ESCHATOLOGY. es'kEi-t6M-jI (from Gk. to xaros , rsehatos. last -logia, account, from Neyetv, legein, to say). The doctrine con cerning man's existence after death, the future of nations, and the final condition of the world. Even on the lower stages of religilms develop ment, speculation upon the things to conic is not wholly limited to the fate of the individual. The shifting fortunes of war and the varying success in obtaining supplies give rise to anxious or hopeful thoughts of what, may befall the tribe. Devastating floods. fires, cyclones, earthquakes, or volcanic eruptions, and terror - inspiring eclipses of the lieu bodies, suggest the pos sibility of a destruction of the world. But the higher forms of eschatological thought presup pose a more complex social organism and a closer observation of natural phenomena. It is espe cially myths of astrological origin that furnish material for highly developed esehatologies, and oppression by nations aspiring to world-empire that supplies the impnIse. Hope of deliverance from galling political servitude springs from a and outraged national consciousness. kept alive by the memory of past greatness. and dreams of empire are born of the example set by mighty conquerors and rulers holding nations in subjection. Only prolonged observation of the movements of the planets and the course through the signs of the zodiac can render pos sible the thought of a re-occurrence at the end of the present period of the events connected with the world's origin, and a renovation of the world after its destruction. Along the different lines of eschatological speculation there is, therefore, a general development reflecting the growth of man's intellectual and moral perceptions, his larger social experience, and his expanding knowl edge of nature. The outward forms. however, vary according to the character of the environ ment and the peculiar genius of each people, and are also influenced by the relative value accorded to the individual and to the Italian or the world. It is seldom that an eschatological idea is found in any people that is without a parallel among other nations; but it is equally rare that the same idea occurs in exactly identical form in different systems of religious thought.
Belief in a survival of the spirit or double, conceived as a material substance, in connection with the dead body as its local habitation as long as food and drink arc furnished. gives little
opportunity for the imagination. As, with the advance of civilization, the great cosmic forces come into prominence as objects of worship. and the departed spirits are brought into connection with them, the life beyond grows richer; and as the peculiar tribal customs establish a standard of right and the effects of conformity are ob served, the spirits themselves are made subject to the same laws of retribution, and a judgment after death is introduced. Through this two fold development the future life may thus be spiritualize(' and assume a moral character, as in ancient Egypt. But it is also possible for the old conception of a shadowy existence in the grave or a subterranean realm to retain its hold in the main, while a way out of it into larger life, with moral distinctions, is found in the thought of a restoration and reanimation of the old body. thus insuring; personal identity. as in Persia and Judea. Or the spirit may he con ceived of as immediately upon death into another body. to live again and die and be come re-incarnated in ever new forms, as in India. This doctrine of metempsychosis renders it pos sihle to introduce into the future life the nicest moral adjustments, implying at once punishments and rewards for conduct in a previous stage of existence and the possibility of rising or sinking in the scale of being according to present con duet. In spite of the perfect justice thus regard ed as being administered on every stage of being, this never-ending series of births and deaths may conic to appear as an evil, if the present life seems such, and deliverance may then be sought from the infinite wheel of existence in Nirvana. Still another possibility presents itself, when the functions of the mind are considered as indicat ing a purely spiritual essence independent of the body, having no beginning and no end, as in Greece. This abstract conception of immortality may be made the philosophical basis of a hope for a more concretely conceived personal life after death. For further details of this phase of es chatology, see IMMORTALITY.