Eternal return or sometimes eternal recurrence is a concept originating from ancient Egypt and developed in the teachings of Pythagoras. The basic theory is that time is not infinite, but is occupied by the finite set of actions possible in the universe, with all of these actions and events recurring indefinitely, again and again. A large part of eternal recurrence is the idea that the universe has no final state, but rather merely cycles without destination through the same states of matter and time. Time is perceived as cyclical: This is in contrast to the Western notion of rectilinear time, such as was developed by Aristotle and by Judeo-Christian/Islamic ("Abrahamic") doctrine. Pythagoras (approximately 580 BC–500 BC, Greek: Πυθαγόρας) was an Ionian (Greek) mathematician and philosopher, founder of the mysterious religious and scientific society called Pythagoreans, and is known best for the Pythagorean theorem which bears his name. ... A pocket watch. ... Infinity is a word carrying a number of different meanings in mathematics, philosophy, theology and everyday life. ... In mathematics, a set is called finite if and only if there is a bijection between the set and some set of the form {1, 2, ..., n} where is a natural number. ... A state is an organized political community, occupying a territory, and possessing internal and external sovereignty, that enforces a monopoly on the use of force. ... Aristotle (Ancient Greek: Aristotelēs 384–March 7 322 BCE) was an ancient Greek philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. ... Judeo-Christian (or Judaeo-Christian) is a term used to describe the body of concepts and values which are thought to be held in common by Judaism and Christianity, and typically considered (along with classical Greco-Roman civilization) a fundamental basis for Western legal codes and moral values. ... Islam (Arabic: ; ( ▶ (help· info)), the submission to God) is a monotheistic faith, one of the Abrahamic religions and the worlds second-largest religion. ... An Abrahamic religion (also referred to as desert monotheism) is any religion derived from an ancient Semitic tradition attributed to Abraham, a great patriarch described in the Torah, the Bible and the Quran. ...

Dharmic religions

The dharmic wheel is a symbol of the eternal cycle of life

The concept of cyclical patterns is very prominent in dharmic religions, including Hinduism and Buddhism among others. The spoked Dharma wheel (or Wheel of life) is an endless cycle of birth, life, and death from which one seeks liberation. In Tantric Buddhism, a wheel of time concept, known as the Kalachakra expresses the idea of an endless cycle of existence and knowledge. Download high resolution version (1072x1504, 721 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Download high resolution version (1072x1504, 721 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... map showing the prevalence of Dharmic (yellow) and Abrahamic (purple) religions in each country. ... Hinduism (Sanskrit/Hindi —, also known as , and ) is a religion originating in the Indian subcontinent, based on the Vedas and the beliefs of other people of India. ... Buddhism is a religion and philosophy focusing on the teachings of the Buddha Śākyamuni (Pāli:Sakyamuni), born Siddhārtha (Pāli: Siddhattha) of the Gautama (Pāli: Gotama) gotra, who probably lived in the 5th century BCE. Buddhism spread throughout the ancient Indian sub-continent in the five centuries... The eight-spoked dharma wheel is a common symbol in Buddhist iconography, representing the collective teachings of Buddha, known as the dharma. ... A mandala used in Vajrayana Buddhist practices. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Kalachakra is a term used in Tantric Buddhism that means time-wheel or time-cycles. It refers both to a Tantric deities (tib. ...

External link: [1]

Classical antiquity

Scarab on a fresco

In ancient Egypt, the scarab (or dung beetle) was viewed as a sign of eternal renewal and reemergence of life, a reminder of the life to come. See also Atum and Maàt. Scarab beetle in Tomb KV6, Valley of the Kings Photo taken by Hajor, Dec. ... Scarab beetle in Tomb KV6, Valley of the Kings Photo taken by Hajor, Dec. ... Ancient Egypt was an African civilization located along the upper Nile, reaching from the Nile Delta in the north to as far south as Jebel Barkal at the Fourth Cataract of the Nile at the time of its greatest extension (15th century BC). ... A scarab or scarab beetle may refer to: A beetle which belong to the family Scarabaeidae, or A dung beetle, especially the Scarabaeus sacer worshipped by the ancient Egyptians (an amulet made by that people in the shape of the species is also called a scarab). ... A dung beetle, with a shovel-like head, rolling a dung ball with its hindlegs. ... History Atum (alternatively spelt Tem, Temu, Tum, and Atem) is an early deity in Egyptian mythology, whose cult centred on the Ennead of Heliopolis. ... In Egyptian mythology, Maàt was the goddess, or rather the concept, of truth, justice and order. ...

