(From Wikipedia and other sources)
Quintessence is also known as ether, the celestial fire, Divine Energy or the brilliance of God's Majesty... It's at the center of every material thing, as a vertical reflection of Essence into matter.
Even though Quintessence is a material principle because it is a perfect reflection of the Spirit, to become one with the quintessence is in effect to become one with the Spirit. Deep inner Spiritual Alchemy or transformation is about the search for the Quintessence... This is the true journey of the human soul... And that's why I've used it to name this blog! :-)
According to a Thesaurus, Quintessence has 3 basic meanings:
1. Quintessence - the fifth and highest element after air and earth and fire and water; was believed to be the substance composing all heavenly bodies
One of four substances thought in ancient and medieval cosmology to constitute the physical universe; "the alchemists believed that there were four elements".
2. Quintessence - the purest and most concentrated essence of something
choicest or most essential or most vital part of some idea or experience; "the gist of the prosecutor's argument"; "the heart and soul of the Republican Party"; "the nub of the story".
3. Quintessence - the most typical example or representative of a type
- an item of information that is representative of a type; "this patient provides a typical example of the syndrome"; "there is an example on page 10".
The word quintessence is used in many different fields.
In ancient and medieval natural philosophy, it's the "quinta essentia", the fifth essence (or element), the material of the stars, forming heavenly bodies and pervading all things; in contrast to the four elements (fire, air, water and earth) in which all other matter was thought to exist. (Page 3 of Lawrence Krauss' book Quintessence).
Basically another term for aether, Quintessence and the corresponding adjective quintessential are also used in the figurative sense of "(a thing) that is the perfect example of its kind". This is seen in the Hamlet soliloquy: "The beauty of the world, the paragon of animals and yet to me what is this quintessence of dust?"
In Alchemy, Quintessence was believed to the fifth or highest element, beyond the four material elements (Earth, Air, Water and Fire). It was believed to be the substance composing all heavenly bodies.
In traditional alchemy, Quintessence is not something that exists by itself. It exists when the 4 elements are in balance in the substance. According to Paracelsus, Quintessence or "quintum esse" meant the nucleus of the essences and properties of all things in the universal world.
For Numerology, Quintessence is associated to the number 5, the five petaled flower and five pointed star.
Similar cultural concepts
The concept of a life-energy inherent in all living beings seems to be a fairly universal archetype, and appears in numerous ancient religions and systems of metaphysics.
Analogies to numina in other societies include:
Polynesian mythology : mana
Australian Aboriginal mythology : maban
Egyptian mythology : ka
Greek mythology : ichor
Inuit mythology : inua, sila
Leni Lenape mythology : manetuwak
Norse mythology : seid
Yoruba mythology : oloddumare
Also related are the philosophical concepts of:
Chinese Philisophy : qi (or chi), Tao
Japanese philosophy : ki
European alchemy and philosophy : aether, (or ether), quintessence
Hindu philosophy : prana
In (Wicca), it is the unifying energy inherent in every living creature on the planet, and in all four elements (earth, air, water, and fire) in nature: Essentially it is spirit: and soul, the all-encompassing spirit energy of the Goddess and God. On the pentagram, akasha is assigned to the fifth top point, and the "other" element.
Aether (also spelled ether) is a concept used in ancient and medieval science as a substance. The aether was believed to be the substance which filled the region of the universe above the terrestrial sphere. Aristotle included it as a fifth element distinct from the other four, Earth, Water, Air, and Fire. Aether was also called Quintessence (from quinta essentia, "fifth element"). Its Platonic solid, according to Plato, was the Dodecahedron.
In modern physics, quintessence is a hypothetical form of energy postulated to exist as an explanation of observations of an accelerating universe. The new buzz word in cosmology these days is 'quintessence', borrowed from the ancient Greeks who used the term to describe a mysterious 'fifth element' - in addition to air, earth, fire and water - which held the moon and stars in place. Quintessence, some cosmologists say, is an exotic kind of energy field that pushes particles away from each other, overpowering gravity and the other fundamental forces.
.............................................................................................................................................
"The Law of QuintEssence: You are not your Body, your Mind or your Emotions - what you are is an expression and progency of Universal QuintEssence - and your ability to create what you want and be who you are - is limitless. That "infinite and eternal" part of you that feels most real and tangible to you "as such" ---- is your Mind/ Consciousness (your Creative Imagination and source of creative manifestation) and in your Heart (feeling and love). Your QuintEssence resides in and comprises Your Creative Imagination and in your Heart...." (extract from http://www.greatdreams.com/vision1.htm)
Our spiritual journey is the path of awakening to the higher forces of the Universe, by going beyond our physical body, mind and emotions, following a regular spiritual practice as a way to expressing our purest essence - the Universal Quintessence-, thus discovering God inside and around ourselves.
