Metempsychosis is a philosophical term in the Greek language referring to the belief of transmigration of the soul, especially its reincarnation after death. It is a doctrine popular among a number of Dharmic Religions of the East such as Hinduism and Jainism wherein an individual incarnates from one body to another, either human, animal, or plant. Generally the term is only used within the context of Greek Philosophy, but has also been used by modern philosophers such as Schopenhauer^[1]; otherwise the phrase transmigration is more appropriate. The word also plays a prominent role in James Joyce's Ulysses. Another term sometimes used synonymously is Palingenesia. Greek ( IPA: or simply IPA: — Hellenic) has a documented history of 3,500 years, the longest of any single language in the Indo-European language family. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Reincarnation, literally to be made flesh again, is a doctrine or mystical belief that some essential part of a living being (in some variations only human beings) survives death to be reborn in a new body. ... map showing the prevalence of Dharmic (yellow) and Abrahamic (purple) religions in each country. ... Hinduism (known as in modern Indian languages[1]) is a religious tradition[2] that originated in the Indian subcontinent. ... Jain and Jaina redirect here. ... Human beings are defined variously in biological, spiritual, and cultural terms, or in combinations thereof. ... For other uses, see Animal (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Plant (disambiguation). ... Greek philosophy focused on the role of reason and inquiry. ... Arthur Schopenhauer (February 22, 1788 – September 21, 1860) was a German philosopher. ... Transmigration can has several meanings: Transmigration of the soul is a common term for reincarnation. ... James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (Irish Séamus Seoighe; 2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish expatriate writer, widely considered to be one of the most influential writers of the 20th century. ... Ulysses is a novel by James Joyce, first serialized in parts in the American journal The Little Review from March 1918 to December 1920, and then published in its entirety by Sylvia Beach on February 2, 1922, in Paris. ... Palingenesia, name equivalent to new birth, and applied both to regeneration and restoration, of which baptism in the former case is the symbol; in the Stoic philosophy it is preceded by dissolution, as in the rejuvenescence process of MEDEA. Palingenesia is more generally another term for Metempsychosis or Reincarnation. ...

Metempsychosis in Greek Philosophy

It is unclear how the doctrine of metempsychosis arose in Greece; most scholars do not believe it was borrowed from Egypt or that it somehow was transmitted from ancient Hindu thinkers of India. It is easiest to assume that earlier ideas which had never been extinguished were utilized for religious and philosophic purposes. The Orphic religion, which held it, first appeared in Thrace upon the semi-barbarous north-eastern frontier. Orpheus, its legendary founder, is said to have taught that soul and body are united by a compact unequally binding on either; the soul is divine, immortal and aspires to freedom, while the body holds it in fetters as a prisoner. Death dissolves this compact, but only to re-imprison the liberated soul after a short time: for the wheel of birth revolves inexorably. Thus the soul continues its journey, alternating between a separate unrestrained existence and fresh reincarnation, round the wide circle of necessity, as the companion of many bodies of men and animals." To these unfortunate prisoners Orpheus proclaims the message of liberation, that they stand in need of the grace of redeeming gods and of Dionysus in particular, and calls them to turn to God by ascetic piety of life and self-purification: the purer their lives the higher will be their next reincarnation, until the soul has completed the spiral ascent of destiny to live for ever as God from whom it comes. Such was the teaching of Orphism which appeared in Greece about the 6th century BC, organized itself into private and public mysteries at Eleusis and elsewhere, and produced a copious literature. This article discusses the adherents of Hinduism. ... For other uses, see Orpheus (disambiguation). ... This article is about the ancient deity. ... (2nd millennium BC - 1st millennium BC - 1st millennium) The 6th century BC started on January 1, 600 BC and ended on December 31, 501 BC. // Monument 1, an Olmec colossal head at La Venta The 5th and 6th centuries BC were a time of empires, but more importantly, a time... Eleusis (Game) The cardgame invented by Robert Abbott in 1962, and later popularized in 1977 by Martin Gardner in his Mathematical Games column in Scientific American magazine. ...