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In ancient Greece, the concept of eternal return was more connected with Empedocles, Zeno of Citium, and Stoicism. Ancient Greece is the period of Greek history spanning much of the Mediterranean and Black Sea basins and lasting for close to a millennium, until the rise of Christianity. ... Empedocles of Agrigentum Empedocles (c. ... Zeno of Citium Zeno of Citium (The Stoic) (sometime called Zeno Apathea) (333 BC-264 BC) was a Hellenistic philosopher from Citium, Cyprus. ... A restored Stoa in Athens. ...

External link: [8] [9] [10]

Renaissance

Ouroboros

The symbol of the Ouroboros, the snake or dragon devouring its own tail, is the alchemical symbol par excellence of eternal recurrence. The alchemist-physicians of the Renaissance and Reformation were aware of the idea of eternal recurrence; an attempt to describe eternal recurrence was made by the physician-philosopher Sir Thomas Browne in his Religio Medici of 1643: The Ouroboros. ... The Ouroboros. ... An image drawn in 1478 by one Theodoros Pelecanos in an alchemical tract entitled Synosius. ... Superfamilies and Families Henophidia Aniliidae Anomochilidae Boidae Bolyeriidae Cylindrophiidae Loxocemidae Pythonidae Tropidophiidae Uropeltidae Xenopeltidae Typhlopoidea Anomalepididae Leptotyphlopidae Typhlopidae Xenophidia Acrochordidae Atractaspididae Colubridae Elapidae Hydrophiidae Viperidae Snakes (from Old English snaca, and ultimately from PIE base *snag- or *sneg-, to crawl), also known as ophidians, are cold blooded legless reptiles closely... Chinese dragon, colour engraving on wood, Chinese school, 19th Century A dragon is a legendary creature, typically depicted as a large and powerful serpent or other reptile, with magical or spiritual qualities. ... Sir Thomas Browne, MD (October 19, 1605 – October 19, 1682) was an English author of varied works that disclose his wide learning in diverse fields including medicine, religion, science and the esoteric. ... Sir Thomas Brownes Religio Medici (The Religion of a Doctor) was in its day a European best-seller which brought its author fame and respect throughout the continent. ... // Events January 21 - Abel Tasman discovers Tonga February 6 - Abel Tasman discovers the Fiji islands. ...

And in this sense, I say, the world was before the Creation, and at an end before it had a beginning; and thus was I dead before I was alive, though my grave be England, my dying place was Paradise, and Eve miscarried of me before she conceived of Cain. (R.M.Part 1:59)

Friedrich Nietzsche

The thought of eternal recurrence is central to the writings of Friedrich Nietzsche. As Heidegger pointed out, Nietzsche doesn't ever speak about the reality of "eternal recurrence" itself, but about the "thought of eternal recurrence". Nietzsche first encountered the idea in the works of Heinrich Heine, who speculated that there would one day be a person born with the same thought processes as himself, and that the same was true of every other person on the planet. Nietzsche expanded on this thought to form his theory, which he put forth in The Gay Science and developed in Thus Spoke Zarathustra. Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (IPA:) (October 15, 1844 – August 25, 1900), a German philologist and philosopher, produced critiques of contemporary culture, religion, and philosophy centered around a basic question regarding the positive and negative attitudes toward life of various systems of morality. ... Martin Heidegger Martin Heidegger (September 26, 1889 – May 26, 1976) was a German philosopher. ... Christian Johann Heinrich Heine (born as Harry [Hebrew: Chaim] Heine December 13, 1797 – February 17, 1856) was one of the most significant German poets. ... The Gay Science (German: Die fröhliche Wissenschaft (la gaya scienza)), which has been canonically translated thus by contemporaneous academia as instated by Walter Kaufmann since the 1960s, is a book written by Friedrich Nietzsche, first published in 1882 and followed by a second edition. ... The cover for the first part of the first edition. ...

