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Immortality

Mind uploading - "Immortality"/backup
In theory, if the information and processes of the mind can be disassociated from the biological body, they are no longer tied to the individual limits and lifespan of that body

Themes of The Lord of the Rings - Death and immortality
Tolkien wrote about The Lord of the Rings and death in his Letters:

: But I should say, if asked, the tale is not really about Power and Dominion: that only sets the wheels going; it is about Death and the desire for deathlessness. Which is hardly more than to say it is a tale written by a Man! (Letter 203, 1957)

: It is mainly concerned with Death, and Immortality; and the 'escapes': serial longevity, and hoarding memory. (Letter 211, 1958)[ Alton, David. The Fellowship Of The Ring: J.R.R.Tolkien, Catholicism And The Use Of Allegory, February 2003]

Throughout the story, death is referred to as the gift (and doom) of Man, given by Ilúvatar (God), while immortality is the gift given to the Elves

The Elves, too, struggle with their lot, and their immortality shows them watching the decline of their lands and world.

Immortality Institute
'LongeCity' is the adopted public name of the Immortality Institute (sometimes abbreviated ImmInst) a Non-profit organization|nonprofit 501(c)(3) organisation founded in 2002 by Bruce J. Klein and others. It is a member of a wider community of aging and life extension research.[ Transhumanism magazine 2009 Winter Issue, pg. 48]

Immortality Institute - Aims
The organisation states as its mission to conquer the blight of involuntary death. It states that it wants to achieve this by providing:

* a repository of high-quality information;

* an open public forum for the free exchange of information and views;

* an infrastructure to support community projects and initiatives;

* the facilities for supporting an international community of those with an interest in life extension.

Immortality Institute - Activities
The organization maintains an online forum for information exchange

Immortality Institute - Management
LongeCity is a membership-based organisation governed by a 'constitution'. Members elect and deselect a Board of Directors from amongst their number. The board appoints key officers who in turn co-ordinate volunteer activities.

Immortality Institute - Names
As of January 2011, the Immortality Institute has formally adopted 'LongeCity' as a second 'trading' name. Now, the organisation uses both names, but prefers to use LongeCity for its public-facing activities and Immortality Institute when referring to the circle of its voting members. The reason for adopting the second name was to overcome doubts about the organisations credibility when using the word Immortality in its outreach and scientific support programmes.

Immortality Institute - Logo
The Immortality Institute's logo makes use of the following symbols:

* The figure '8' to represent an hourglass, and to represent the mathematical symbol for infinity;

* The double-helix structure of DNA, to represent the immortal molecule.

Biological immortality
'Biological immortality' refers to a stable or decreasing rate of mortality from cellular senescence as a function of chronological age. Various unicellular and multicellular species may achieve this state either throughout their existence or after living long enough. A Biology|biologically immortal life|living being can still die from means other than senescence, such as through injury or disease.

This definition of immortality has been challenged in the new Handbook of the Biology of Aging, because the increase in rate of mortality as a function of chronological age may be negligible at extremely old ages, an idea referred to as the Late-life mortality deceleration|late-life mortality plateau

The term is also used by biologists to describe cells that are not subject to the Hayflick limit.

Biological immortality - Cell lines
Biologists chose the word immortal to designate cells that are not subject to the Hayflick limit, the point at which cells can no longer divide due to DNA repair|DNA damage or shortened telomeres. Prior to Leonard Hayflick's theory, Alexis Carrel hypothesized that all normal somatic cells were immortal.

The term immortalization was first applied to cancer cells that expressed the telomere-lengthening enzyme telomerase, and thereby avoided apoptosis—i.e

Immortal cell lines of cancer cells can be created by induction of oncogenes or loss of tumor suppressor genes. One way to induce immortality is through virus|viral-mediated induction of the SV40 Large T-antigen|large T#8209;antigen, commonly introduced through SV40|simian virus 40 (SV-40).

Biological immortality - Tardigrades
Tardigrades, also known as water bears, are highly resilient microscopic animals. They are capable of surviving extremes such as heat, radiation, and drought by going into suspended animation, where their metabolism slows to near zero and they simply wait out the harsh conditions until the environment is more favorable.

Biological immortality - Bacteria
Bacteria are said to be biologically immortal, but only at the level of the colony (biology)|colony

Biological immortality - Hydra
Hydra (genus)|Hydras are a genus of simple, freshwater animals possessing radial symmetry and no post-mitotic cells. The fact that all cells continually divide allows defects and toxins to be diluted. It has been suggested that hydras do not undergo senescence, and, as such, are biologically immortal. However, this does not explain how hydras are consequently able to maintain telomere lengths.

Biological immortality - Jellyfish
Turritopsis dohrnii, or Turritopsis nutricula, is a small () species of jellyfish that uses transdifferentiation to replenish cells after sexual reproduction. This cycle can repeat indefinitely, potentially rendering it biologically immortal. This organism originated in the Caribbean sea, but has now spread around the world.

Biological immortality - Lobsters
Older lobsters are more fertile than younger lobsters. Lobsters, like many other decapod crustaceans, grow throughout life, and are able to add new muscle cells at each molt. Lobster express telomerase as adults through most tissue, which has been suggested to be related to their longevity. Large lobsters are estimated to be perhaps 50 years old, although determining age is difficult.

Biological immortality - Planarian flatworms
Planarian|Planarian flatworms (both sexual and asexual) appear to exhibit an ability to live indefinitely and have an apparently limitless [telomere] regenerative capacity fueled by a population of highly proliferative adult stem cells.

Biological immortality - Attempts to engineer biological immortality in humans
Although the premise that biological ageing can be halted or reversed by foreseeable technology remains controversial, nascent research into developing possible therapeutic interventions is already underway. Among the principle drivers of international collaboration in such research is the SENS Research Foundation, a non-profit organization that advocates a number of what it claims are plausible research pathways that might lead to engineered negligible senescence in humans.