The earliest Greek thinker with whom metempsychosis is connected is Pherecydes; but Pythagoras, who is said to have been his pupil, is its first famous philosophic exponent. Pythagoras probably neither invented the doctrine nor imported it from Egypt, but made his reputation by bringing Orphic doctrine from North-Eastern Hellas to Magna Graecia and by instituting societies for its diffusion. Pherecydes (in Greek: Φερεχύδης) was the name of: Pherecydes of Syros, a pre-Socratic philosopher and author from the island of Syros, by some believed to have influenced Pythagoras Pherecydes of Leros, an historian and mythologic writer from the island of Leros... Pythagoras of Samos (Greek: ; between 580 and 572 BC–between 500 and 490 BC) was an Ionian (Greek) philosopher[1] and founder of the religious movement called Pythagoreanism. ...

The real weight and importance of metempsychosis in Western tradition is due to its adoption by Plato. Had he not embodied it in some of his greatest works it would be merely a matter of curious investigation for the Western anthropologist and student of folk-lore. In the eschatological myth which closes the Republic he tells the story how Er, the son of Armenius, miraculously returned to life on the twelfth day after death and recounted the secrets of the other world. After death, he said, he went with others to the place of Judgment and saw the souls returning from heaven and from purgatory, and proceeded with them to a place where they chose new lives, human and animal. He saw the soul of Orpheus changing into a swan, Thamyras becoming a nightingale, musical birds choosing to be men, the soul of Atalanta choosing the honours of an athlete. Men were seen passing into animals and wild and tame animals changing into each other. After their choice the souls drank of Lethe and then shot away like stars to their birth. There are myths and theories to the same effect in other dialogues, the Phaedrus, Meno, Phaedo, Timaeus and Laws. In Plato's view the number of souls was fixed; birth therefore is never the creation of a soul, but only a transmigration from one body to another. Plato's acceptance of the doctrine is characteristic of his sympathy with popular beliefs and desire to incorporate them in a purified form into his system. Aristotle, a far less emotional and sympathetic mind, has a doctrine of immortality totally inconsistent with it. The Republic (Greek: ) is an influential work of philosophy and political theory by the Greek philosopher Plato, written in approximately 360 BC. It is written in the format of a Socratic dialogue. ... In Classical Greek, Lethe (LEE-thee) literally means forgetfulness or concealment. The Greek word for truth is a-lethe-ia, meaning un-forgetfulness or un-concealment. In Greek mythology, Lethe is one of the several rivers of Hades. ... Aristotle (Greek: Aristotélēs) (384 BC – 322 BC) was a Greek philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. ...

In later Greek literature the doctrine appears from time to time; it is mentioned in a fragment of Menander (the Inspired Woman) and satirized by Lucian (Gallus 18 seq.). In Roman literature it is found as early as Ennius, who in his Calabrian home must have been familiar with the Greek teachings which had descended to his times from the cities of Magna Graecia. In a lost passage of his Annals, a Roman history in verse, Ennius told how he had seen Homer in a dream, who had assured him that the same soul which had animated both the poets had once belonged to a peacock. Persius in one of his satires (vi. 9) laughs at Ennius for this: it is referred to also by Lucretius (i. 124) and by Horace (Epist. II. i. 52). Virgil works the idea into his account of, the Underworld in the sixth book of the Aeneid (vv. 724 sqq.). It persists in antiquity down to the latest classic thinkers, Plotinus and the other Neoplatonists. Bust of Menander Menander (342–291 BC) (Greek ), Greek dramatist, the chief representative of the New Comedy, was born in Athens. ... Lucian. ... Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew from a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula circa the 9th century BC to a massive empire straddling the Mediterranean Sea. ... Quintus Ennius (239 - 169 BC) was a writer during the period of the Roman Republic, and is often considered the father of Roman poetry. ... For other uses, see Homer (disambiguation). ... Persius, in full Aulus Persius Flaccus (AD 34-62), was a Roman poet and satirist. ... Lucretius Titus Lucretius Carus (c. ... Horace, as imagined by Anton von Werner Quintus Horatius Flaccus, (December 8, 65 BC - November 27, 8 BC), known in the English-speaking world as Horace, was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus. ... For other uses, see Virgil (disambiguation). ... Aeneas flees burning Troy, Federico Barocci, 1598 Galleria Borghese, Rome The Aeneid (IPA English pronunciation: ; in Latin Aeneis, pronounced — the title is Greek in form: genitive case Aeneidos): is a Latin epic written by Virgil in the 1st century BCE (between 29 and 19 BCE) that tells the legendary story... Plotinus Plotinus (ancient Greek: ) (ca. ... Neoplatonism (also Neo-Platonism) is an ancient school of philosophy beginning in the 3rd century A.D. It was based on the teachings of Plato and Platonists; but it interpreted Plato in many new ways, such that Neoplatonism was quite different from what Plato taught, though not many Neoplatonists would...

