Eternity

An allegorical painting of a woman, representing eternity. She holds an hourglass, a skull rests on the table beside her, and an Ouroboros floats above her head. All of these are common symbols of eternity.

Eternity in common parlance is either an infinite or an indeterminately long period of time. In classical philosophy, however, eternity is defined as what exists outside time while sempiternity is the concept that corresponds to the colloquial definition of eternity.

Eternity is an important concept in many religions, where the God or the gods are said to endure eternally. Some, such as Aristotle, would say the same about the natural cosmos in regard to both past and future eternal duration, and like the eternal Platonic forms, immutability was considered essential.^[1]

Philosophy

The metaphysics of eternity studies that which necessarily exists outside or independently of space and time. Another important question is whether "information" or Form is separable from mind and matter.

Aristotle argued that the cosmos has no beginning.

In Aristotle's metaphysics, eternity is the unmoved mover (God), understood as the gradient of total synergy ("produces motion by being loved").^[2] Boethius defined eternity as "simultaneously full and perfect possession of interminable life".^[3]

Symbolism

Eternity is often symbolized by the image of a snake swallowing its own tail, known as the Ouroboros (or Uroboros). The circle is also commonly used as a symbol for eternity, as is the mathematical symbol of infinity, $\infty$.

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  The Ouroboros.

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  The "endless knot," a symbol of eternity used in Tibetan Buddhism.

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  Infinity symbol variations.

This folk-art allegorical map titled "The 3 Roads to Eternity" is based on Matthew 7:13-14 Bible Gateway by the woodcutter Georgin François in 1825.

See also

• Aeon
• Armenian eternity sign
• Chronology of the universe
• Eternalism (philosophy of time)
• Eternal return
• Philosophical presentism
• Planck epoch
• Time perception
• Temporal finitism

References

1. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Eternity
2. Yu, Jiyuan The Structure of Being in Aristotle’s Metaphysics Springer, 2003, p. 188
3. Boedder, Bernard. "Natural Theology". University of Notre Dame. Retrieved March 15, 2015. Aeternitas est interminablis vitae tota simul et perfecta possessio

External links

• http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/eternity/ Entry in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy on Eternity.
• http://www.iep.utm.edu/g/god-time.htm Entry in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy on the relationship between God and Time.