For several decades,Smith, Audrey U
Biological immortality - Attempts to engineer biological immortality in humans For several decades,Smith, Audrey U

Biological immortality - Attempts to engineer biological immortality in humans
Similar proposals involving suspended animation include chemical brain preservation. The non-profit Brain Preservation Foundation offers a cash prize valued at over $100,000 for demonstrations of techniques that would allow for high-fidelity, long-term storage of a mammalian brain.

Biological immortality - Immortalism and immortality as a political cause
They aim to provide political support to anti-aging and radical life extension research and technologies and want to ensure the fastest possible—and at the same time, as least disruptive as possible—societal transition to radical life extension, life without aging, and ultimately, immortality

Biological immortality - Immortalism and immortality as a political cause
According to a poll by the Levada Center, 9% of Russians want to live forever.

Biological immortality - Other life extensionists
Biogerontologist Marios Kyriazis suggested that biological immortality in humans is an inevitable consequence of natural evolution. His theory of extreme lifespans through perpetual-equalising interventions (ELPIs) proposes that the ability to attain indefinite lifespans is inherent in human biology, and that there will come a time when humans will continue to develop their intelligence by living indefinitely, rather than through evolution by natural selection.[ The ELPIs Theory]

Indefinite lifespan - Immortality
The use of the term is also sometimes favored for reasons of linguistic aesthetics, in the same way that the term birth control is preferred to birth prevention or birth elimination which both imply, as does 'immortality', that the choice is one-time only and has permanent consequences, whereas the point of 'indefinite lifespans', like the point of 'birth control', is to gain the opportunity to lead one's life in a more conscious and deliberate manner.

Indefinite lifespan - Immortality
If humanity ever reaches the scale of a Type V Kardashev civilization, it will, by definition, be able to ensure the eternal life of its populace through the conscious influencing of the second law of thermodynamics

Nikolai Fyodorovich Fyodorov - Immortality for all
Achieving immortality for living individuals and future generations is only a partial victory over death, only the first stage

Immortality 'Immortality' is the ability to Life|live forever, or eternal life.[ Oxford English Dictionary Immortality] Biological forms have inherent limitations which medical interventions or engineering may or may not be able to overcome. Natural selection has developed potential biological immortality in at least one species, the jellyfish Turritopsis dohrnii.

Immortality The absence of aging would provide humans with biological immortality, but not invulnerability to death by physical trauma.

Immortality What form an unending human life would take, or whether an immaterial Soul (spirit)|soul exists and possesses immortality, has been a major point of focus of religion, as well as the subject of speculation, fantasy, and debate.

Immortality In religion|religious contexts, immortality is often stated to be among the promises by God (or other deities) to human beings who show goodness or else follow divine law (cf. resurrection).

Immortality The Epic of Gilgamesh, one of the first literary works, dating back at least to the 22nd century BC, is primarily a quest of a hero seeking to become immortal.

Immortality Wittgenstein, in a notably non-theological interpretation of eternal life, writes in the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus|Tractatus that, If we take eternity to mean not infinite temporal duration but timelessness, then eternal life belongs to those who live in the present.

Immortality - Scientific
Life extension technologies promise a path to complete rejuvenation (aging)|rejuvenation. Cryonics holds out the hope that the dead can be revived in the future, following sufficient medical advancements. While, as shown with creatures such as Hydra (genus)|hydra and Planarian|planarian worms, it is indeed possible for a creature to be Biological immortality|biologically immortal, it is not yet known if it is possible for humans.

Immortality - Scientific
Mind uploading is the concept of transference of consciousness from a human brain to an alternative medium providing the same functionality. Assuming the process to be possible and repeatable, this would provide immortality to the consciousness, as predicted by futurists such as Ray Kurzweil.

Immortality - Religious
For example, various branches of Christianity have disagreeing views on the soul's immortality and its relation to the body (cf

Immortality - Physical immortality
Active pursuit of physical immortality can either be based on scientific trends, such as cryonics, digital immortality, breakthroughs in rejuvenation (aging)|rejuvenation or predictions of an impending technological singularity, or because of a spiritual belief, such as those held by Rastafari movement|Rastafarians or Rebirthing-Breathwork|Rebirthers.

Immortality - Causes of death
There are three main causes of death: aging, disease and physical trauma|trauma.

Immortality - Aging Aubrey de Grey, a leading researcher in the field, defines aging as follows: a collection of cumulative changes to the molecular and cell (biology)|cellular structure of an adult organism, which result in essential metabolic processes, but which also, once they progress far enough, increasingly disrupt metabolism, resulting in pathology and death

Disease is theoretically surmountable via technology
Immortality - Disease Disease is theoretically surmountable via technology

Immortality - Trauma Physical trauma would remain as a threat to perpetual physical life, even if the problems of aging and disease were overcome, as an otherwise immortal person would still be subject to unforeseen accidents or catastrophes

Immortality - Trauma The speed and quality of paramedic disaster relief operation|response remains a determining factor in surviving severe trauma. A body that could automatically treat itself from severe trauma, such as speculated uses for nanotechnology, would mitigate this factor. Without improvements to such things, very few people would remain alive after several tens of thousands of years purely based on accident rate statistics, much less millions or billions or more.

Immortality - Trauma Being the seat of consciousness, the brain cannot be risked to trauma if a continuous physical life is to be maintained. Therefore, it cannot be organ transplant|replaced or repaired in the same way other organs can. A method of transferring consciousness would be required for an individual to survive trauma to the brain, and this transfer would have to anticipate and precede the damage itself.

Immortality - Trauma If there is no limitation on the degree of gradual mitigation of risk then it is possible that the cumulative probability of death over an infinite horizon is less than certainty, even when the risk of fatal trauma Survival_analysis#Hazard_function_and_cumulative_hazard_function|in any finite period is greater than zero. Mathematically, this is an aspect of achieving Indefinite_lifespan#Actuarial_escape_velocity|Actuarial escape velocity.

