empathy.
Empathy has many definitions that encompass a broad range of emotional states, including caring for other people and having a desire to help them; experiencing emotions that match another person’s emotions; discerning what another person is thinking or feeling; and making less distinct the differences between the self and the other. It can also be understood as having the separateness of defining oneself and another blur.
It also is the ability to feel and share another person’s emotions. Some believe that empathy involves the ability to match another’s emotions, while others believe that empathy involves being tenderhearted toward another person. Having empathy can include having the understanding that there are many factors that go into decision making and cognitive thought processes. Past experiences have an influence on the decision making of today. Understanding this allows a person to have empathy for individuals who sometimes make illogical decisions to a problem that most individuals would respond with an obvious response. Broken homes, childhood trauma, lack of parenting and many others factors can influence the connections in the brain which a person uses to make decisions in the future. (Wikipedia)
Phenomenological description: Empathy, the ability to imagine oneself in another’s place and understand the other’s feelings, desires, ideas, and actions. It is a term coined in the early 20th century, equivalent to the German Einfühlung and modeled on “sympathy.” The term is used with special (but not exclusive) reference to aesthetic experience. The most obvious example, perhaps, is that of the actor or singer who genuinely feels the part he is performing. With other works of art, a spectator may, by a kind of introjection, feel himself involved in what he observes or contemplates. (Encyclopaedia Britannica)
Synonyms: Compassion.
Relevance of the concept: Its fundamental function within social relationships.
Supporting evidence: Introspection.
Literature: Books / Articles / Websites:
Max Scheler: “The nature of sympathy”
Enlightenment (Spiritual)
Word definition: Enlightenment is the “full comprehension of a situation”.
Etymology: 1660s, “action of enlightening,” from enlighten + -ment. Used only in figurative sense, of spiritual enlightenment, etc.
Technical description: William James, used the term “religious experience” in his book, The Varieties of Religious Experience. The notion of “experience” has been criticised. Robert Sharf points out that “experience” is a typical Western term, which has found its way into Asian religiosity via western influences.[not 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 and cognitive activity. The specific teachings and practices of a specific tradition may even determine what “experience” someone has, which means that this “experience” is not the proof of the teaching, but a result of the teaching. A pure consciousness without concepts, reached by “cleaning the doors of perception”, would be an overwhelming chaos of sensory input without coherence. (Wikipedia)
Phenomenological description: Spiritual enlightenment is a state that follows nirvana. Enlightenment is not a different description of nirvana, it is a different state.
See further: https://marinusjanmarijs.com/mysticism/nirvana-and-enlightenment/
Synonyms: Awakening, bodhi kensho and satori,
Cross-cultural comparisons: Roughly equivalent terms in Christianity may be illumination, kenosis, metanoia, revelation, salvation and conversion.
In Buddhism bodhi, kensho and satori, Related terms from Asian religions are moksha (liberation) in Hinduism, Kevala Jnana in Jainism, and ushta in Zoroastrianism. (Wikipedia)
Relevance of the concept: The aim of spiritual development.
Entelechy
Word definition: Entelechy, (from Greek entelecheia), in philosophy, that which realizes or makes actual what is otherwise merely potential.
Etymology: Entelechy, in Greek entelécheia, was coined by Aristotle and transliterated in Latin as entelechia. According to Sachs (1995, p. 245):
Aristotle invents the word by combining entelēs (ἐντελής, “complete, full-grown”) with echein (= hexis, to be a certain way by the continuing effort of holding on in that condition), while at the same time punning on endelecheia (ἐνδελέχεια, “persistence”) by inserting “telos” (τέλος, “completion”). This is a three-ring circus of a word, at the heart of everything in Aristotle’s thinking, including the definition of motion. (Wikipedia)
Technical description: Entelechy, (from Greek entelecheia), in philosophy, that which realizes or makes actual what is otherwise merely potential. The concept is intimately connected with Aristotle’s distinction between matter and form, or the potential and the actual. He analyzed each thing into the stuff or elements of which it is composed and the form which makes it what it is (see hylomorphism). The mere stuff or matter is not yet the real thing; it needs a certain form or essence or function to complete it. Matter and form, however, are never separated; they can only be distinguished. Thus, in the case of a living organism, for example, the sheer matter of the organism (viewed only as a synthesis of inorganic substances) can be distinguished from a certain form or function or inner activity, without which it would not be a living organism at all; and this “soul” or “vital function” is what Aristotle in his De anima (On the Soul ) called the entelechy (or first entelechy) of the living organism. Similarly, rational activity is what makes a man to be a man and distinguishes him from a brute animal. (Encyclopaedia Britannica)
Phenomenological description: the feeling that there is an underlying something which is in function of its end, purpose, or goal.
