Immortality (or eternal life) is the concept of existing for a potentially infinite, or indeterminate length, of time. Throughout history, humans have had the desire to live forever. What form an unending or indefinitely-long human life would take, or whether it is even possible, has been the subject of much speculation, fantasy, and debate. Immortality - Definitons of immortality. There exist three main types of immortality (see also 'Concepts of immortality', below): A common concept o ...

Including:

• Immortality - Definitons of immortality
• Immortality - Causes of death
• Immortality - Types of immortality
• Immortality - Physical immortality
• Immortality - Spiritual immortality
• Immortality - Concepts of immortality
• Immortality - Unending existence
• Immortality - Undesirable immortality
• Immortality - When talk of a soul arises
• Immortality - Symbols of immortality
• Immortality - Immortality in fiction
• Immortality - Notes

Read more here: » Immortality: Encyclopedia - Immortality

See also:

Immortality, Immortality - Definitons of immortality, Immortality - Causes of death, Immortality - Types of immortality, Immortality - Physical immortality, Immortality - Spiritual immortality, Immortality - Concepts of immortality, Immortality - Unending existence, Immortality - Undesirable immortality, Immortality - When talk of a soul arises, Immortality - Symbols of immortality, Immortality - Immortality in fiction, Immortality - Notes

Read more here: » Immortality: Encyclopedia II - Immortality - Types of immortality

Considerations of immortality usually bring to mind the idea of unending existence, a freedom from the concerns of annihilation and death. Often, talk of the immortality of the soul arises in conjunction with talk of immortality. The ideas of science and religion find common goals in the perpetuity of man's existence. Immortality - Unending existence. As a thought experiment, suppose that clinical immortality were possible, in which through advanced life support machinery or similar, the bodily functions o ...

See also:

Immortality, Immortality - Definitons of immortality, Immortality - Causes of death, Immortality - Types of immortality, Immortality - Physical immortality, Immortality - Spiritual immortality, Immortality - Concepts of immortality, Immortality - Unending existence, Immortality - Undesirable immortality, Immortality - When talk of a soul arises, Immortality - Symbols of immortality, Immortality - Immortality in fiction, Immortality - Notes

Read more here: » Immortality: Encyclopedia II - Immortality - Concepts of immortality

Rasta, or the Rastafari movement, is a religious movement that accepts Haile Selassie I, the former emperor of Ethiopia, as King of Kings, Lord of Lords and the Lion of Judah as Jah (the Rastafari name for God, from a shortened form of Jehovah found in Psalm 68:4 in the King James Version of the Bible), and part of the Holy Trinity. The name Rastafari comes from Ras Täfäri, the pre-coronation name of Haile Selassie I. The movement emerged in Jamaica among working-class and peasant black people in the earl ...

Including:

• Rastafari movement - Doctrines
• Rastafari movement - Afrocentrism
• Rastafari movement - Haile Selassie and the Bible
• Rastafari movement - Repatriation and Race
• Rastafari movement - Church and The Holy Trinity
• Rastafari movement - Physical Immortality
• Rastafari movement - Homosexuality
• Rastafari movement - Reggae Music Expressing Rasta Doctrine
• Rastafari movement - Politics
• Rastafari movement - Language
• Rastafari movement - -isms
• Rastafari movement - Ceremonies
• Rastafari movement - Symbols
• Rastafari movement - Dreadlocks
• Rastafari movement - Ganja
• Rastafari movement - History of the Rastafari movement
• Rastafari movement - Marcus Garvey
• Rastafari movement - Early written foundations
• Rastafari movement - Early years
• Rastafari movement - Visit of Selassie I to Jamaica
• Rastafari movement - Walter Rodney
• Rastafari movement - Music
• Rastafari movement - Popularization and recording
• Rastafari movement - Reggae
• Rastafari movement - Rastafari Today

Read more here: » Rastafari movement: Encyclopedia - Rastafari movement

In Hinduism, an avatar or avatara (Sanskrit अवतार), is the incarnation (bodily manifestation) of an Immortal Being, or of the Ultimate Supreme Being. It derives from the Sanskrit word avatāra which means "descent" and usually implies a deliberate descent into mortal realms for special purposes. The term is used primarily in Hinduism, for incarnations of Vishnu the Preserver, whom many Hindus worship as God. The Dasavatara (see below) are t ...