Immortality - Biological immortality
Biological immortality is an absence of aging, specifically the absence of a sustained increase in rate of mortality as a function of chronological age. A cell or organism that does not experience aging, or ceases to age at some point, is biologically immortal.

Immortality - Biological immortality
By preventing cells from reaching senescence one can achieve biological immortality; telomeres, a cap at the end of DNA, are thought to be the cause of cell aging

Immortality - Biologically immortal species
Life defined as biologically immortal is still susceptible to causes of death besides aging, including disease and trauma, as defined above. Notable immortal species include:

* Turritopsis nutricula, a jellyfish, after becoming a sexually mature adult, can transform itself back into a polyp using the cell conversion process of transdifferentiation. Turritopsis nutricula repeats this cycle, meaning that it may have an indefinite lifespan. Its immortal adaptation has allowed it to spread from its original habitat in the Caribbean to all over the world.

* Bacteria (as a colony) – Bacteria reproduce through Binary Fission

* Bristlecone Pines are speculated to be potentially immortal; the oldest known living specimen is over 5,000 years old.

* Hydra (genus)|Hydra is a genus of simple fresh-water animal possessing symmetry (biology)#Radial symmetry|radial symmetry. Hydras are predatory animals belonging to the phylum Cnidaria and the class Hydrozoa.Gilberson, Lance, Zoology Lab Manual, 4th edition. Primis Custom Publishing

Immortality - Evolution of aging
As the existence of biologically immortal species demonstrates, there is no second law of thermodynamics|thermodynamic necessity for senescence: a defining feature of life is that it takes in Gibbs free energy|free energy from the environment and unloads its entropy as waste

Modern theories on the evolution of aging include the following:

* Mutation accumulation is a theory formulated by Peter Medawar in 1952 to explain how evolution would select for aging. Essentially, aging is never selected against, as organisms have offspring before the mortal mutations surface in an individual.

* Pleiotropy|Antagonistic pleiotropy is a theory proposed as an alternative by George C

* The disposable soma theory was proposed in 1977 by Thomas Kirkwood, which states that an individual body must allocate energy for metabolism, reproduction, and maintenance, and must compromise when there is food scarcity

Immortality - Life-extending substances
There are some known naturally occurring and artificially produced chemicals that may increase the lifetime or life-expectancy of a person or organism, such as resveratrol. Future research might enable scientists to increase the effect of these existing chemicals or to discover new chemicals (life-extenders) which might enable a person to stay alive as long as the person consumes them at specified periods of time.

Scientists believe that boosting the amount or proportion of a naturally forming enzyme, telomerase, in the body could prevent cells from dying and so may ultimately lead to extended, healthier lifespans

In normal circumstances, without the presence of telomerase, if a cell divides repeatedly, at some point all the progeny will reach their Hayflick limit

Embryonic stem cells express telomerase, which allows them to divide repeatedly and form the individual. In adults, telomerase is highly expressed in cells that need to divide regularly (e.g., in the immune system), whereas most somatic cells express it only at very low levels in a cell-cycle dependent manner.

Immortality - Technological immortality
An important aspect of current scientific thinking about immortality is that some combination of human cloning, cryonics or nanotechnology will play an essential role in extreme life extension

Immortality - Cryonics
Cryonics, the practice of preserving organisms (either intact specimens or only their brains) for possible future revival by storing them at cryogenic temperatures where metabolism and decay are almost completely stopped, can be used to 'pause' for those who believe that life extension technologies will not develop sufficiently within their lifetime

Immortality - Mind-to-computer uploading
One idea that has been advanced involves Mind uploading|uploading an individual's personality and memories via direct mind-computer interface

Immortality - Cybernetics
Transforming a human into a cyborg can include brain implants or extracting a human mind and placing it in a robotic life-support system

Immortality - Evolutionary immortality
Another approach, developed by biogerontologist Marios Kyriazis, holds that human biological immortality is an inevitable consequence of evolution

Immortality - Mystical and religious pursuits of physical immortality
Many Indian fables and tales include instances of metempsychosis—the ability to jump into another body—performed by advanced Yogis in order to live a longer life. There are also entire Hinduism|Hindu sects devoted to the attainment of physical immortality by various methods, namely the Naths and the Bhairava|Aghoras.

Long before modern science made such speculation feasible, people wishing to escape death turned to the supernatural world for answers. Examples include Chinese Taoists and the medieval alchemists and their search for the Philosopher's Stone, or more modern religious mystics, who believed in the possibility of achieving physical immortality through spiritual transformation.

Individuals claiming to be physically immortal include Comte de Saint-Germain; in 18th century France, he claimed to be centuries old, and people who adhere to the Ascended Master Teachings are convinced of his physical immortality. An Indian saint known as Vallalar claimed to have achieved immortality before disappearing forever from a locked room in 1874.

Rastafari movement|Rastafarians believe in physical immortality as a part of their religious doctrines. They believe that after God has called the Day of Judgment they will go to what they describe as Zion#Rastafari movement|Mount Zion in Africa to live in freedom forever. They avoid the term everlasting life and deliberately use ever-living instead.

Another group that believes in physical immortality are the Rebirthing-Breathwork|Rebirthers, who believe that by following the connected breathing process of rebirthing and the spiritual purification practices with earth, water, fire and mind, they can physically live forever.

Immortality - Religious views
The world's major religions hold a number of perspectives on spiritual immortality, the unending existence of a person from a nonphysical source or in a nonphysical state such as a soul. However any doctrine in this area misleads without a prior definition of soul. Another problem is that soul is often confused and used synonymously or interchangeably with spirit.

As late as 1952, the editorial staff of the A Syntopicon: An Index to The Great Ideas|Syntopicon found in their compilation of the Great Books of the Western World, that The philosophical issue concerning immortality cannot be separated from issues concerning the existence and nature of man's soul. Thus, the vast majority of speculation regarding immortality before the 21st century was regarding the nature of the afterlife.

