View source for Eternity

{{Short description|Endless time or timelessness}}
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{{redirect|Sempiternal|the album by Bring Me the Horizon|Sempiternal (album)}}

[[File:Unnecessarily complicated gears a.gif|thumb|upright=1.23|A neverending animation loop of gears turning]]
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'''Eternity''', in [[common parlance]], is an [[Infinity|infinite]] amount of [[time]] that never ends or the quality, condition or fact of being everlasting or eternal.<ref>{{Cite OED|eternity|id=64704}}</ref> [[Classical philosophy]], however, defines eternity as what is timeless or exists outside time, whereas '''sempiternity''' corresponds to infinite duration.

== Philosophy ==
{{see also|Eternalism (philosophy of time)|Philosophy of space and time}}

[[Classical philosophy]] defines eternity as what exists outside time, as in describing timeless [[supernatural]] beings and forces, distinguished from sempiternity which corresponds to infinite time, as described in [[requiem]] prayers for the dead.{{which|date=March 2021}} Some thinkers, such as [[Aristotle]], suggest the [[Eternity of the world|eternity of the natural cosmos]] in regard to both past and future eternal duration. [[Boethius]] defined eternity as "simultaneously full and perfect possession of interminable life".{{sfnp|Boedder|1902|loc=book 2, ch. 2, "[https://maritain.nd.edu/jmc/etext/nath34.htm The Eternity of God]"}}{{efn|{{harvp|Boethius|523|loc=book 5, prose §. 6}}, quote: "{{lang|la|Aeternitas igitur est interminabilis vitae tota simul et perfecta possessio.}}"}} [[Thomas Aquinas]] believed that God's eternity does not cease, as it is without either a beginning or an end; the concept of eternity is of [[divine simplicity]], thus incapable of being defined or fully understood by humankind.{{sfnp|Helm|2010|loc=§. 6, "[https://stanford.library.sydney.edu.au/archives/sum2010/entries/eternity/#:~:text=Medieval%20thinkers,-It%20is%20in&text=For%20Aquinas%20God%27s%20eternity%20is,fully%20grasped%20by%20a%20creature. Medieval thinkers]"}}

[[Thomas Hobbes]] (1588–1679) and many others in the [[Age of Enlightenment]] drew on the classical distinction to put forward metaphysical hypotheses such as "eternity is a permanent now".{{sfnp|Hobbes|1662|p=50}}

=== Contemporary philosophy and physics ===
Today cosmologists, philosophers, and others look towards analyses of the concept from across cultures and history. They debate, among other things, whether an absolute concept of eternity has real application for fundamental [[laws of physics]]; compare the issue of [[entropy as an arrow of time]].

== Religion ==
{{see also|God and eternity|Unto the ages of ages}}

Eternity as infinite duration is an important concept in many lives and [[religion]]s. [[God]] or gods are often said to endure eternally, or exist for all time, forever, without beginning or end. Religious views of an [[afterlife]] may speak of it in terms of eternity or [[Immortality|eternal life]].{{efn|For examples: {{harvp|Bassali|2008|p=138}}, quote: "In the next life, there will be two places only - heaven and hell. {{omission}} In heaven, you will spend an eternity of bliss, light, and glory with God. In hell, you will spend an eternity of woe, darkness and torment apart from God. Which of these two places would you prefer to spend your eternity?"}} Christian theologians may regard [[immutability (theology)|immutability]], like the eternal [[Platonic realism|Platonic form]]s, as essential to eternity.{{sfnp|Deng|2018|loc=§. 3.1, "[https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/eternity/#LociClas The {{lang|la|Loci Classici}}]"}}{{efn|{{harvp|Deng|2018}}, quote: "Augustine connects God's timeless eternity to God's being the cause of all times and God's immutability."}}

== Symbolism ==
{{see also|Alpha and Omega|Armenian eternity sign|Engagement ring|Eternity ring}}

Eternity is often symbolized by the endless snake, swallowing its own tail, the [[ouroboros]]. The circle, band, or ring is also commonly used as a symbol for eternity, as is the mathematical [[symbol of infinity]], {{math|<math>\infty</math>}}. Symbolically these are reminders that eternity has no beginning or end. 