On a few occasions in his notebooks, Nietzsche discusses the possibility of the Eternal Recurrence as cosmological truth, but in the works he prepared for publication, it is treated as the ultimate method of life affirmation. According to Nietzsche, it would require a sincere Amor Fati (Love of Fate), not simply to endure, but to wish for the eternal recurrence of all events exactly as they occurred---all of the pain and joy and the embarrassment and glory.

Nietzsche calls the idea "horrifying and paralyzing", and he also states that the burden of this idea is the "heaviest weight" imaginable (das schwerste Gewicht). The wish for the eternal return of all events would mark the ultimate affirmation of life:

What, if some day or night a demon were to steal after you into your loneliest loneliness and say to you: 'This life as you now live it and have lived it, you will have to live once more and innumerable times more' ... Would you not throw yourself down and gnash your teeth and curse the demon who spoke thus? Or have you once experienced a tremendous moment when you would have answered him: 'You are a god and never have I heard anything more divine.' (The Gay Science)

As described by Nietzsche, the thought of the eternal return is more than merely an intellectual concept or challenge, it is akin to a koan, or a psychological device that occupies one's entire consciousness stimulating a transformation of consciousness known as metanoia. The Gay Science (German: Die fröhliche Wissenschaft (la gaya scienza)), which has been canonically translated thus by contemporaneous academia as instated by Walter Kaufmann since the 1960s, is a book written by Friedrich Nietzsche, first published in 1882 and followed by a second edition. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... ...

In Nietzsche scholarship the stance on the cosmological hypothesis of the eternal recurrence is extremely interesting, being a crucial axiom of his philosophy. In Thus Spoke Zarathustra Part III, Ch. 2, #2, "Of the Vision and the Riddle" (German)), Nietzsche confronts his aforementioned inner demon and proves to him the eternal recurrence—this leads to a self-awakening in which the demon is exorcised. Much effort is still exerted in attempting to understand Nietzsche's notebooks' various fragmentary mentions of the eternal recurrence. The cover for the first part of the first edition. ...

References in culture

• "All truly wise thoughts have been thoughts already thousands of times; but to make them truly ours, we must think them over again honestly, till they take root in our personal experience." – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

• James Joyce's novel Finnegans Wake is based on the idea of eternal return. The novel begins in mid-sentence, with the continuation of the book's unfinished final sentence, creating a circle whereby the novel has no true beginning or end. [11]

• Joyce was influenced by Giambattista Vico (1668-1744), an Italian philosopher who proposed a theory of cyclical history in his major work, New Science. Joyce puns on his name many times in Finnegans Wake, including the "first" sentence: "by a commodius vicus of recirculation". Vico's theory involves the recurrence of three stages of history: the age of gods, the age of heroes, and the age of humans—after which the cycle repeats itself. See also Ages of Man and Greek mythology.

• Milan Kundera's novel The Unbearable Lightness of Being frequently references the concept of eternal return. Even the title comes from the idea that if there is no afterlife or eternal return, and earthly existence is final, then existence, or being, is "terribly light" — it has no gravity or cosmic weight.

• The 2001 film K-PAX explains eternal return at the end.

• In the 2003 reimagining of Battlestar Galactica, the polytheistic religion of the humans of the Twelve Colonies is centered on the belief of eternal recurrence, and the religious elements of the show frequently incorporate this idea.

• The film Groundhog Day is based upon the concept of eternal return. Its director Harold Ramis claimed of the novel The Strange Life of Ivan Osokin, the exemplary work upon eternal return that:

While not the original inspiration for our film Groundhog Day, was one of those confirming cosmic affirmations that we had indeed tapped into one of the great universal problems of being... P. D. Ouspensky suggests the antidote to the existential dilemma at the core of Groundhog Day: that trapped as we are on the karmic wheel of cause and effect, our only means of escape is to assume responsibility for our own destiny and find the personal meaning that imparts a purposeful vitality to life and frees us from the limitations of our contempt.

• The religious scholar Mircea Eliade has written on the theme of eternal return as expressed in the world's religions.

• The philosopher Albert Camus, in his famous essay, "The Myth of Sisyphus," discusses the plight of Sisyphus as an example of living the eternal return with a spirit of affirmation.