In both Western and Eastern religions, the spirit is an energy or force that transcends the mortal body, and returns to the spirit realm whether to enjoy heavenly bliss or suffer eternal torment in hell, or the samsara|cycle of life, directly or indirectly depending on the tradition.

Immortality - Ancient Greek religion
Later he was found not only to have been resurrected but to have gained immortality.Dag Øistein Endsjø

Immortality - Ancient Greek religion
The philosophical idea of an immortal soul was a belief first appearing with either Pherecydes or the Orphics, and most importantly advocated by Plato and his followers

Immortality - Buddhism
Buddhism teaches that there is a cycle of birth, death, and rebirth (Buddhism)|rebirth and that the process is according to the qualities of a person's actions. This constant process of becoming ceases at the fruition of Bodhi (enlightenment (spiritual)|enlightenment) at which a being is no longer subject to causation (karma) but enters into a state that the Gautama Buddha|Buddha called amata (deathlessness).

According to the philosophical premise of the Buddha, the initiate to Buddhism who is to be shown the way to Immortality (amata),Majjhima Nikaya 2.265, Samyutta Nikaya 5.9 (PTS) wherein liberation of the mind (cittavimutta) is effectuated through the expansion of wisdom and the meditative practices of Mindfulness (Buddhism)|sati and samādhi, must first be educated away from his former ignorance-based (avidyā (Buddhism)|avijja) materialistic proclivities in that he saw any of these forms, feelings, or this body, to be my Self, to be that which I am by nature.

Form and consciousness being two of the five skandhas, or aggregates of ignorance, Buddhism teaches that physical immortality is neither a path to enlightenment, nor an attainable goal: even the gods which can live for eons eventually die

Immortality - Christianity
Christianity|Christian theology holds that Adam and Eve lost physical immortality for themselves and all their descendants in the Fall of Man, though this initial imperishability of the bodily frame of man was a preternatural condition.

Christians who profess the Nicene Creed believe that every dead person (whether they believed in Christ or not) will be Resurrection of the Dead|resurrected from the dead, and this belief is known as Universal resurrection.

Bible passages like 1 Corinthians 15 are interpreted as teaching that the resurrected body will, like the present body, be both physical (but a renewed and non-decaying physical body) and spiritual.

Contrary to common belief, there is no biblical support of Immortality of the soul|soul immortality as such in the New Testament, see Soul in the Bible. The theme in the Bible is resurrection life which imparts immortality, not about soul remaining after death. Martin Luther|Luther and others rejected John Calvin|Calvin's idea of soul immortality. Specific imagery of resurrection into immortal form is found in the Pauline letters:

In Romans 2:6–7 Paul declares that God will render to every man according to his deeds: To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life, but then in Romans 3 warns that no one will ever meet this standard with their own power but that Jesus did it for us.

Born-again Christians believe that after the Last Judgment, those who have been born again will live forever in the presence of God, and those who were never born again will be abandoned to never-ending consciousness of guilt, separation from God, and punishment for sin

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Immortality - Roman Catholicism
Roman Catholic Church|Catholic Christians teach that there is a supernatural realm called Purgatory where souls who have died in a divine grace|state of grace but have yet to expiate venial sins or temporal punishments due to past sins are cleansed before they are admitted into Heaven (Christianity)|Heaven

Immortality - Seventh-day Adventists
Seventh-day Adventists believe that only God has immortality, and when a person dies, death is a state of unconscious sleep until the resurrection. They base this belief on biblical texts such as Ecclesiastes 9:5 which states the dead know nothing, and 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18 which contains a description of the dead being raised from the grave at the second coming.

:And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. (cf. )

The text of Genesis 2:7 clearly states that God breathed into the formed man the breath of life and man became a living soul. He did not receive a living soul; he became one. The New King James Bible states that man became a living being. According to the Scriptures, only man received life in this way from God. Because of this man is the only living creature to have a soul.

:And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field ... wherein is the breath of life. (cf. , )

Of the many references to soul and spirit in the Bible, never once is either the soul or the spirit declared to be immortal, imperishable or eternal. Indeed only God has immortality (1 Timothy 1:17; 6:16). Adventists teach that the resurrection of the righteous will take place at the second coming of Jesus, at which time they will be restored to life and taken to reside in Heaven.

Immortality - Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses believe the word soul (nephesh or psykhe) as used in the Bible is a person, an animal, or the life a person or animal enjoys

Immortality - Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses make the distinction that those with eternal life can die though they do not succumb to disease or old age, whereas immortal ones cannot die by any cause.The Watchtower, 1 December 1963, 732, The Gift of Immortality They teach that Jesus was the first to be rewarded with heavenly immortality, but that Book of Revelation|Revelation 7:4 and Revelation 14:1, 3 refer to a literal number (144,000) of additional people who will become self-sustaining, that is, not needing anything outside themselves (food, sunlight, etc.) to maintain their own life.Insight on the Scriptures Vol

Immortality - Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormonism)
In Latter-day Saint (Mormon) theology, the spirit and the body constitute the human soul. Whereas the human body is subject to death on earth, they believe that the spirit never ceases to exist and that one day the spirits and bodies of all mankind will be reunited again. This doctrine stems from their belief that the resurrection of Jesus Christ grants the universal gift of immortality to every human being.

Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints also believe that, prior to their mortal birth, individuals existed as men and women in a spiritual state

The few who do not inherit any degree of glory (though they are resurrected) reside in a state called outer darkness, which, though not a degree of glory, is often discussed in this context. Only those known as the Son of Perdition|Sons of Perdition are condemned to this state.

Immortality - Other Christian beliefs
The doctrine of conditional immortality states the human soul is naturally mortal, and that immortality is granted by God as a gift. The doctrine is a significant minority evangelical view that has grown within evangelicalism in recent years.[ The Nature of Hell. Conclusions and Recommendations] by Evangelical Alliance

Immortality - Other Christian beliefs
Some sects who hold to the doctrine of baptismal regeneration also believe in a third realm called Limbo, which is the final destination of Soul (spirit)|souls who have not been baptised, but who have been innocent of mortal sin. Souls in Limbo include unbaptised infants and those who lived virtuously but were never exposed to Christianity in their lifetimes. Christian Science|Christian Scientists believe that sin brought death, and that death will be overcome with the overcoming of sin.