Including:

• Avatar - Teachings and significance
• Avatar - The ten Avatars or Dasavatara
• Avatar - The 24 Avatars of the Puranas
• Avatar - Types of avatars
• Avatar - The Ninth Avatar: Balarama or Buddha?
• Avatar - Symbolism
• Avatar - List of other people considered to be avatars
• Avatar - Other Uses

Read more here: » Avatar: Encyclopedia - Avatar

Annihilationism is one of several doctrines of hell in the Christian religion. It states that the final fate of the wicked (sinners) is total destruction, similar to eternal unconsciousness. It rejects the Traditionalist view that hell is a place of never-ending torture and/or separation from God. Annihilationism - Annihilationism in Christianity. In contrast to Traditionalism, which holds that the wicked will suffer in torment forever, and Universalism, which holds that all humanity will eventually ...

Including:

• Annihilationism - Annihilationism in Christianity
• Annihilationism - Justifications

Read more here: » Annihilationism: Encyclopedia - Annihilationism

The Tree of Life, in the Book of Genesis, is a tree whose fruit gives everlasting life, i.e. immortality. After eating of the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil, the story goes, Adam and Eve are exiled from the Garden of Eden. Fearing Adam and Eve will also eat of the tree of life and become immortal, God sets angels to guard the entrance to the Garden. In the story, the serpent had tempted Eve into partaking of the Fruit of Knowledge by promising they would become as wise and powerful as God. The unstated but implied moral is ...

Including:

• Tree of Life - Analysis
• Tree of Life - Interpretation within the Western Church

Read more here: » Tree of Life: Encyclopedia - Tree of Life

Chinese folk religion comprises the religion practiced in much of China for thousands of years which included ancestor worship and drew heavily upon concepts and beings within Chinese mythology. It is a constituent part of Chinese traditional religion. Folk religions have been practiced alongside Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism by Chinese people throughout the world for thousands of years. Worship, legends, festivals and various devotions associated with different folk gods and goddesses form an important part of Chinese cul ...

Read more here: » Chinese folk religion: Encyclopedia - Chinese folk religion

Rastafari developed amongst very poor people, who felt society had nothing to offer them except more suffering. Rastas see themselves as conforming to a vision of how Africans should live, reclaiming what they see as a culture stolen from them when they were brought on slave ships to Jamaica, birthplace of the movement. The doctrines of Rastafari depart radically from the norms of the modern western mind, something encouraged deliberately by the Rastas themselves. Unlike many modern religious and Christian groups that tend to stress c ...

See also:

Rastafari movement, Rastafari movement - Doctrines, Rastafari movement - Afrocentrism, Rastafari movement - Haile Selassie and the Bible, Rastafari movement - Repatriation and Race, Rastafari movement - Church and The Holy Trinity, Rastafari movement - Physical Immortality, Rastafari movement - Homosexuality, Rastafari movement - Reggae Music Expressing Rasta Doctrine, Rastafari movement - Politics, Rastafari movement - Language, Rastafari movement - -isms, Rastafari movement - Ceremonies, Rastafari movement - Symbols, Rastafari movement - Dreadlocks, Rastafari movement - Ganja, Rastafari movement - History of the Rastafari movement, Rastafari movement - Marcus Garvey, Rastafari movement - Early written foundations, Rastafari movement - Early years, Rastafari movement - Visit of Selassie I to Jamaica, Rastafari movement - Walter Rodney, Rastafari movement - Music, Rastafari movement - Popularization and recording, Rastafari movement - Reggae, Rastafari movement - Rastafari Today

Read more here: » Rastafari movement: Encyclopedia II - Rastafari movement - Doctrines

Hiquet (Egypt, Egyptian). The frog-goddess; one of the symbols of immortality and of the "water" principle. The early Christians had their church lamps made in the form of a frog, to denote that baptism in water led to immortality.

(See also: Hiquet, Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary, )

Acacia (Ancient Greek). Innocence; and also a plant used in Freemasonry as a symbol of initiation, immortality, and purity; the tree furnished the sacred Shittim wood of the Hebrews.

(See also: Acacia, Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary, )

Rastafari culture does not encourage mainstream political involvement. In fact, in the early stages of the movement most Rastas did not vote, out of principle. Ras Sam Brown formed the Suffering People's Party for the elections of 1961. Although he received fewer than 100 votes, simply standing for election was a powerful act. In the election campaign of 1972, People's National Party leader, Michael Manley used a prop, a walking stick given to him by Haile Selassie, which was called the "Rod of Correct ...