• In modern times eternal recurrence was a major theme in the teachings of the Russian mystics Gurdjieff and P. D. Ouspensky whose novel Strange tale of Ivan Osokin (first published St. Petersburg 1915) explores the idea that even given the free-will to alter events in one's life, the same events will occur regardless.

• Other notable films which debate the concept of eternal return include Terry Gilliam's Twelve Monkeys, Vanilla Sky, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

• The Rolling Stones reference the concept in their song "Sway" from the Sticky Fingers album: "Did you ever wake up to find / A day that broke up your mind / Destroyed your notion of circular time."

• From The Mystery of Dr. Fu-Manchu, 1913:

Greeting! I am recalled home by One who may not be denied. In much that I came to do I have failed. Much that I have done I would undo; some little I have undone. Out of fire I came—the smoldering fire of a thing one day to be a consuming flame; in fire I go. Seek not my ashes. I am the lord of the fires! Farewell. —Fu-Manchu

• From the Anglican Book of Common Prayer's burial rite:

  In sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life through our Lord Jesus Christ, we commend to Almighty God our brother <name>; and we commit his body to the ground; earth to earth; ashes to ashes, dust to dust. The Lord bless him and keep him, the Lord make his face to shine upon him and be gracious unto him and give him peace. Amen.

  • This is based on a passage from the Bible, Genesis 3:19, which reads:

    In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou [art], and unto dust shalt thou return.

• The Timefall novel trilogy incorporates the idea of time being cyclical, with people being reborn in each new era as the same person with different characteristics and in an altered history. In the modern cycle they discover that something has shifted the balance of the universe prompting them to save it from the end of time.

• Therion has a song named "Eternal Return" on their 2000 album "Deggial":

  The time is running (veil of time) / The flame will burn / When today vanish, / But all return.

  Time will come to an end but bring back the start again.

  Queen of time will rise again / And bring forth the future / Wheel of time will whirl around / And bring back the past.

• The PlayStation RPG Final Fantasy VIII deals with the idea of a time-loop repeating over and over again. The game's ending sets up the circumstances for the entire plot to repeat itself all over again as the main character observes powerless to stop it from happening.