Immortality - Hinduism
Hinduism propounds that every living being, be it a human or animal, has a body and a soul (consciousness) and the bridge between the two is the mind (a mixture of both)

Immortality - Terminology
Hinduism|Hindus believe in an immortal soul which is reincarnated after death

Sri Aurobindo states that the Vedic and the post-Vedic rishis (such as Markandeya) attained physical immortality, which includes the ability to change one's shape at will, and create multiple bodies simultaneously in different locations.

There are explicit renderings in the Upanishads alluding to a physically immortal state brought about by purification, and sublimation of the 5 elements that make up the body

The above phenomenon is possible when the soul reaches enlightenment while the body and mind are still intact, an extreme rarity, and can only be achieved upon the highest most dedication, meditation and consciousness.

Immortality - Certain peculiar practices
The Aghoris of India consume human flesh in pursuit of immortality and supernatural powers, they call themselves gods and according to them they punish the sinners by rewarding them death on their way to immortality

That man indeed whom these (contacts)do not disturb, who is even-minded inpleasure and pain, steadfast, he is fitfor immortality, O best of men.Maharishi Mahesh Yogi on the Bhagavad-Gita, a New Translation and Commentary, Chapter 1-6. Penguin Books, 1969, pp (v 15)

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

Immortality - Islam And they say [non-believers in Allah], There is not but our worldly life; we die and live(i.e., some people die and others live, replacing them) and nothing destroys us except time.

Immortality - Islam And when Our verses are recited to them as clear evidences, their argument is only that they say,Bring [back] our forefathers, if you should be truthful. Say, Allah causes you to live, then causes you to die; then He will assemble you for the Day of Resurrection,about which there is no doubt, but most of the people do not know.(Quran, 45:24–26)

Immortality - Islam Islam|Muslims believe that everyone will be resurrected after death. Those who believed in Islam and led an evil life will undergo correction in Jahannam (Hell#Islam|Hell) but once this correction is over, they are admitted to Jannat (Paradise) and attain immortality. Infidels on the other hand and those who committed unforgivable evil will never leave Hell. Some individuals will therefore never taste Heaven.

Immortality - Islam (Quran, ) How can ye reject the faith in Allah?- seeing that ye were without life, and He gave you life; then will He cause you to die, and will again bring you to life; and again to Him will ye return.

Immortality - Islam Muslims believe that the present life is a trial in preparation for the next realm of existence

Immortality - Islam But those who disbelieve say, The Hour (i.e., the Day of Judgment) will not come to us

Immortality - Judaism In both Judaism and Christianity, there is no biblical support of soul immortality as such. The focus is on attaining resurrection life after death on the part of the believers.

Immortality - Judaism Judaism claims that the righteous dead will be resurrected in the Messianic age with the coming of the messiah. They will then be granted immortality in a perfect world. The wicked dead, on the other hand, will not be resurrected at all. This is not the only Jewish belief about the afterlife. The Tanakh is not specific about the afterlife, so there are wide differences in views and explanations among believers.

Immortality - Judaism The Hebrew Bible speaks about Sheol (שאול), originally a synonym of the grave-the repository of the dead or the cessation of existence until the Resurrection

Immortality - Taoism Spiritual immortality in this definition allows the soul to leave the earthly realms of afterlife and go to pure realms in the Taoist cosmology.Translated by Legge, James

Immortality - Zoroastrianism
The month of Amurdad or Ameretat is celebrated in Persian culture as ancient Persians believed the Angel of Immortality won over the Angel of Death in this month.Hoshang, Dr

Immortality - Ethics of immortality
The possibility of clinical immortality raises a host of medical, philosophical, and religious issues and ethical questions. These include persistent vegetative states, the nature of personality over time, technology to mimic or copy the mind or its processes, Human enhancement#Inequality and Social Disruption|social and economic disparities created by longevity, and survival of the heat death of the universe.

Immortality - Undesirability of immortality
The doctrine of immortality is essential to many of the world's religions. Narratives from Christianity and Islam assert that immortality is not desirable to the unfaithful:

The modern mind has addressed the undesirability of immortality. Science fiction writer Isaac Asimov commented, There is nothing frightening about an eternal dreamless sleep. Surely it is better than eternal torment in Hell and eternal boredom in Heaven.

At the end of this fantastical tale, her son, Wednesday, who has witnessed the havoc his mother's quest has caused, forgoes the opportunity for immortality when it is offered to him.[ Allen, Richard James, Thursday's Fictions, originally published by Five Islands Press, Wollongong, in 1999, republished online in 2011 at the Australian Poetry Library] Likewise, the novel Tuck Everlasting depicts immortality as falling off the wheel of life and is viewed as a curse as opposed to a blessing.

University of Cambridge philosopher Simon Blackburn, in his essay Religion and Respect, writes, things do not gain meaning by going on for a very long time, or even forever. Indeed, they lose it. A piece of music, a conversation, even a glance of adoration or a moment of unity have their alloted time. Too much and they become boring. An infinity and they would be intolerable.

Immortality - Politics
They aimed to provide political support to anti-aging and radical life extension research and technologies and at the same time transition to the next step, radical life extension, life without aging, and finally, immortality and aim to make possible access to such technologies to most currently living people.[ A Single-Issue Political Party for Longevity Science]

Immortal species abound in fiction, especially in fantasy literature.
Immortality - Fiction Immortal species abound in fiction, especially in fantasy literature.

Immortality test When the fidelity of the restored person is of a high-enough degree so that another person that was intimately familiar with the original scanned person could not distinguish the original from the restored person the immortality test would be considered passed.