See also:

Rastafari movement, Rastafari movement - Doctrines, Rastafari movement - Afrocentrism, Rastafari movement - Haile Selassie and the Bible, Rastafari movement - Repatriation and Race, Rastafari movement - Church and The Holy Trinity, Rastafari movement - Physical Immortality, Rastafari movement - Homosexuality, Rastafari movement - Reggae Music Expressing Rasta Doctrine, Rastafari movement - Politics, Rastafari movement - Language, Rastafari movement - -isms, Rastafari movement - Ceremonies, Rastafari movement - Symbols, Rastafari movement - Dreadlocks, Rastafari movement - Ganja, Rastafari movement - History of the Rastafari movement, Rastafari movement - Marcus Garvey, Rastafari movement - Early written foundations, Rastafari movement - Early years, Rastafari movement - Visit of Selassie I to Jamaica, Rastafari movement - Walter Rodney, Rastafari movement - Music, Rastafari movement - Popularization and recording, Rastafari movement - Reggae, Rastafari movement - Rastafari Today

Read more here: » Rastafari movement: Encyclopedia II - Rastafari movement - Politics

Rastas believe that their original African languages were stolen from them when they were taken into captivity as part of the slave trade, and that English is an imposed colonial language. Their remedy for this situation has been the creation of a modified vocabulary and dialect, reflecting their desire to take forward language and to confront the society they call Babylon. Rastafari movement - -isms. Rastafari claim to reject "-isms". They see a wide range of "isms and schisms" in modern society and want ...

See also:

Rastafari movement, Rastafari movement - Doctrines, Rastafari movement - Afrocentrism, Rastafari movement - Haile Selassie and the Bible, Rastafari movement - Repatriation and Race, Rastafari movement - Church and The Holy Trinity, Rastafari movement - Physical Immortality, Rastafari movement - Homosexuality, Rastafari movement - Reggae Music Expressing Rasta Doctrine, Rastafari movement - Politics, Rastafari movement - Language, Rastafari movement - -isms, Rastafari movement - Ceremonies, Rastafari movement - Symbols, Rastafari movement - Dreadlocks, Rastafari movement - Ganja, Rastafari movement - History of the Rastafari movement, Rastafari movement - Marcus Garvey, Rastafari movement - Early written foundations, Rastafari movement - Early years, Rastafari movement - Visit of Selassie I to Jamaica, Rastafari movement - Walter Rodney, Rastafari movement - Music, Rastafari movement - Popularization and recording, Rastafari movement - Reggae, Rastafari movement - Rastafari Today

Read more here: » Rastafari movement: Encyclopedia II - Rastafari movement - Language

There are two types of Rasta religious ceremonies. A reasoning is a simple event where the Rastas gather; smoke "ganja" (marijuana); and discuss ethical, social and religious issues. The person honored by being allowed to light the herb says a short prayer before doing so, and it is always passed in a clockwise fashion. A binghi or grounation is a holiday; the word binghi is believed to refer originally to an ancient, and now extinct, order of militant blacks in eastern Africa that vowed to end oppression. Binghis are marked by much dancing, singing, feasting and the ...

See also:

Rastafari movement, Rastafari movement - Doctrines, Rastafari movement - Afrocentrism, Rastafari movement - Haile Selassie and the Bible, Rastafari movement - Repatriation and Race, Rastafari movement - Church and The Holy Trinity, Rastafari movement - Physical Immortality, Rastafari movement - Homosexuality, Rastafari movement - Reggae Music Expressing Rasta Doctrine, Rastafari movement - Politics, Rastafari movement - Language, Rastafari movement - -isms, Rastafari movement - Ceremonies, Rastafari movement - Symbols, Rastafari movement - Dreadlocks, Rastafari movement - Ganja, Rastafari movement - History of the Rastafari movement, Rastafari movement - Marcus Garvey, Rastafari movement - Early written foundations, Rastafari movement - Early years, Rastafari movement - Visit of Selassie I to Jamaica, Rastafari movement - Walter Rodney, Rastafari movement - Music, Rastafari movement - Popularization and recording, Rastafari movement - Reggae, Rastafari movement - Rastafari Today

Read more here: » Rastafari movement: Encyclopedia II - Rastafari movement - Ceremonies

Rastafari movement - Dreadlocks. The wearing of dreadlocks is very closely associated with the movement, though not universal among (or exclusive to) its adherents. Rastas believe dreadlocks to be supported by Leviticus 21:5 ("They shall not make baldness upon their head, neither shall they shave off the corner of their beard, nor make any cuttings in the flesh.") and the Nazarite vow in Numbers 6.5-6. Part of the reason the hairstyle was adopted was to contrast the kinky long hair of ...

