The Red Lion- The Elixir Of Eternal Life (An Al...

Pursuit of physical immortality before the advent of modern science included alchemists seeking to create the Philosopher's Stone,[5] and various cultures' legends such as the Fountain of Youth or the Peaches of Immortality inspiring attempts at discovering elixirs of life.

The Red Lion- The Elixir of Eternal Life (An Al...

Hindus believe in an immortal soul which is reincarnated after death. According to Hinduism, people repeat a process of life, death, and rebirth in a cycle called samsara. If they live their life well, their karma improves and their station in the next life will be higher, and conversely lower if they live their life poorly. After many life times of perfecting its karma, the soul is freed from the cycle and lives in perpetual bliss. There is no place of eternal torment in Hinduism, although if a soul consistently lives very evil lives, it could work its way down to the very bottom of the cycle.[citation needed]

To Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the verse means, "Once a man has become established in the understanding of the permanent reality of life, his mind rises above the influence of pleasure and pain. Such an unshakable man passes beyond the influence of death and in the permanent phase of life: he attains eternal life ... A man established in the understanding of the unlimited abundance of absolute existence is naturally free from existence of the relative order. This is what gives him the status of immortal life."[47]

The views about immortality in Judaism is perhaps best exemplified by the various references to this in Second Temple period. The concept of resurrection of the physical body is found in 2 Maccabees, according to which it will happen through recreation of the flesh.[52] Resurrection of the dead is specified in detail in the extra-canonical books of Enoch,[53] and in Apocalypse of Baruch.[54] According to the British scholar in ancient Judaism P.R. Davies, there is "little or no clear reference ... either to immortality or to resurrection from the dead" in the Dead Sea scrolls texts.[55]Both Josephus and the New Testament record that the Sadducees did not believe in an afterlife,[56]but the sources vary on the beliefs of the Pharisees. The New Testament claims that the Pharisees believed in the resurrection, but does not specify whether this included the flesh or not.[57] According to Josephus, who himself was a Pharisee, the Pharisees held that only the soul was immortal and the souls of good people will be reincarnated and "pass into other bodies," while "the souls of the wicked will suffer eternal punishment."[58]The Book of Jubilees seems to refer to the resurrection of the soul only, or to a more general idea of an immortal soul.[59]

Myths, legends, and speculations about St. Germain began to be widespread in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and continue today. They include beliefs that he is immortal, the Wandering Jew, an alchemist with the elixir of life, a Rosicrucian, and that he prophesied the French Revolution. He is said to have met the forger Giuseppe Balsamo (alias Cagliostro) in London and the composer Rameau in Venice. Some groups honor Saint Germain as a supernatural being called an ascended master.

The quest for the meaning of life, explored by writers and philosophers from antiquity up to the present day, is first fully explored in the Gilgamesh epic as the hero-king leaves the comfort of his city following the death of his best friend, Enkidu, to find the mystical figure Utnapishtim and eternal life. Gilgamesh's fear of death is actually a fear of meaninglessness, and although he fails to win immortality, the quest itself gives his life meaning.

Siduri directs him to the ferryman Urshanabi, who takes him across the waters of death to the home of Utnapishtim and his wife. Utnapishtim tells him that there is nothing he can do for him. He was granted immortality by the gods, he says, and has no power to do the same for Gilgamesh. Even so, he offers the king two chances at eternal life. First, he must show himself worthy by staying awake for six days and nights, which he fails at, and then he is given a magic plant which, in a moment of carelessness, he leaves on the shore while he bathes, and it is eaten by a snake. Having failed in his quest, he has Urshanabi bring him back to Uruk, where he writes down his story on the city's walls. 041b061a72