Depictions of Heaven and Hell

From ancient lore to myths, religious ceremonies and treatment regimens, the search for prolonging
life and continuing youth searches have been rustic parts of human societies an ideal never attaining
fruition. The craving to surpass the age has been accompanied by different traditions and cures promising
vibrancy, longevity or even eternal life across civilizations. This review offers a broad perspective that
traverses cultural practices, botany and pharmacology, and advanced biotechnology as they all strive
against aging. Exploring sacred plants, rituals, remedies from animals and spiritual philosophies in
contrast to modern gene therapies and molecular advances, we offer an integrative framework that unifies
historic wisdom with future promise. This paper delves into the biological and cultural hinterlands of this
unique ambition, revealing not only ways to live longer than one's evolutionary clock would appear at first
to allow but also the panoply of age-defying devices that have long since pervaded cultures across time,
tracing humanity's obsession with youthfulness and life itself in both its traditional folklore narratives as
well as scientifically founded advances in anti-aging studies.

This Chapter presents an overview of the principal stages and associated states of consciousness of man after physical death, and the processes that impel him towards rebirth. Whereas there are myriad complex details to consider in exploring ‘The undiscover’d country’  we necessarily have to confine our attention to the key features of the post-mortem and reincarnation process, drawing upon occult teachings in order to highlight the fact that consciousness is ubiquitous: it cannot be extinguished; it never ‘dies’. In other words, using the simile of ice, water, and steam being phase changes of the same H2O, death and the post-mortem states are but changes of phase of consciousness, which is unaffected by different phase states of itself...

Pythagoras taught:  "And when, after having divested thyself of the mortal body, thou arrivest at the most pure AEther, Thou shalt be a God, immortal, incorruptible, and Death shall have no more Dominion over thee."

Research on the causes for vaccine resistance among Nigerian Muslims reveals what the philosopher Žižek terms a “heaven in disorder:” lack of trust in public institutions, conspiracy theories, ignorance of basic science, individual apathy, and faith in “Allah as the only protector.” Other social contexts demonstrate far greater compliance. How can governments improve outcomes in vaccine resistant communities amidst such complexity, especially in instances where theology provides a right to dissent? Alongside a right to dissent, “obedience to authority” for the sake of social and political harmony is also an important principle of Islamic thought. It has the ability to enhance widespread compliance to public health guidelines by obligating the setting aside of private convictions in favor of collective cooperation. Religious literacy is an important element for responding effectively to pandemics, and by extension, other global emergencies. While policymakers must tailor their outrea...

The notion of Hell predates Christianity by thousands of years by Egyptian and sources of Jewish mysticism such as the Kabbalah. The Kabbalah mentions seven different divisions of Hell (including, 'Gehinnom' and 'Sheol' meaning Hades or underworld is the most common) and seven divisions of Heaven. 'And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt'. (Daniel 12:2)In historic Protestant traditions, hell is the place created by God for the punishment of the devil and fallen angels (cf. Matthew 25:41), and those whose names are not written in the book of life (cf. Revelation 20:15).

Budist metinlerde “cehennem”in yeraltı dünyası olarak tanımlanması nedeniyle, Baodingshan Kaya Oymaları’ndaki cehennem sahnesinin yatay katmanlar halinde görselleştirilerek düzenlenmesini elverişli kılmıştır. Bu nedenle, Uzak Doğu sanatında “cehennem”in mekan olarak betimlenmesi, genel olarak yatay düzenlemelerle yapılmıştır. Batı sanatında ise, “cehennem” tanımı bir mekan olarak tam bir belirginliğe sahip değildir. Antik çağdan başlayan Romantizm’e uzanan geleneklerde, cehennem bazen yerin derinliklerinde mekanlaşmış, bazen Tobias Swinden’in yazdığı gibi göklerde tanımlanmıştır. Bu nedenle, bazen dikey olarak triptiklerde, bazen yatay kompozisyonlarda ifade bulmuştur.

Due to the fact that "hell" is defined as the underworld in Buddhist texts, it has made it convenient to visualize and arrange the hell scene in Baodingshan Rock Carvings in horizontal layers. For this reason, the depiction of "hell" as space in Far Eastern art is generally made with horizontal arrangements. In Western art, however, the definition of "hell" is not entirely clear as a space. In traditions dating back to Romanticism from antiquity, hell was sometimes mechanized deep in the earth, sometimes described in the heavens, as Tobias Swinden wrote. Therefore, it has found expression in triptychs, sometimes vertically, sometimes in horizontal compositions

This book presents the works of Valentina Battler, which span across a wide field of artistic culture: Fine Art, Poetry, and Art Criticism. Her oeuvre attains high creative achievements in each of these spheres, and united together, it represents a significant and unique phenomenon. Valentina Battler, referring to the supranational, has a special talent of expressing the universal.

