 163. Terminology |
EGO: (Narcissus in Greek mythology). (Anti-Christ in Christianity). The separate individuality apart from the "over self" or consciousness. An imaginary concept and fixation of mind. - The psychological - personality. According to Buddhism, the notion of an ego, i.e., awareness of oneself as a discrete individuality, is a delusion. It arises because, misled by our bifurcating intellect (the sixth sense) into postulating the dualism of "myself" and "not-myself," we are led to think and act as though we were a separated entity confronted by a world external to us. Thus in the unconscious the idea of "I," or selfhood, becomes fixed, and from this arise such thought patterns as "I hate this, I love that; this is mine, that is yours." Nourished by this fodder, the ego-I comes to dominate the mind, attacking whatever threatens its domination and grasping at anything which will enlarge its power. Antagonism, greed, and alienation, culminating in suffering, are the inevitable consequences of this circular process.
ELEMENTALS: A type of thought form which have a sort of half life of their own. A form of life brought into being by humans, formed from etheric substance which was the origin of all complex forms.
ELEMENTS: In metaphysics, they are ether, air, fire, water, and earth (the five forces).
ELEUTHERIOS: Greek for "Liberator." A title by which Zeus, the supreme diety, was venerated in the Spiritual esotericism of ancient Greece. The Designation "Eleutherios" indicates the Divine Function of the spiritual teacher as the Incarnation of the Divine Person, "Whose Inherently Perfect Self-Brightness" Liberates all conditionally Manifested beings, Freely, Liberally, Gracefully, and Without Ceasing."
EMPIRICISM: The philosophy that maintains that all knowledge is gathered through sensory experience alone. The opposite of Rationalism.
EPICUREANISM: Hellenistic philosophy founded by Epicurus in the third century B.C.E. that stresses the avoidance of mental pain.
EPISTEMOLOGY: The study of knowing. Epistemologists want to know what we mean when we say we know something.
ETERNAL RECURRENCE: Nietzsche's proposition that we live the same life, without variation, over and over again. He probably did not mean this literally. He was suggesting that we should make our lives such that we would not mind repeating it time and again.
ETHERIC DOUBLE: The substance existing between the physical body and the aura. A gray-blue color sometimes left on earth after death, called a "ghost."
ETHICS: The study of moral and social behavior. Ethical philosophers want to know what it means to be a person and how people can and should act.
EXISTENTIALISM: The philosophy that expresses the belief that life is meaningless and absurd, and the best that we can do is try to lead authentic, heroic lives in a cold and uncaring world.
FEMINISM: Philosophy and political movement that exposes and resists the systematic exclusion of women and women's best interests from male-dominated thinking and society.
FEUDISM: The economic structure in which the nobility owns the land that is farmed by the serfs, or peasants, who support the nobles in exchange for protection.
