Eternity
Eternity is usually thought to mean everlastingness. However, in the course of philosophical discussion the idea has been further refined, and two contrasting concepts can be denoted by it, that of "atemporality", which is beyond time and "sempiternity", which means something that is infinite in time.[1]
The English word "eternal" derives from the Latin term aevum, an age or time. This does not seem to convey neither the idea of atemporality nor sempiternity, but a specific cycle of time. This is how the word "eternal" is usually applied in Theosophical literature, which, according to H. P. Blavatsky, is the way Eastern approach:
Eternity with the Orientals has quite another signification than it has with us. It stands generally for the 100 years or "age" of Brahma, the duration of a Kalpa or a period of 4,320,000,000 years.[2]
In the Theosophical view time is always limited and begins with the manifestation<><>, which denies the idea of sempiternity. As to that of "atemporality" is referred to as "duration" in The Secret Doctrine
Notes
Further reading
- Eternity at Theosopedia