Immortality test - Media references to Immortality test
Stanislaw Lem about his 1957 book Dialogi (Polish Press Wydawnictwo Literackie, Kraków): I demonstrated that even if we had a complete atomic blueprint of a human organism and a device capable of reconstructing tissues from atoms, we would not be able to achieve a resurrection

One reference to high-resolution brain scans that could recreate a person's full personality including memories was made by Ray Kurzweil in his book The Age of Spiritual Machines

The concept of restoring human memories into androids was the topic of movies such as Blade Runner which was based loosely on Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?,

The Sci-Fi series Caprica included the concept of an algorithm that could gather information about an individual from sources such as the Internet, and construct with them an intellectually indistinguishable virtual copy of that individual.

The 2006 film The Prestige (film)|The Prestige directly raises questions about the results of creating identical copies of a human being.

Immortality in fiction
'Immortality' is a popular subject 'in fiction', as it explores humanity's deep-seated fears and comprehension of its own Death|mortality. Immortal beings and species abound in fiction, especially fantasy fiction, and the meaning of immortal tends to vary.

Some fictional beings are completely immortal (or very nearly so) in that they are immune to death by injury, disease and age

In Harry Potter, witches or wizards are able to become immortal by creating horcruxes (as long as the Horcruxes are not destroyed) or by drinking the elixir of life, made with the Sorcerer's Stone|Philosopher's Stone, though the Elixir must be drunk often to maintain the immortality

Immortality in fiction - Mythical creatures
Mythological beings are often used in modern fiction as characters, as a plot device, or even just as window dressing. Such beings are often either immortal or associated with immortality.

Next World Story) the last remaining human male who survived a holocaust, blessed (or cursed) with immortality through the phoenix blood, would create another beginning of life

In the Cthulhu Mythos created by H

Immortality in fiction - Negative effects
While the immortality of Elves was not explicitly a curse, the mortality of Men was viewed as a gift, albeit one that was not understood by those possessing it

In the Doctor Who story The Brain of Morbius the Doctor comments that the Elixir of Life, which regenerates tissues, the Sisterhood of Karn guards could be synthesized by the gallon with the help of a decent spectrograph but the result would be appalling as Death is the price of progress. When challenged on the comment he points out that that Sisterhood of Karn who take the Elixir regularly prove the point as nothing about them or their culture has changed in centuries.

Beings born with immortality (such as deity|deities, demigods and races with limited immortality) are usually quite adjusted to their long lives, though some may feel sorrow at the passing of mortal friends, but they still continue on

In his short story 'The Immortal', Jorge Luis Borges treats the theme of immortality from an interesting perspective: after centuries and centuries, everything is repetition for the immortal and a feeling of ennui prevails. The immortal, who had turned so after drinking from a certain river, is set to wander the world in search for that same river, so that he can become mortal again.

The Dungeon Master in Zork Grand Inquisitor, a spirit in a lantern during the game, accidentally casts an immortality spell on himself while he still has his body. He soon grows terribly bored, and tries many ways of suicide, with little or comical effects, for example: Dear Diary, today I tried to kill myself by shoving a sword through my heart. All I got was heartburn.

In the radio adaptation, his immortality is removed right before the End of the Universe after insulting a deity.

In the manga Blade of the Immortal, Manji (Blade of the Immortal)|Manji is a samurai who has been cursed with immortality

In legend, most famously in Wagner's opera The Flying Dutchman (opera)|The Flying Dutchman, a ship's captain is cursed with immortality after attempting to sail around the Cape of Good Hope in a terrible storm. He is doomed to sail around the Cape forever.

In Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels, struldbrug|some of the inhabitants of the island of Immortals (near Japan) don't die, but they age and became ill, demented and a nuisance to themselves and those surrounding them. Swift presents immortality as a curse rather than a blessing. The film Zardoz also depicts a dystopian view of immortality, where interest in life has been lost and suicide is impossible.

The Star Trek: Voyager episode Death Wish (Voyager episode)|Death Wish explored in depth the existence of the omnipotent, immortal and omniscient aliens Q Continuum|Q

In the children's novel, Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt, a family is made physically immortal by drinking water from a magical spring. They are trapped at the same age forever and are invulnerable. They are hated by the ordinary people who knew them and are forced to watch as everything they cherish grows old and dies.

In the film and television series Highlander (franchise)|Highlander, once one dies for the first time, if they are an Immortal, they will spend the rest of eternity at that physical age. This poses a problem when one dies as a small child, or as a very old man. The same is true of the Claudia character in Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire, who became a vampire while still only a child, and the Blade: The Series|Blade television series.

In the Legacy of Kain series, vampirism was a curse placed upon an ancient race that won the war against the Hylden that granted bloodlust, Infertility|sterility and immortality, the latter causing their God to abandon them.

In the movie Death Becomes Her, the characters of Madeline Ashton and Helen Sharp both become immortal and young after drinking a potion, but this form of immortality has significant drawbacks; most significantly, unlike most forms of immortality, which include rapid healing from injuries, Madeline and Helen simply stop aging from the moment they drink the potion, and subsequently don't stop moving even after their bodies die

In the Supernatural (U.S

In Jack and the Beanstalk: The Real Story- a sequel to the tale of Jack and the Beanstalk looking at Jack's descendants in the present-, Jack's mother is revealed to still be alive in the present; while her son and his descendants was cursed to die young for stealing from the benevolent giant, for actually cutting down the beanstalk and delivering the fatal blow, Jack's mother is condemned to live forever, watching her children die, until the stolen relics are returned to the giants.