Metempsychosis in popular culture

The word appears in Molly Bloom's question to her husband, Leopold, in James Joyce's seminal modernist novel, Ulysses. In this multi-layered novel, at one level, Leopold's matter-of-fact and accurate response indicates that the ancient Greek hero's spirit resides in this most typical of modern men, a bumbling, cuckolded, seller of advertising copy. James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (Irish Séamus Seoighe; 2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish expatriate writer, widely considered to be one of the most influential writers of the 20th century. ...

'Metempsychosis' is the name of the last stage of the video game Ikaruga. The stages are Ideal, Trial, Faith, Reality, Metempsychosis, then Spirit Being. Ikaruga lit. ...

Omega Metempsychosis is the name of the boss at the climax of Chapter 8 in Xenosaga III. The significance is that the boss itself is a combination of the bodies of Omega Res Novae, Abel, and Dmitri Yuriev; or more accurately Yuriev's transmigration into godhood. Xenosaga Episode III: Also sprach Zarathustra ) is an RPG for the PlayStation 2, it is the third and final game in the primary Xenosaga trilogy. ... In the Book of Genesis, Abel (Hebrew הֶבֶל / הָבֶל, Standard Hebrew Hével / Hável, Tiberian Hebrew Héḇel / Hāḇel; Arabic هابيل Hābīl) was the second son of Adam. ... Dr. Dmitri Yuriev is a fictional character from the PS2 game series Xenosaga. Yuriev is the head of the Yuriev Institute. ...

'Metempsychosis' is the meaning of 'Tensei' in the Japanese series of role-playing games, Megami Tensei. The full title translates to 'Metempsychosis of the Goddess'. This article is about traditional role-playing games. ... Megami Tensei (Japanese:女神転生, often abbreviated as MegaTen) is a Japanese computer role-playing game series, and is one of the major franchises of the genre in its native country. ...

In the video game Soulcalibur III, upon entering a battle against Zasalamel, a character seeking to free himself from an endless cycle of reincarnation, the announcer will sometimes say, "After countless lives, he challenges the chains of metempsychosis." Soulcalibur III ) is the sequel to Soulcalibur II and is the fourth overall installment in the Soul series of fighting games. ... Zasalamel ) is a fictional character designed for the Soul Series of fighting games, debuting in Soul Calibur III as the lead antagonist. ...

In the short story 'Angelic Butterfly' by Primo Levi, he refers to "Physiological Foundations of Metempsychosis". This is a chapter in a study that proposes that all animals possess that ability to transform like a butterfly.

"Infinite Jest" by David Foster Wallace, features a hypnotic late-night radio DJ named Madam Psychosis.

Notes

1. ^ Schopenhauer, A: "Parerga und Paralipomena" (Eduard Grisebach edition), On Religion, Section 177

External links

• The Columbia Encyclopedia: Transmigration of souls or Metempsychosis
• The Catholic Encyclopedia: Metempsychosis
• Jewish view of reincarnation