{{gallery|width=300px|height=300px
|File:Ouroboros.png|The [[ouroboros]]
|File:EndlessKnot03d.png|The "[[endless knot]]," a symbol of eternity used in [[Tibetan Buddhism]].
|File:Infinity symbol.svg|[[Infinity]] symbol variations
|File:Georgin François, The 3 Roads to Eternity, 1825 Cornell CUL PJM 1040 01.jpg|[[Folk art]] allegorical map "The 3 Roads to Eternity" from [[Gospel of Matthew|Matthew]] 7:13–14  by the woodcutter Georgin François (1801–1863) in 1825.
|File:Jacopo da Sellaio - Triumph of Eternity - 1485-90.jpg|Jacopo da Sellaio, Triumph of Eternity, 1485–1490
|File:Cagnacci Allegoria.jpg|An [[allegorical]] classical woman {{circa|1670s}}, representing eternity.{{efn|She holds up an [[hourglass]], her elbow above a human skull and in her lower hand two flowers in maturity, one of which is a [[dandelion]] blowball or clock (seed head), reminders of transience. An [[Ouroboros]], snake swallowing its own tail, floats above her head as a [[halo (religious iconography)|halo]] - symbols of eternity.}}
}}

== See also ==
{{Columnslist|colwidth=30em|
* [[Aeon]]
* Akal (Sikh term)
* [[Chronology of the universe]]
* [[Eternal Now (New Age)|Eternal now]]
* [[Eternal return]]
* [[Everlasting life]]
* [[Eviternity]]
* [[Kalpa (aeon)|Kalpa]]
* [[Philosophical presentism]]
* [[Planck epoch]]
* [[Time perception]]
* [[Temporal finitism]]
* [[Wheel of time]]
}}

== Notes ==
{{Notelist}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

=== Works cited ===
{{Refbegin|30em|indent=yes}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Bassali |first1=Maurice |year=2008 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aoEha2bAEvgC |title=Where Will You Spend Eternity? |publisher=Xulon Press |isbn=9781606473276 |access-date=30 April 2021 }}
* {{Cite book |last1=Boedder |first1=Bernard |year=1902 |url=https://maritain.nd.edu/jmc/etext/nath.htm |title=Natural Theology |publisher=Longmans, Green, and Co. |via=University of Notre Dame |access-date=July 29, 2022 |archive-date=March 26, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326021842/https://maritain.nd.edu/jmc/etext/nath.htm |url-status=dead }}
* {{Cite Wikisource |last1=Boethius |first1=Anicius Manlius Torquatus Severinus |title=De philosophiae consolatione Boethius |wslanguage=la |wslink=De_philosophiae_consolatione/Liber_Quintus#XI |ref={{harvid|Boethius|523}} |author-link=Boethius}}
* {{Cite SEP |author-last1=Deng |author-first1=Natalja |url-id=eternity |title=Eternity in Christian Thought |edition=Fall 2018 |ref={{harvid|Deng|2018}}}}
* {{Cite SEP |author-last1=Helm |author-first1=Paul |url-id=eternity |title=Eternity |edition=Summer 2010 |ref={{harvid|Helm|2010}}}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Hobbes |first1=Thomas |title=Mr. Hobbes considered in his loyalty, religion, reputation, and manners, by way of a letter to Dr. Wallis |year=1662 |author-link=Thomas Hobbes}}
{{Refend}}

== Further reading ==
* {{Cite book |last=Yu |first=Jiyuan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T5pRlUoAbmIC&pg=PA188 |title=The Structure of Being in Aristotle's Metaphysics |publisher=Springer |year=2003 |pages=188–|isbn=9781402015373 }}

== 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]].

{{Time Topics}}
{{Time in religion and mythology}}
{{Time in philosophy}}
{{Infinity}}
{{Spirituality-related topics}}
{{Authority control}}
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[[Category:Metaphysical properties]]
[[Category:Philosophy of science]]
[[Category:Philosophy of time]]
[[Category:Philosophy of religion]]
[[Category:Infinity]]