In the film Hocus Pocus (1993 film)|Hocus Pocus, while three witches seek immortality by sucking the life essence of children, they also curse one of their enemies, a young man named Thackery Binx, to become an immortal black cat to punish him for trying to stop them draining his sister's life-force so that he will be condemned to live forever with the guilt of not saving her

Immortality defined as finite but arbitrarily long per the desire to exist does not, as a definition, suffer this limitation

Several characters/species in the Touhou project|Touhou series are immortal

In the Soul (series)|Soul series,the character Zasalamel has shown to be immortal due to being able to Reincarnation|reincarnate, thus making him immortal

Immortality in fiction - Undeath
The undead are the fictional people who have died and still maintain some aspects of life. In many examples, the undead are immune to aging or even heal at an accelerated rate. Dracula is one of the most famous examples of the undead.

The Crimson King of Stephen King's The Dark Tower (series)|The Dark Tower series has achieved a kind of immortality (as well as invincibility) by swallowing a sharpened spoon, thus dying yet remaining a conscious being.

The Vampire (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)|vampires of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV series)|Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel (TV series)|Angel are immortal apart from the usual weaknesses of vampires- stakes, sunlight, decapitation and holy relics-, but it is clearly established that the vampire is merely a demon inhabiting the corpse of the person who was killed to become a vampire, possessing the memories of their human selves but incapable of genuine emotional connections such as love or guilt

The vampires of David Wellington (author)|David Wellington's novel Thirteen Bullets and its sequels are virtually indestructible- they can only be killed if their hearts are destroyed, possessing skin that becomes harder when they feed and able to regenerate even lost limbs-, but serious injuries sustained before they are turned will remain, such as one vampire lacking an eye and another missing the fingers of his left hand where they were bitten off

The roleplaying game Vampire: The Requiem, published by White Wolf, Inc.|White Wolf Publishing, Inc., has undeath be the form of immortality held by vampires wherein their bodies are absent of all life functions such as breathing and heartbeat

The character Raziel from Legacy of Kain is a wraith who is capable of passing between the spirit world and manifesting in the living/material realm. Due to his secondary remaking into a wraith, he is beyond the cycle of death and rebirth so therefore cannot be killed. Any significant damage done onto him in the living realm forces him to seep into the spirit world to heal and any fatal damage in the spirit world simply transports him back to the Elder God or an activated checkpoint.

In the films Re-Animator, and subsequently Bride of Re-Animator and Beyond Re-Animator, Dr Herbert West creates a serum that has the ability to re-animate dead tissue and stop its decay. In Re-Animator, re-animated corpses are shown to show some emotion and intelligence if they're fresh enough. However, the antagonist in the story lobotomizes re-animated decaying corpses to make them his slaves.

Because of this immortality, he can never be permanently killed

In the movies and television series Highlander (franchise)|Highlander along with its franchise, the main characters of Connor MacLeod, Duncan MacLeod, and Methos, with other characters, are immortals since they are immune to disease and stopped aging after they had their first death, they can live forever and they only can really die when they are beheaded.

In the anime series One Piece, Brook consumed a cursed fruit before his death

While they still retain some of their human features like hair and in Captain Barbosa's case his nose, this form of immortality is a curse rather than a blessing since they can't die but also cannot feel life's pleasures or even pain

Immortality in fiction - Science fiction
Immortality can be achieved in fiction through scientifically plausible means. Extraterrestrial life might be immortal or it might be able to give immortality to humans. Immortality is also achieved in many examples by replacing the mortal human body by machines.

The unforeseen downturn is that with immortality reached, there is no motivator for the Human Race to actually strive for anything more

Another example of immortality in Doctor Who is found in the character Jack Harkness, a companion to the Ninth Doctor|Ninth and Tenth Doctors, who was unintentionally transformed into a 'fact' of the timeline when fellow companion Rose Tyler temporarily acquired omnipotent power and brought him back to life after he was killed by the Daleks; unused to the power, Rose didn't just bring him back to life, she 'brought [him] back forever'

In the Doctor Who spin-off series Torchwood, Jack's colleague Owen Harper acquired a similar kind of immortality when he was brought back to life after being shot

This is eventually undone and Jack's immortality restored, with all patients classified as 'Category One' under the new medical rules- being fatally injured to the point where the Miracle was the only reason they hadn't died yet- being given a brief moment of clarity and peace before they died.

Doctor Weil (Mega Man Zero)|Doctor Weil from Mega Man Zero had his memories transferred into program data and his body remodeled into that of a cyborg's as punishment for sparking the Elf Wars, using the Dark Elf (Mega Man Zero)|Dark Elf to attack Reploids and humanity alike. He was then banished from nature and humanity, which eventually drove him insane.

The Goa'uld do experience a different measure of immortality as they possess genetic memory, so any direct descendants will have all the memories of their predecessor

In the spinoff to SG-1, Stargate Atlantis, the main villains, the Wraith (Stargate)|Wraith, who drain the life force of human beings to survive, can't die of natural causes, and are difficult to kill by force (their toughness depends on the time of the last feasting). In the episode The Defiant One, a Wraith remained alive for over 10,000 years by cannibalizing other Wraith when its original food source (captured humans) was depleted.

Another species in the series, the Asgard (Stargate)|Asgard, have mastered a form of immortality, by transferring their minds into cloned bodies when their original form sustains serious injury, but by the time they encounter Earth they have begun to die due to their genetic structure breaking down as a result of being cloned so often, the race committing mass suicide at the conclusion of SG-1 to spare themselves the pain of the death that now awaits them after recognising that they cannot save themselves.

Over the course of the series, there is a side-plot, which focuses on the downsides of immortality: It is hard to engage in relationships, when your partner ages and dies off

However, the main characters in the story debate about the ethics and benefits of immortality, reaching to the conclusion that it stalls the evolution of humankind and it's severely counterproductive to any long-term expectations

In the novel Ender's Shadow a genetic modification known as Anton's Key is discovered, allowing the human mind to achieve supreme intelligence at the cost of an extremely short life, and it is said that the reverse can be done, making a person immortal at the cost of nearly all intelligence.

In Tad Williams' Otherland novels, the Grail Brotherhood, a group made up of the most affluent people in the world, attempt to achieve eternal life in Virtual Reality. They try to copy their neural pathways into virtual replicas with all of their memories, then kill their physical forms. The process fails due to complications involving the system's Artificial Intelligence.