This research aimed to explore and describe the concepts of afterlife and the realm of dead in Hebrew
Bible and related concepts in Modern Judaism that how modern Jewish thought is different from ancient Biblical Jewish thought about afterlife, resurrection, immortality and final judgement. And why Modern Jews are focusing on making present life better. For this purpose, the qualitative research method is used and data is gathered from books, articles, journals and student papers through which examined that Hebrew Bible depicted death and afterlife negatively and Modern Jews fear death they want to be immortal and focusing more on present life not talking much about afterlife. Key words: Death, Afterlife, Immortality, Final judgement, Reward and Punishment.

In December of 1569, Giorgio Vasari (1511-74) was called to Rome by Pope Pius V (r. 1566-72) to design and decorate three chapels dedicated to Saints Stephen, Peter Martyr, and Michael the Archangel in the Vatican's Torre Pia. For Pius's personal chapel, dedicated to Saint Michael, Vasari frescoed the Fall of Lucifer and Rebel Angels (ca. 1571) in the vault. This paper will contribute to the literature on Pius V's artistic commissions for the Vatican Palace by examining the Chapel of Saint Michael-in particular its vault-and how the pope's religious and political identity shaped its iconographical program. In order to do so, it will first discuss the circumstances of the chapel's commission and formally analyze the space and its original decorations. It will then review Pius's background as a Dominican friar and Inquisitor, exploring the influence of the writings of Thomas Aquinas, Augustine of Hippo, and Dante Alighieri on the chapel's vault, drum, and lunettes. Finally, it will examine Pius's two other major papal commissions-for the church of Santa Croce in Bosco Marengo, located in the town of his birth, and for the Vatican Palace's Sala Regia-to demonstrate the extent to which he embraced anti-heretical imagery in the artistic projects he commissioned. Ultimately, we will see that the decorations in the chapel of Saint Michael were a reflection of Pius V's personal and anti-heretical agenda, and his lifelong association with Saint Michael the Archangel.

In this paper, we analyze the depictions of hell and the devil in Macedonian literature, in the 19th century. Notable works of moralizing-didactic character in Macedonian literature are found in the first half of the 19th century, in the texts of Kiril Pejcinovich, Theodosij Sinaitski and especially Joakim Krchovski. Moreover, depictions of hell and the devil are found in various manuscripts and the works of Grigor Prlicev, Jonche P. Snegar, Janaki Strezov, in the folklore art by Miladinovci brothers, Stefan Verkovic, the Molerovi brothers, in the remarkable stories by Marko Cepenkov and others. Their descriptions, mention, and understanding of the term hell refer primarily to fire, as dominant component of the Last Judgment, the place where sinners end up. It can also be concluded that literary texts are stricter in penalizing perversion and crime. Thus, in folklore art, the sale of the devil’s soul or its association with it leads to the torment of the body in hell. Yet, even under such conditions, there are examples in which the outcasts were delivered by fire or by the will of God in the cauldron. The literary records of Macedonian writers know no forgiveness and the possibility of deliverance: hell is dark, gloomy, and a hermetically closed place from which there is no way out. As it can be seen from their and other texts in question, the depictions of hell and the devil in the 19th century Macedonian literature primarily have a moralizing-didactic role, which through such plays was intended to deter believers from bad deeds and approaching ethical and moral behavior.

: In this paper we analyze the depictions of hell and the devil in
Macedonian folklore from the 19th century by comparing several mediums:
folk songs, stories, curses, proverbs, etc. Adam and Eve’s exile from
Paradise marks the first internal and external exile in the history of
mankind. In light of this, we focus on numerous descriptions of hell as a
place full of fire in which sinners are exposed to torments, and of the image
of the devil as a master of evil. In this context, we look at different names
for hell and the devil that represent social and spiritual apostasy and
disapproval of existing ethical and moral norms.

Клучни зборови: пекол, ѓавол, Страшен суд, XIX век, фолклор, Марко Цепенков. Резиме: Во трудот ги разгледуваме претставите на пеколот и на ѓаволот во македонскиот фолклор од XIX век преку компарација на повеќе жанри: народни песни, приказни, клетви, поговорки итн. Со прогонот од рајот на Адам и на Ева настапува првиот внатрешен и надворешен егзил во историјата на човештвото. По овој повод се задржавме на многубројните описи на пеколот, како место исполнето со оган во кој грешниците се изложени на маки, и на ликот на ѓаволот како господар на злото. Во тој контекст ги разгледуваме и различните називи за пеколот и за ѓаволот, кои го претставуваат општественото и духовното отпадништво и неприфаќање на постоечките етички и морални норми.