Synonyms: Teleology.
Relevance of the concept: Directionality.
The concept in mythology: The Arrow.
Supporting evidence: The cosmological fine-tuning.
Entropy vs. negentropy
Word definition: Entropy is a rough measure of randomness and disorder, or the absence of pattern in the structuring of a system. Negative entropy, or negentropy, roughly refers to the degree of order or organization within a closed system.
Etymology: The term originated with the French mathematician Lazare Carnot in his 1803 paper Fundamental Principles of Equilibrium and Movement
Technical description: Ludwig Boltzmann, Josiah Willard Gibbs, and James Clerk Maxwell gave entropy a statistical basis. In 1877 Boltzmann visualized a probabilistic way to measure the entropy of an ensemble of ideal gas particles, in which he defined entropy to be proportional to the natural logarithm of the number of microstates such a gas could occupy. Henceforth, the essential problem in statistical thermodynamics, i.e. according to Erwin Schrödinger, has been to determine the distribution of a given amount of energy E over N identical systems. Carathéodory linked entropy with a mathematical definition of irreversibility, in terms of trajectories and integrability. (Wikipedia)
Phenomenological description: The sense that there is a deep underlying order within the chaos.
Synonyms: Disorder vs. Order.
Relevance of the concept: It raises the question why after 13.7 billion years and the second law of thermodynamics there is such great amount of order in the universe and in biological systems. ( M.J.M.)
The concept in mythology: Chaos vs. order.
Supporting evidence: Second law of thermodynamics.
Epiphany
Word definition: an experience of sudden and striking realization.
Etymology: (from the ancient Greek ἐπιφάνεια, epiphaneia, “manifestation, striking appearance”)
Technical description: the term is used to describe scientific breakthrough, religious or philosophical discoveries, but it can apply in any situation in which an enlightening realization allows a problem or situation to be understood from a new and deeper perspective. Epiphanies are studied by psychologists and other scholars, particularly those attempting to study the process of innovation.[
Epiphanies are relatively rare occurrences and generally follow a process of significant thought about a problem. Often they are triggered by a new and key piece of information, but importantly, a depth of prior knowledge is required to allow the leap of understanding.[3 Famous epiphanies include Archimedes‘s discovery of a method to determine the density of an object (“Eureka!”) and Isaac Newton‘s realization that a falling apple and the orbiting moon are both pulled by the same force. (Wikipedia)
Phenomenological description: sudden deep insight.
Synonyms: Revelation.
The concept in mythology: Light.
Citations: In connection with initiation, it means a minor manifestation of God, as contrasted with theophany, which takes place in a higher degree, and is the appearance of God.
Eschatological
Word definition: : A branch of theology concerned with the final events in the history of the world or of humankind.
A belief concerning death, the end of the world, or the ultimate destiny of humankind; specifically : any of various Christian doctrines concerning the Second Coming, the resurrection of the dead, or the Last Judgment
Etymology: from Latinized form of Greek eskhatos “last, furthest, uttermost, extreme, most remote” in time, space, degree (from PIE *eghs-ko-, suffixed form of *eghs “out;” see ex-) + -ology. In theology, the study of the four last things (death, judgment, heaven, hell). Related: Eschatological; eschatologically.