• Ken Grimwood's philosophical novel Replay is about a man trapped in a cycle of dying and then awakening in the past as his younger self, with his memories intact.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. ... James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (Irish name Séamas Seoighe; 2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an expatriate Irish writer and poet, widely considered to be one of the most influential writers of the 20th century. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Giambattista Vico or Giovanni Battista Vico (June 23, 1668—January 23, 1744) was a Neapolitan philosopher, historian, and jurist. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Theogony is a poem by Hesiod describing the origins of the gods of ancient Greek religion. ... The Heroic Age was the period of Greek mythological history that lay between the purely divine events of the Theogony and Titanomachy and the advent of historical time after the Trojan War. ... The Ages of Man are the stages of human existence on the Earth according to Classical mythology. ... Greek mythology consists of a large collection of narratives that explain the origins of the world and detail the lives and adventures of a wide variety of gods, goddesses, heroes, and heroines. ... Milan Kundera (born April 1, 1929 in Brno, Czechoslovakia) and died February 8, 2006 in Lyons, France is a Franco-Czech writer. ... The Unbearable Lightness of Being (Czech language: Nesnesitelná lehkost bytí) is a novel written by Milan Kundera in 1984. ... The afterlife (or life after death) is a generic term referring to a continuation of existence, typically spiritual and experiential, beyond this world, or after death. ... Dasein is a German noun which antedates Heideggers use of it, though he saw more of its possibilities than previous philosphers such as Fichte had. ... Book Cover K-PAX is the name given to a trilogy of books, and one film, written by Gene Brewer: K-PAX (1995) K-PAX (2001)— film K-PAX II: On a Beam of Light (2001) K-PAX III: Worlds of Prot (2002) The books deal with the experiences on... Battlestar Galactica is an American science fiction television series created by Ronald D. Moore that first aired on October 18, 2004 in the United Kingdom on Sky One, and January 14, 2005 in the United States on the Sci Fi Channel. ... The Twelve Colonies of Man was the main human civilization in the original 1978 science fiction film and television series Battlestar Galactica and the subsequent 2003 miniseries and 2004 series remake. ... Synopsis Groundhog Day is a 1993 comedy film starring Bill Murray as Phil Conners, an egocentric Pittsburgh weatherman who dreads his annual assignment covering Groundhog Day from its birthplace in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. ... Harold Ramis (right) with Dan Aykroyd and Bill Murray in Ghostbusters. ... Synopsis Groundhog Day is a 1993 comedy film starring Bill Murray as Phil Conners, an egocentric Pittsburgh weatherman who dreads his annual assignment covering Groundhog Day from its birthplace in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. ... Peter D. Ouspensky (March 5, 1878, Moscow - October 2, 1947, England), (Pyotr Demianovich Ouspenskii, also Uspenskii or Uspensky) was a Russian philosopher with an analytic and mystical bent who combined geometry and psychology in his discussion of higher dimensions of existence. ... Synopsis Groundhog Day is a 1993 comedy film starring Bill Murray as Phil Conners, an egocentric Pittsburgh weatherman who dreads his annual assignment covering Groundhog Day from its birthplace in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. ... Mircea Eliade (March 9, 1907, Bucharest - April 22, 1986, Chicago, Illinois) was a Romanian historian of religions and novelist (fantasy and autobiographical). ... Albert Camus, in an undated publicity photograph. ... The Sisyphus of Greek mythology was cursed to roll a boulder up to the peak of a mountain for all eternity. ... Sisyphus (Greek Σίσυφος; transliteration: Sísuphos; IPA: ), in Greek mythology, was a sinner punished in the underworld by being set to roll a huge rock up a hill throughout eternity. ... George Ivanovich Gurdjieff George Ivanovich Gurdjieff (January 13 / January 14, 1866? - October 29, 1949), the Greek-Armenian mystic and teacher of dancing born in Alexandropol, Armenia (then of the Russian Empire, now Gumri, Armenia), traveled to many parts of the world (i. ... Peter D. Ouspensky (March 5, 1878, Moscow - October 2, 1947, England), (Pyotr Demianovich Ouspenskii, also Uspenskii or Uspensky) was a Russian philosopher with an analytic and mystical bent who combined geometry and psychology in his discussion of higher dimensions of existence. ... Terry Gilliam at Cannes 2001. ... Twelve Monkeys is a 1995 science fiction film written by David and Janet Peoples and directed by Terry Gilliam. ... Vanilla Sky is a 2001 film which tells a story of a young multi-millionaire who is charged with murder. ... Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is an Academy Award-winning 2004 romance film by Michel Gondry that uses a science fiction element to explore the nature of memory and love. ... This article is about the rock band. ... Sticky Fingers is an album by The Rolling Stones, released in 1971. ... 1913 (MCMXIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday. ... The Anglican Communion uses the compass rose as its symbol, signifying its worldwide reach and decentralized nature. ... 1979 ECUSABCP The Book of Common Prayer is foundational prayer book of the Church of England and also the name for similar books used in other churches in the Anglican Communion. ... The Bible (From Greek βιβλια—biblia, meaning books, which in turn is derived from βυβλος—byblos meaning papyrus, from the ancient Phoenician city of Byblos which exported papyrus) is the sacred scripture of Christianity. ... Genesis (Greek: Γένεσις, having the meanings of birth, creation, cause, beginning, source and origin), also called The First Book of Moses, is the first book of Torah (five books of Moses), and is the first book of the Tanakh, part of the Hebrew Bible; it is also the first book of... Therion is a Swedish symphonic metal band. ... For other versions of PlayStation, please see PlayStation (disambiguation) The PlayStation is a video game console of the 32/64-bit era, first produced by Sony Computer Entertainment in the mid-1990s. ... Final Fantasy VIII (Japanese: ファイナルファンタジーVIII Fainaru FantajÄ« VIII) is a computer role-playing game created by Square Co. ... Kenneth Milton Grimwood (February 27, 1944 - June 6, 2003) was an American author of fantasy fiction combining themes of life-affirmation and hope with metaphysical concepts, themes found in his best-known novel, the highly popular Replay. ... An action replay (or instant replay) is a showing again of part of a film. ...

See also

• Cyclical pattern
• Infinite loop