The majority opinion of Muslim Scholars is that, indeed, Christians and Jews who adhere to their religious law and method will dwell in Hell if they fail to embrace Islam before they die. There are conditions to this overall disaster for non-Muslims. First, they must know that Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) presented himself as the Messenger of Allah. Second, they must know his overall message. Third, they must be aware that the Quran is revealed. Finally, despite knowing all these things, they must reject them and disbelieve in them.
A second case scenario is if they have never heard of Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ), nor his message, nor the Quran, and so stick to whatever religion has come to them. Perhaps, no blame is placed on them and they undergo the interval (between prophets] test (Al-Fatrah) on the Day of Judgment. You can examine various opinions on this topic in the commentary on the Hadith ul-Fatrah in Musnad Ahmad.
A third is that they have heard of the Messenger (ﷺ) and know of his Book and his religion, but they have been misinformed about all three, and had it presented to them in a bad light. Scholars differ concerning such people. Did they try to reach The Truth despite the bad propaganda? Did the behaviour of Muslims they knew put them off? Do they have an excuse? The answers to these questions only Allah can decide.
But what if they believe that Muhammed (ﷺ) is a Prophet, a Messenger of Allah and taught from revelation? The scholars still assert that, unless they abandon their religion and adhere to the Prophet’s teaching, that is, formally accept Islam, they will still be heading for disaster.
This paper presents the case of the Muslim Scholars that condemns the one who rejects the message of Islam despite knowing it, but also critically examines some of their assumptions.
It presents the case that every religion has a Law and Method which Allah sent down to them. If they adhere to that without distorting what was sent down, and acknowledge Muhammad (ﷺ) as a Prophet and Messenger to Muslims, and the authority the Quran has over their scriptures in deciding cross-religious judgement, then there is no reason, according to the Quran, for Allah to let them experience fear or grief in the hereafter. Rather, they would be judged as He judges the Hanif, like the People of Fatrah.

Taking the medieval period as the highpoint of hell, this talks explores where this idea came from, including Greece and Rome, the mystery religions, Gnosticism, the Bible and the Christian Creeds. It explores ideas from Christian scholastics and theologians, and particularly from medieval literature. It looks at what was going on simultaneously in Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam. Finally it discussed what happened to ideas about hell with the dissolution of the monasteries, the Reformation, and the Enlightenment.

Medieval historiography new exactly where to find the paradise and medieval maps often pinpoint the place. These maps are not only an expression of locations but also of the chronology of the world's history. This connection of space and time in the maps is mirrored in early modern chronicles that also show the places for paradise and for hell. Yet, different means of depicting the places of heaven and hell have evolved in early modern prints and paintings.

Paradise and Paradigm:
Key Symbols in ‘Persian’ Christianity and the Baha’i Faith
by Christopher Buck

Ph.D. Dissertation. University of Toronto (Canada), 1996.
PhD supervisor: Willard G. Oxtoby.

ProQuest, UMI Dissertations Publishing, 1996. NN18989.
Published as Paradise & Paradigm (SUNY Press, 1999).

ABSTRACT

Symbols enshrine ideas. Sacred symbols present an explorable treasury of religious thought--an information-rich, condensed language of spirituality. "We can see that an essential ingredient of the modern study of religion," writes Ninian Smart, "is symbolic analysis, which tries to throw light on the various themes which an be discovered cross-culturally through the exploration of various worldviews." An experiment in comparative method, reflecting the author's research interests in "Persian" religious from Zarathustra to Baha'ullah, this study compares "key symbols" in early Syriac Christianity and the Baha'i Faith. Historically, as the "Church of Persia" in Sasanian Iran, the East Syrian (Nestorian) "Church of the East" was the pre-Islamic antecendent to the Baha'i religion.

During preliminary research, this finding fell into focus: In both traditions, many dominant symbols related to notions of Paradise. Why? Because Paradise allegorizes ideals. Visions of Paradise are the stained-glass windows of worldviews, encompassing most of the imagery--or "key symbols"--to be analyzed in this study.

Adequate description is a requisite for explanation. Smart's "Dimensional Model" assigns six "dimensions" to each religion. For mnemonic purposes, the present writer has coined the acronym "DREEMS" (Doctrinal, Ritual, Ethical, Experiential, Mythic, Social) to represent these dimensions. Defining religions as systems of symbols (Geertz), this study focuses on "key symbols" (Ortner), comprised of thought-orienting "root metaphors" and action-incentive "key scenarios."

Providing wholistic descriptions of religions as symbol systems for worldview analysis, the invention of a "symbolic profile" orders an array of dominant, ideationally indexed images within respective "dimensions." These "symbolic profiles" are synoptic mappings of dominant "key symbols" within each tradition. Key symbols for the various dimensions of the DREEMS map are charted. Formally affine and distinctive symbols are compared by an inventory of features, with respect to superordinating paradigms of each religion.

Paradigms render parallels intelligible. Syriac Christianity exhibits a paradigm of transformational purity. A paradigm of concentric unity structures the Baha'i worldview. As an added agenda for what William Paden has recently called the "new comparativism," this study proposes the following axiom for further research and refinement: "Parallels yield paradoxes of commensurability resolvable by paradigm "logics" within religious systems, resulting in symbolic transformation.