Technical description: Eschatology, the doctrine of the last things. It was originally a Western term, referring to Jewish, Christian, and Muslim beliefs about the end of history, the resurrection of the dead, the Last Judgment, the messianic era, and the problem of theodicy (the vindication of God’s justice). Historians of religion have applied the term to similar themes and concepts in the religions of nonliterate peoples, ancient Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cultures, and Eastern civilizations. Eschatological archetypes also can be found in various secular liberation movements. (Encyclopaedia Britannica)
Phenomenological description: Individual transformations as an indication of future collective transformations.
Synonyms: End times.
Cross-cultural comparisons:
Lurianic Kabbalah : Tikkun‘ Olam (cosmic restitution)
Teilhard de Chardin : Omegapoint
Book of revelations 21:1-7 : A new Heaven and a New Earth
Christianity : Kingdom of God
Aurobindo : Supramentalisation
Chassidism : The messianic Era
Islam : Eternal Kingdom
Daniel 7:13-14 : An everlasting dominion
Zachariah 14:1-7 : The day of the Lord
Buddhism : End of the middle time/ construction of a new
world
Sunnis (Muntazar) : Return at the end of time
Aztecs (Quetzalcoatl) : Quetzalcoatl’s return
Hopi (Pahana) : End of the current Fourth world, beginning
of the Fifth world
Central Asian nomads : Spiritual rebirth of the entire human race
Hindu (Kalki) : Worldwide spiritual change
Hindu (Avatar) : Descent of the divine awareness
Shiite (Twelfth imam) : Ultimate savior of mankind
Maya (Kulkulkan) : (God of) resurrection
Buddhist (Bodhisattva) : Bring enlightenment to all sentient beings
Zoroastrian (Saoshiant) : Find restoration, souls reunited with God,
everlasting immortality.
( M.J.M.)
Relevance of the concept: Evolutionary process relating to the Ultimate destiny of humanity and the kosmos.
The concept in mythology: Apocalypse.
Evidence
Word definition: “show clearly, prove, give evidence of,”
Etymology: c. 1300, “appearance from which inferences may be drawn,” from Old French evidence, from Late Latin evidentia “proof,” in classical Latin “distinction, vivid presentation, clearness” in rhetoric, from stem of Latin evidens “obvious, apparent” (see evident).
Meaning “ground for belief” is from late 14c.; that of “obviousness” is from 1660s and tacks closely to the sense of evident. Legal senses are from c. 1500, when it began to oust witness. Also “one who furnishes testimony, witness” (1590s); hence turn (State’s) evidence.
Technical description: Although evidence, in this sense, has both legal and technical characteristics, judicial evidence has always been a human rather than a technical problem. During different periods and at different cultural stages, problems concerning evidence have been resolved by widely different methods. Since the means of acquiring evidence are clearly variable and delimited, they can result only in a degree of probability and not in an absolute truth in the philosophical sense. (Encyclopaedia Britannica)
Phenomenological description: That which is convincing of the truth of a proposition.
Synonyms: Prove, factual.
Schemas / Maps: The Scientific method:
1. Formulate questions.
2. Perform research and make observations.
3. Construct hypotheses and make predictions.
4. Test with experiments.
5. Analyse results and draw conclusions.
6. Hypothesis is corroborated / Hypothesis is not corroborated.
7. Report results, Transparency, repeatability.
Illustrations:
Cross-cultural comparisons:
Relevance of the concept: To avoid fallacies.
The concept in mythology: Footprints in the sand.
Evolution
Word definition: any process of formation or growth; development.
Etymology: Word Origin & History: 1620s, “an opening of what was rolled up,” from Latin evolutionem (nominative evolutio) “unrolling (of a book),” noun of action from evolvere (see evolve).