See also:

Rastafari movement, Rastafari movement - Doctrines, Rastafari movement - Afrocentrism, Rastafari movement - Haile Selassie and the Bible, Rastafari movement - Repatriation and Race, Rastafari movement - Church and The Holy Trinity, Rastafari movement - Physical Immortality, Rastafari movement - Homosexuality, Rastafari movement - Reggae Music Expressing Rasta Doctrine, Rastafari movement - Politics, Rastafari movement - Language, Rastafari movement - -isms, Rastafari movement - Ceremonies, Rastafari movement - Symbols, Rastafari movement - Dreadlocks, Rastafari movement - Ganja, Rastafari movement - History of the Rastafari movement, Rastafari movement - Marcus Garvey, Rastafari movement - Early written foundations, Rastafari movement - Early years, Rastafari movement - Visit of Selassie I to Jamaica, Rastafari movement - Walter Rodney, Rastafari movement - Music, Rastafari movement - Popularization and recording, Rastafari movement - Reggae, Rastafari movement - Rastafari Today

Read more here: » Rastafari movement: Encyclopedia II - Rastafari movement - Symbols

Rastafari movement - Marcus Garvey. Rastas see Marcus Garvey as a prophet, even a second John the Baptist according to some. One of the most famous prophecies attributed to him involving the coronation of Haile Selassie I was the 1927 pronouncement "Look to Africa, for there a king shall be crowned," though an associate of Garvey's, James Morris Webb, had made very similar public statements as early as 1921.[1][2] Marcus Garvey promoted Pan-Africanism, the belief that all black people of the world should join in ...

See also:

Rastafari movement, Rastafari movement - Doctrines, Rastafari movement - Afrocentrism, Rastafari movement - Haile Selassie and the Bible, Rastafari movement - Repatriation and Race, Rastafari movement - Church and The Holy Trinity, Rastafari movement - Physical Immortality, Rastafari movement - Homosexuality, Rastafari movement - Reggae Music Expressing Rasta Doctrine, Rastafari movement - Politics, Rastafari movement - Language, Rastafari movement - -isms, Rastafari movement - Ceremonies, Rastafari movement - Symbols, Rastafari movement - Dreadlocks, Rastafari movement - Ganja, Rastafari movement - History of the Rastafari movement, Rastafari movement - Marcus Garvey, Rastafari movement - Early written foundations, Rastafari movement - Early years, Rastafari movement - Visit of Selassie I to Jamaica, Rastafari movement - Walter Rodney, Rastafari movement - Music, Rastafari movement - Popularization and recording, Rastafari movement - Reggae, Rastafari movement - Rastafari Today

Read more here: » Rastafari movement: Encyclopedia II - Rastafari movement - History of the Rastafari movement

Music has long played an integral role in Rastafari, and the connection between the movement and various kinds of music has become well known, due to the international fame of musicians like Bob Marley and Peter Tosh. Nyabinghi music is the most integral form of Rastafarian music. It is played at worship ceremonies called grounations, that include drumming, chanting and dancing, along with prayer and smoking of ritual ganja. The name Nyabinghi comes from an East African movement from the 1850s to the 1950s that was led b ...

See also:

Rastafari movement, Rastafari movement - Doctrines, Rastafari movement - Afrocentrism, Rastafari movement - Haile Selassie and the Bible, Rastafari movement - Repatriation and Race, Rastafari movement - Church and The Holy Trinity, Rastafari movement - Physical Immortality, Rastafari movement - Homosexuality, Rastafari movement - Reggae Music Expressing Rasta Doctrine, Rastafari movement - Politics, Rastafari movement - Language, Rastafari movement - -isms, Rastafari movement - Ceremonies, Rastafari movement - Symbols, Rastafari movement - Dreadlocks, Rastafari movement - Ganja, Rastafari movement - History of the Rastafari movement, Rastafari movement - Marcus Garvey, Rastafari movement - Early written foundations, Rastafari movement - Early years, Rastafari movement - Visit of Selassie I to Jamaica, Rastafari movement - Walter Rodney, Rastafari movement - Music, Rastafari movement - Popularization and recording, Rastafari movement - Reggae, Rastafari movement - Rastafari Today

Read more here: » Rastafari movement: Encyclopedia II - Rastafari movement - Music

By the end of the 20th century, women had become more important in the functioning of the Rastafari movement. In the early years, menstruating women were often subordinated to their husbands and excluded from religious and social ceremonies. To a large degree, women feel more freedom to express themselves now, thus they enjoy much greater freedom of self-expression, and contribute greatly to the religion. Rastafari is not a highly organized religion. In fact, some Rastas say that it is not a "religion" at all, but a "way of Life". Mos ...

