Something Eternal

Free will is an illusion, destiny is a lie, and the truth is something in-between. In our time, faith and wonder have disappeared. Most believe in what is seen, others in what is heard, yet a few know something eternal guides them. Once, immortals had a singular vision—until the Shroud appeared. Now thousands of years of human history have been shaped by something other than humankind. Two immortal factions have developed a long-standing and ever-growing divide. Unseen to human eyes, immortal knights are trying to protect our world from the Shroud’s manipulations. Yet, as the pendulum of power fluctuates between the immortal knights and the Shroud, an ancient evil arises. Dwellers threaten to unveil the immortals’ mystical, cloaked presence to the eyes of humanity. Today, the most dangerous is that which is least likely, and the truly impossible lies in changing one’s mind. And so begins the epic journey…

In what has been referred to as ‘the most advanced course in anthroposophy’, Rudolf Steiner addresses one of the great questions of our time: the role of evil in human development. He speaks of the year 666, when three time streams intersected – the familiar linear stream and two ‘lateral’ streams – and the reoccurrence of the 666-year rhythm in history. At the heart of this mystery is the being Sorat (‘the beast’), who attempted to flood humanity with premature spiritual knowledge by inspiring the scholars of the ancient Academy of Gondishapur. Although responsible for the saving of Aristotle’s works, Steiner describes how the Academy generated tremendous but dangerous gnostic wisdom, which eventually spread through the Christian monasteries and inspired Western scientific thought. Its immediate negative impact, however, had to be counteracted by the Prophet Muhammad and the founding of Islam. In contrast to the 666-year rhythm in history, the 333-year rhythm is connected to the healing forces of the Mystery of Golgotha. The year 333 was a central point in the post-Atlantean age, but also a pivotal moment in establishing the Christ Impulse and the new equilibrium it brought to humanity, allowing people to gain wisdom through their own efforts. Such wisdom enables insight into three key areas: supersensible knowledge of birth and death; understanding of an individual’s life; and the ability consciously to confront the adversarial beings of Lucifer and Ahriman. Steiner addresses a host of additional themes, including occult Freemasonry in Anglo-American countries; materialism in the Roman Catholic Church; prophetic and apocalyptic vision; dualism and fatalism in pre-Christian times; and the delusion of time and space. Seeking to awaken his listeners to the urgency of the tasks ahead of them, he urges that spiritual understanding be enlivened with enthusiasm, fire and warmth of heart.

Most evangelical Christians believe that those people who are not saved before they die will be punished in hell forever. But is this what the Bible truly teaches? Do Christians need to rethink their understanding of hell? In the late twentieth century, a growing number of evangelical theologians, biblical scholars, and philosophers began to reject the traditional doctrine of eternal conscious torment in hell in favor of a minority theological perspective called conditional immortality. This view contends that the unsaved are resurrected to face divine judgment, just as Christians have always believed, but due to the fact that immortality is only given to those who are in Christ, the unsaved do not exist forever in hell. Instead, they face the punishment of the "second death"--an end to their conscious existence. This volume brings together excerpts from a variety of well-respected evangelical thinkers, including John Stott, John Wenham, and E. Earl Ellis, as they articulate the biblical, theological, and philosophical arguments for conditionalism. These readings will give thoughtful Christians strong evidence that there are indeed compelling reasons for rethinking hell.

Do you have a soul? If you do, is it mortal, immortal, or eternal? If you don't know the difference, how can you expect to go to heaven? Are there people without souls? That would explain a lot, wouldn't it? Believe it or not, but the whole of reality can be understood through a proper understanding of eternity, immortality and temporality (mortality). These three terms are inextricably entwined with the concept of soul/mind. There are three possibilities: 1) One eternal mind (God) creates everything else, including immortal souls. This is the Abrahamic position. 2) Everything in the universe is made of individual eternal minds, or of one eternal Mind. This is the position of much of Eastern religion, and also of the Western esoteric tradition. 3) There are no minds at all, whether eternal or immortal, and all that exists is temporal matter, from which temporal minds are inexplicably made, and which perish when their bodies perish. This is the position of atheism and scientism. What kind of soul do you have?

DescriptionPassages from the search for eternal love is a book of fiction about a community called Illigruum House and two women Eva and Rosa. Eva is an artist who has accepted being alone as a necessary artistic path. But when Rosa a beautiful and wise woman in her seventies invites Eva to join her on the course learning through love Rosa offers to show Eva her true path. Eva finds that through Rosa'a stories of love and a spiritual meeting in the caves of Bearn a new way of thinking about love, the concept of abundance, and a universal love that will change her life forever. About the AuthorKelly Brown (born in London 1970) began writing very early, and had two poems published before she was fourteen. After a three month research trip to Africa Kelly was asked to write a play for the Theatre Centre, which was performed at the Lilian Baylis theatre ('eating Strawberries in the toilet) and another for the Royal Court YPT about the Morant Bay Uprising. After this Kelly Studied Literature and Philosophy at University, under the tuition of JonathanR e, excelling in European Literature and philosophy. As a writer Kelly then struggled to find an authentic voice and decided to work with children, traveling and learning about life. She wanted to write about more than the angst inside her head! However just when Kelly felt that she had found her authentic voice the change was difficult for people to understand. When she gave up her work with children and started writing her family panicked. She was labeled as mentally ill and she found her self in hospital with the diagnosis of manic depression. Kelly says that getting over the stigma of having a mental illness was really hard, but that eventually she found that it gave her permission to be who she wanted to be- an artist (in a very surrealist sense of the word). A writer and philosopher, dancer and photographer. It also opened up a new spiritual and healing dimension to her life. She gained a Masters in Fine art studying with Geoff Brunel who helped her to develop a very valuable creative process- working from images and concepts, calmly and relaxed, not manically.

Eternal Life and Human Happiness in Heaven treats four apparent problems concerning eternal life in order to clarify our thinking about perfect human happiness in heaven. The teachings of St. Thomas Aquinas provide the basis for solutions to these four problems about eternal life insofar as his teachings call into question common contemporary theological or philosophical presuppositions about God, human persons, and the nature of heaven itself. Indeed, these Thomistic solutions often require us to think very differently from our contemporaries. But thinking differently with St. Thomas is worth it: for the Thomistic solutions to these apparent problems are more satisfying, on both theological and philosophical grounds, than a number of contemporary theological and philosophical approaches. Christopher Brown deploys his argument in four sections. The first section lays out, in three chapters, four apparent problems concerning eternal life—Is heaven a mystical or social reality? Is heaven other-worldly or this-worldly? Is heaven static or dynamic? Won’t human persons eventually get bored in heaven? Brown then explains how and why some important contemporary Christian theologians and philosophers resolve these problems, and notes serious problems with each of these contemporary solutions. The second section explains, in five chapters, St. Thomas’ significant distinction between the essential reward of the saints in heaven and the accidental reward, and treats in detail his account of that in which the essential reward consists, namely, the beatific vision and the proper accidents of the vision (delight, joy, and charity). The third section treats, in five chapters, St. Thomas’ views on the multifaceted accidental reward in heaven, where the accidental reward includes, among other things, glorified human embodiment, participation in the communion of the saints, and the joy experienced by the saints in sensing God’s “new heavens and new earth.” Finally, section four argues, in four chapters, that St. Thomas’ views allow for powerful solutions to the four apparent problems about eternal life examined in the first section. These solutions are powerful because, not only are they consistent with authoritative, Catholic Christian Tradition, but they do not raise any of the significant theological or philosophical problems that attend the contemporary theological and philosophical solutions examined in the first section.