“Windows To Spirituality”
Dahsha and Hayra (Utmost Astonishment and Amazement) This article covers Dahsha and Hayra (Utmost Astonishment and Amazement), Every traveler journeying in valleys of love and zeal sometimes burns with the fire of love, and sometimes overflows with joy owing to the “wine of immortality” offered by the Beloved. While burning,...
Qabd and Bast (Contraction and Openness) Qabd (contraction) and bast (openness), felt by almost every-one during their lives, relate especially to those who live their lives consciously. Literally meaning being caught, being in straits or distressed, and being grasped by hand, Sufis use qabd to mean that the link between...
The Tree Of Life In Kabbalah This article covers The Tree Of Life In Kabbalah. The tree of life is a diagram used in various mystical traditions. It usually consists of 10 nodes symbolizing different archetypes and 22 lines connecting the nodes. The nodes are often arranged into three columns...
Barzakh Barzakh designates a place between hell and heaven, where the soul resides after death, and experiences its own heaven or hell, until the resurrection on Qiyamah (Judgement Day). In Islamic eschatology, although largely up to interpretation, al-Barzakh is generally viewed as the barrier between the physical and spiritual worlds. Barzakh may, according to Ghazali, also be...
Tree Of Life The tree of life is a widespread myth (mytheme) or archetype in the world’s mythologies, related to the concept of sacred tree more generally, and hence in religious and philosophical tradition. The tree of knowledge, connecting to heaven and the underworld, and the tree of life, connecting all forms of creation, are both...
What Is Limbo? Limbo, (Late Latin limbus) a word of Teutonic derivation, meaning literally “hem” or “border,” as of a garment, or anything joined on (cf. Italian lembo or English limb). In theological usage the name is applied to (a) the temporary place or state of the souls of the just who, although purified from sin, were...
Christian Views On Hades This article covers Christian Views on Hades. Hades, according to various Christian denominations, is “the place or state of departed spirits“, also known as Hell, borrowing the name of the Greek god of the underworld. In New Testament Greek, the Hebrew phrase “לא־תעזב נפשׁי לשׁאול” (you will not abandon my soul...
![The tree of life[Rev 22:2], a print from the Phillip Medhurst Collection of Bible illustrations in the possession of Revd. Philip De Vere at St. George's Court, Kidderminster, England.](https://slife.org/wp-content/uploads/Apocalypse_43._The_tree_of_life._Revelation_cap_22_v_2._Mortiers_Bible._Phillip_Medhurst_Collection-520x347.jpg)
Tree Of Life (Biblical) This article covers the Tree Of Life (Biblical). The tree of life (עֵץ הַחַיִּים, Etz haChayim) is a term mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. In the Book of Genesis, the tree of life is first described in chapter 2, verse 9 as being “in the midst of the Garden of Eden” with...
Sheol She’ol (שְׁאוֹל Šəʾōl), in the Hebrew Bible, is a place of darkness to which all the dead go, both the righteous and the unrighteous, regardless of the moral choices made in life, a place of stillness and darkness cut off from life and from God. The inhabitants of Sheol are the...
Limbo In Catholic theology, Limbo (Latin limbus, edge or boundary, referring to the “edge” of Hell) is a doctrine concerning the afterlife condition of those who die in original sin without being assigned to the Hell of the Damned. Medieval theologians of western Europe described the underworld (“hell“, “hades”, “infernum”) as divided...
What Is Armageddon? According to the Book of Revelation in the New Testament of the Bible, Armageddon is the prophesied location of a gathering of armies for a battle during the end times, variously interpreted as either a literal or a symbolic location. The term is also used in a generic sense to refer to any end of...
Great Tribulation In Christian eschatology, the Great Tribulation (θλίψις μεγάλη, thlipsis megalē) is a period mentioned by Jesus in the Olivet Discourse as a sign that would occur in the time of the end. At Revelation 7:14, “the Great Tribulation” (τῆς θλίψεως τῆς μεγάλης, literally, “the tribulation, the great one”) is used to indicate the...
What Is Rapture? The rapture is an eschatological concept of certain Christians, particularly within branches of American evangelicalism, consisting of an end time event when all Christian believers who are alive will rise along with the resurrected dead believers into Heaven and join Christ. This is a theory that grew out...
Intermediate State In some forms of Christian eschatology, the intermediate state or interim state is a person’s “intermediate” existence between one’s death and the universal resurrection. In addition, there are beliefs in a particular judgment right after death and a general judgement or last judgment after the resurrection. Christians looked for an imminent end...
What Is Purgatory? A Catholic doctrine Purgatory (Lat., “purgare”, to make clean, to purify) in accordance with Catholic teaching is a place or condition of temporal punishment for those who, departing this life in God’s grace, are, not entirely free from venial faults, or have not fully paid the satisfaction due to their transgressions. The faith of the Church concerning purgatory...
What Is Purgatory? Purgatory is an intermediate state after physical death for expiatory purification. Roman Catholic doctrine holds that this state exists and that those being purified can be helped by the prayers of the living. In the speculation of theologians and in popular imagination, purgatory is a place where this purification is done by the...
Heaven In Christianity The Heaven in Christianity is traditionally the location of the throne of God as well as the holy angels. In traditional Christianity, it is considered to be a physical place in the afterlife. In most forms of Christianity, heaven is also understood as the abode for the righteous...
Christian Views On Hell This article covers Christian views on Hell. In Christian theology, Hell is the place or state into which by God’s definitive judgment unrepentant sinners pass either immediately after death (particular judgment) or in the general judgment. Its character is inferred from teaching in the biblical texts, some of which, interpreted literally, have given rise...
Greek Underworld In mythology, the Greek underworld is an otherworld where souls go after death. The original Greek idea of afterlife is that, at the moment of death, the soul is separated from the corpse, taking on the shape of the former person, and is transported to the entrance of the...
Death In Norse Paganism Death in Norse paganism was associated with varying customs and beliefs. Not only could a Viking funeral be performed a number of ways, the idea of the soul was associated with various notions, as well as of where the dead went in their afterlife, such as Valhalla, Fólkvangr, Hel, and Helgafjell. The soul The...