See also:

Rastafari movement, Rastafari movement - Doctrines, Rastafari movement - Afrocentrism, Rastafari movement - Haile Selassie and the Bible, Rastafari movement - Repatriation and Race, Rastafari movement - Church and The Holy Trinity, Rastafari movement - Physical Immortality, Rastafari movement - Homosexuality, Rastafari movement - Reggae Music Expressing Rasta Doctrine, Rastafari movement - Politics, Rastafari movement - Language, Rastafari movement - -isms, Rastafari movement - Ceremonies, Rastafari movement - Symbols, Rastafari movement - Dreadlocks, Rastafari movement - Ganja, Rastafari movement - History of the Rastafari movement, Rastafari movement - Marcus Garvey, Rastafari movement - Early written foundations, Rastafari movement - Early years, Rastafari movement - Visit of Selassie I to Jamaica, Rastafari movement - Walter Rodney, Rastafari movement - Music, Rastafari movement - Popularization and recording, Rastafari movement - Reggae, Rastafari movement - Rastafari Today

Read more here: » Rastafari movement: Encyclopedia II - Rastafari movement - Rastafari Today

Rastafari movement - Marcus Garvey. Rastas see Marcus Garvey as a prophet, even a second John the Baptist according to some. One of the most famous prophecies attributed to him involving the coronation of Haile Selassie I was the 1927 pronouncement "Look to Africa, for there a king shall be crowned," though an associate of Garvey's, James Morris Webb, had made very similar public statements as early as 1921.[2][3] Marcus Garvey promoted Pan-Africanism, the belief that all black people of the world should join in ...

See also:

Rastafari movement, Rastafari movement - Doctrines, Rastafari movement - Afrocentrism, Rastafari movement - Haile Selassie and the Bible, Rastafari movement - Repatriation and Race, Rastafari movement - Church and The Holy Trinity, Rastafari movement - Physical Immortality, Rastafari movement - Homosexuality, Rastafari movement - Reggae Music Expressing Rasta Doctrine, Rastafari movement - Politics, Rastafari movement - Language, Rastafari movement - -isms, Rastafari movement - Ceremonies, Rastafari movement - Symbols, Rastafari movement - Dreadlocks, Rastafari movement - Ganja, Rastafari movement - History of the Rastafari movement, Rastafari movement - Marcus Garvey, Rastafari movement - Early written foundations, Rastafari movement - Early years, Rastafari movement - Visit of Selassie I to Jamaica, Rastafari movement - Walter Rodney, Rastafari movement - Music, Rastafari movement - Popularization and recording, Rastafari movement - Reggae, Rastafari movement - Rastafari Today

Read more here: » Rastafari movement: Encyclopedia II - Rastafari movement - History of the Rastafari movement

Crux Ansata (Latin). The handled cross,T; whereas the tau is T, in this form, and the oldest Egyptian cross or the tat is thus +. The crux ansata was the symbol of immortality, but the tat-cross was that of spirit-matter and had the significance of a sexual emblem.

The crux ansata was the foremost symbol in the Egyptian Masonry instituted by Count Cagliostro; and Masons must have indeed forgotten the primitive significance of their highest symbols, if some of their authorities still insist that the crux ansata is only a combination of the cteis (or yoni) and phallus (or lingham). Far from this. The handle or ansa had a double significance, but never a phallic one; as an attribute of Isis it was the mundane circle; as symbol of law on the breast of a mummy it was that of immortality, of an endless and beginningless eternity, that which descends upon and grows out of the plane of material nature, the horizontal feminine line, surmounting the vertical male line - the fructifying male principle in nature or spirit. Without the handle the crux ansata became the tau T, which, left by itself, is an androgyne symbol, and becomes purely phallic or sexual only when it takes the shape +.

(See also: Crux Ansata, Theosophy, Spirituality, Body mind and Soul, Spiritual Dictionary, )