Technical description: Used in various senses in medicine, mathematics, and general use, including “growth to maturity and development of an individual living thing” (1660s). Modern use in biology, of species, first attested 1832 by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell. Charles Darwin used the word only once, in the closing paragraph of “The Origin of Species” (1859), and preferred descent with modification, in part because evolution already had been used in the 18c. homunculus theory of embryological development (first proposed under this name by Bonnet, 1762), in part because it carried a sense of “progress” not found in Darwin’s idea. But Victorian belief in progress prevailed (along with brevity), and Herbert Spencer and other biologists popularized evolution.
Phenomenological description: Next to biological evolution, there are many other forms of evolution, such as:
Cosmological,
Stellar (nucleosynthesis),
Chemical,
(Biological),
Sociological,
Psychological,
Technological,
Financial systems,
Economic systems,
Educational systems,
Communicational,
World views,
Language development,
Knowledge,
Scientific methods,
Health care systems,
Organisational structures,
Judicial systems,
Human rights,
Informational,
Philosophical,
Ethical,
Aesthetical,
Spiritual.
( M.J.M.)
Synonyms: Development, progression, unfolding.
Relevance of the concept: Developmental processes in time.
The concept in mythology: Voyage.
Supporting evidence: Progress in time.
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Evolutionary psychology
Word definition: Evolutionary psychology is a theoretical approach in the social and natural sciences that examines psychological structure from a modern evolutionary perspective.
Technical description: Evolutionary psychologists hold that behaviors or traits that occur universally in all cultures are good candidates for evolutionary adaptations including the abilities to infer others’ emotions, discern kin from non-kin, identify and prefer healthier mates, and cooperate with others. They report successful tests of theoretical predictions related to such topics as infanticide, intelligence, marriage patterns, promiscuity, perception of beauty, bride price, and parental investment.
The theories and findings of evolutionary psychology have applications in many fields, including economics, environment, health, law, management, psychiatry, politics, and literature. (Wikipedia)
Relevance of the concept: Developmental structures.
The concept in mythology: Journey.
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Existential anguish
Word definition: Deep feeling of meaninglessness.
Etymology: Existential: 1690s, “pertaining to existence,” from Late Latin existentialis/exsistentialis, from existentia/exsistentia (see existence). As a term in logic, from 1819; in philosophy, from 1937, tracing back to the Danish works of Kierkegaard.
Anguish: mid-14c., angwisshen, intransitive and reflexive (“be troubled or distressed; feel agony”) and transitive (“cause grief, distress,or torment”); from Old French angoissier (12c., Modern French angoisser), from angoisse “distress, anxiety, rage”
Technical description: “Existential angst”, sometimes called existential dread, anxiety, or anguish, is a term that is common to many existentialist thinkers. It is generally held to be a negative feeling arising from the experience of human freedom and responsibility. Angst, according to the modern existentialist, Adam Fong, is the sudden realization of a lack of meaning, often while one completes a task that initially seems to have intrinsic meaning. (Wikipedia)
Phenomenological description: The experience of a total lack of meaning.
Synonyms: Nihilism.
The concept in mythology: The wasteland.
Existentialism
Word definition: a philosophical attitude associated especially with Heidegger, Jaspers, Marcel, and Sartre, and opposed to rationalism and empiricism, that stresses the individual’s unique position as a self-determining agent responsible for the authenticity of his or her choices.
Etymology: German Existentialismus (1919); see existential, -ism
Technical description: Existentialism (/ˌɛɡzɪˈstɛnʃəlɪzəm/) is a tradition of philosophical inquiry associated mainly with certain 19th and 20th-century European philosophers who, despite profound doctrinal differences, shared the belief that philosophical thinking begins with the human subject—not merely the thinking subject, but the acting, feeling, living human individual. While the predominant value of existentialist thought is commonly acknowledged to be freedom, its primary virtue is authenticity. In the view of the existentialist, the individual’s starting point is characterized by what has been called “the existential attitude”, or a sense of disorientation, confusion, or dread in the face of an apparently meaningless or absurd world. Many existentialists have also regarded traditional systematic or academic philosophies, in both style and content, as too abstract and remote from concrete human experience. (Wikipedia)
Synonyms: Nihilism.
The concept in mythology: Desolate landscape.
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