 | This article uses texts from within a religion or faith system without referring to secondary sources that critically analyze them.(January 2024) |
Body of resurrection is a typical term of Esoteric Christianity, used to indicate a spiritual body associated with a special enlightenment or experience. Many western and Eastern traditions share a common doctrine on a spiritual and immortal body which represent the ultimate goal of many ascetical works. [1]
Focusing on the resurrection body, which means a spiritual body in an Esoteric Christian framework, we can find some properties of these bodies which are shared by all the esoteric Christian movements. Indeed according to Biblical Scriptures, the resurrected bodies possess several properties: [2]
The resurrection bodies, according to almost all the esoteric Christian currents, will be taken for sure at the end of the time when there will be the resurrection of all the bodies of the dead, good and bad, to be judged by Jesus Christ and receive eternal reward or eternal punishment. [13] [14] [15] [16] [17]
In addition, most esoteric Christian traditions believe that the resurrection body or glorified body can be achieved during this lifetime with special ascetic exercises (which can vary between distinct esoteric movements) or as a supernatural gift.[ citation needed ]
In some modern esoteric Christian and Rosicrucian oriented doctrines the resurrection body is related to the Guardian of the Threshold. [18] [19] Although several authors spoke about both of these elements and sometimes they even relate them together (such as Rudolf Steiner and Max Heindel) the most developed theory explaining the relation between these two entities in a Rosicrucian framework is probably due to Tommaso Palamidessi. In his, The Guardian of the Threshold and the evolutionary way, Palamidessi identifies the spectral entity called the 'lesser Guardian of the Threshold' with the 'archetype of the future resurrection body'. [20]
Rosicrucianism is a spiritual and cultural movement that arose in Europe in the early 17th century after the publication of several texts announcing to the world a new esoteric order. Rosicrucianism is symbolized by the Rosy Cross or Rose Cross.
The Last Judgment, Final Judgment, Day of Reckoning, Day of Judgment, Judgment Day, Doomsday, Day of Resurrection or The Day of the Lord is a concept found across the Abrahamic religions and the Frashokereti of Zoroastrianism.
The Rose Cross is a symbol largely associated with the legendary Christian Rosenkreuz; Christian Kabbalist, alchemist, and founder of the Rosicrucian Order. The Rose Cross is a cross with a rose at its centre, often red, golden or white and symbolizes the teachings of a Western esoteric tradition with Christian tenets.
Christian Rosenkreuz is the legendary, possibly allegorical, founder of the Rosicrucian Order. He is presented in three manifestos that were published early in the 17th century. These were:
The astral plane, also called the astral realm or the astral world, is a plane of existence postulated by classical, medieval, oriental, and esoteric philosophies and mystery religions. It is the world of the celestial spheres, crossed by the soul in its astral body on the way to being born and after death, and is generally believed to be populated by angels, spirits or other immaterial beings. In the late 19th and early 20th century the term was popularised by Theosophy and neo-Rosicrucianism.
In esoteric cosmology, a plane is conceived as a subtle state, level, or region of reality, each plane corresponding to some type, kind, or category of being.
The Rosicrucian Fellowship (TRF) was founded in 1909 by Max Heindel with the aim of heralding the Aquarian Age and promulgating "the true Philosophy" of the Rosicrucians. It claims to present Esoteric Christian mysteries or esoteric knowledge, alluded to in Matthew 13:11 and Luke 8:10, to establish a meeting ground for art, religion, and science and to prepare the individual through harmonious development of the mind and the heart for selfless service of humanity.
Max Heindel was a Danish American Christian occultist, astrologer, and mystic.
The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception or Mystic Christianity is a Rosicrucian text by Max Heindel, first published in 1909.
The mental body is one of the subtle bodies in esoteric philosophies, in some religious teachings and in New Age thought. It is understood as a sort of body made up of thoughts, just as the emotional body consists of emotions and the physical body is made up of matter. In occult understanding, thoughts are not just subjective qualia, but have an existence apart from the associated physical organ, the brain.
In neo-Theosophy, the etheric body, ether-body, or æther body is the subtle body propounded in esoteric philosophies as the first or lowest layer in the human energy field or aura. The etheric body is said to be in immediate contact with the physical body and to sustain it and connect it with "higher" bodies. It is also said to consist of a finer substance, more pure and composed of smaller particles, than the ordinary matter of the physical plane.
The etheric plane is a term introduced into Theosophy by Charles Webster Leadbeater and Annie Besant to represent the subtle part of the lower plane of existence. It represents the fourth [higher] subplane of the physical plane, the lower three being the states of solid, liquid, and gaseous matter. The idea was later used by authors such as Alice Bailey, Rudolf Steiner, Walter John Kilner and others.
A round, in the esoteric cosmology of Theosophy, Anthroposophy and Rosicrucianism, is a cosmic cycle or sequence by which an evolving reincarnating being passes through the various stages of existence as the Earth, the Solar System or the Cosmos comes into and passes out of manifestation.
Esoteric Christianity is an approach to Christianity which features "secret traditions" that require an initiation to learn or understand. The term esoteric was coined in the 17th century and derives from the Greek ἐσωτερικός.
Sergei Olegovich Prokofieff was a Russian anthroposophist. He was the grandson of the composer Sergei Prokofiev and his first wife Lina Prokofiev, and the son of Oleg Prokofiev and his first wife Sofia Korovina. Born in Moscow, he studied fine arts and painting at the Moscow School of Art. He encountered anthroposophy in his youth, and soon made the decision to devote his life to it.
Tommaso Palamidessi was an Italian esotericist. Drawn to astrology, parapsychology, and yoga-tantric doctrines, he was active in the field of the occult and developed a form of Esoteric Christianity that he called Archeosophy. In 1968 he founded the Archeosophical Society in Rome, which is still active and has several thousand members in Italy and the rest of Europe.
The New Galilee is the name given in the Western Wisdom Teachings to ‘a new heaven and a new earth’ mentioned in the Bible. From the viewpoint of these Christian esoteric teachings, the New Galilee represents the future Sixth Epoch in mankind's evolutionary path and will see the transition of humanity to the etheric region of the Earth, where “sorrow and pain will cease and he[man] will have entered the path to the city of peace--Jer-u-salem, the future New Jerusalem to be established within, the heavenly ‘bride’ of the Christ's Race in the making.”
In Christian theology, cardiognosis is a special charism that God confers on some saints. In Christian asceticism, the term Cardiognosis also indicates the ascetical methods and meditation techniques which have the purpose of reaching an inner state of mystical experience and, eventually, the charisma of Cardiognosis.
Archeosofica is a school of esoteric Christianity founded by Tommaso Palamidessi in 1968 in Rome. It offers a program of research on Archeosophy.
The Guardian of the Threshold is a menacing figure that is described by a number of esoteric teachers. The term "Guardian of the Threshold", often called "Dweller on the Threshold", indicates a spectral image which is supposed to manifest itself as soon as "the student of the spirit ascends upon the path into the higher worlds of knowledge". The Guardian of the Threshold is also the title of the third play written by Rudolf Steiner in 1912.