In the LucasArts adventure game The Dig, the remains of an alien civilisation advanced enough to gain first physical and then spiritual immortality are explored and analysed. It eventually turns out that the obsession with living forever ultimately brought about their downfall; they lived forever, but lost everything that made life worth living.

In the Warhammer 40,000 fictional universe, set thousands of years in the future and across the galaxy, there are many examples of immortality and life extension

In the Richard K. Morgan novel Altered Carbon their consciousness rotated into a new clone when they die. Certain wealthy called Meths (short for Methuselah) can afford to have their consciousness rotated through a series of perpetual rejuvenated clones, thus avoiding old age. It is wryly noted however, that most people don't have the stomach to experience old age and death more than twice, and opt to be put on stack (stored) except for special family occasions.

One of the issues discussed in these novels, particular Chasm City, is the manner in which characters deal with their immortality and the boredom it inevitably generates

This kind of immortality is, however, illusionary

Whether this would qualify as immortality is debatable.

In Misfits (TV series)|Misfits, a flash storm gives several teenagers currently doing community service superpowers

In Alias (TV series)|Alias, the character of Arvin Sloane, fixated on the work of brilliant Renaissance inventor Milo Rambaldi, discovers Rambaldi's last great secret in the series finale when he falls into a special fluid and becomes immortal, only to be subsequently trapped in a secret tomb under several hundred feet of rock.

Thus, although humankind could achieve immortality, they avoid it consciously.

In The Electric Church by Jeff Somers, the Electric Church is a religious organization founded by Dennis Squalor, a scientist and religious figure who believed that salvation was only attainable through living forever

Immortality in fiction - Regeneration
There are many examples of immortality in fiction where a character is vulnerable to death and injury in the normal way but possesses an extraordinary capacity for recovery.

The British long-running sci-fi series Doctor Who focuses on a character called Doctor (Doctor Who)|the Doctor, a member of the alien Time Lord race, who can Regeneration (Doctor Who)|regenerate instead of dying or aging; however, rather than simply healing wounds, this results in his entire physical appearance changing when he is fatally wounded or terminally sick, and he is only capable of doing so twelve times before finally dying for good

In the Doctor Who story The Five Doctors, Lord President Borusa of Gallifrey uses the first five regenerations of the Doctor and various companions in a plot to gain the immortality of Rassilon, the founder of Time Lord society, for himself. But it turns out to be a trap conceived of by Rassilon to deal with individuals with such a desire, Borusa being trapped for eternity as a living statue in Rassilon's tomb. As the First Doctor says in the end, Immortality is a curse, not a blessing.

On the TV show South Park, the character Kenny McCormick was killed in nearly every earlier episode, but always came back to life in the next episode without any apparent explanation (Although characters were apparently aware of his regular deaths, such as Eric Cartman once saying that Kenny 'died all the time' or Kenny himself once complaining that his friends never cared when he died)

X-Men's Wolverine (comics)|Wolverine is a character with keen animal-like senses, and whose mutant healing abilities made it possible for a specialized fictional alloy called adamantium to be grafted to his entire skeleton without the subsequent metal poisoning killing him almost instantly, with the addition of two sets of three razor-sharp claws that extend from each hand (Although later stories revealed that the claws were a part of his natural mutation, the process simply making them metal rather than the bone they would have been normally)

In the manga Naruto, Tsunade (Naruto)|Tsunade, known as the greatest Medical Specialist has developed a jutsu known as Creation Rebirth which allows her to not just heal damage organs but rather, speed up the mitotic process and regenerated any damaged organs instantly making her virtually immortal for the entire duration of the jutsu

In the Gerry Anderson 1960s television series, Captain Scarlet (character)|Captain Scarlet was supposedly indestructible

Jason Voorhees from the Friday the 13th (franchise)|Friday the 13th movies is considered to be immortal

In the popular Japanese novel, Kōga Ninpōchō, the character Yakushiji Tenzen is considered immortal due to his ability to regenerate all damage done to him. How this regeneration is possible is differently explained in all of the different versions of the story.

In the TV series Heroes (TV series)|Heroes, the character of Claire Bennett- along with her uncle, Peter Petrelli, who has the ability to mimic the powers of others- has the power of healing factor|spontaneous regeneration, resulting in her body tissue simply regenerating when she's injured

In the television series Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series)|Battlestar Galactica, humanoid and raider Cylon (reimagining)|Cylon models download into new bodies if their current incarnation is destroyed

In the game-series Metal Gear Solid, created by Hideo Kojima, the villain Vamp (Metal Gear)|Vamp reappears after being shot in the head and other normally life-threatening events

In the anime Dragon Ball Z Piccolo can regenerate as can the movie villain Lord Slug as they are both from the Namakian race of aliens who can regenerate limbs. One of the major supervillains in the series Cell can regenerate because he has the cells of Piccolo.

Immortality in fiction - Spiritual
There are numerous works of fantasy fiction dealing with spiritual immortality in the form of reincarnation or a world of the dead. The novel What Dreams May Come by Richard Matheson and the Tim Burton film Beetlejuice have heroes who are forced to explore such worlds after their untimely deaths.

In the book Thursday's fictions by Richard James Allen, the character Thursday tries to cheat the cycle of reincarnation to achieve a form of serial immortality - by rediscovering who she is each time she comes back to life in a different body

In the roleplaying game Wraith: The Oblivion, published by White Wolf, Inc.|White Wolf Publishing, Inc., the afterlife is place known as the Underworld, where certain people who die enter as ghosts, emotionally bound to their former lives

In the game Soul Calibur III the final boss of the game Zasalamel (ultimate form “Abyss (religion)|Abyss”) was a member of an ancient Egyptian tribe that guarded the mythical Soul Calibur

In Star Wars, Jedi are shown to have mastered a form of immortality by passing into the Force (Star Wars)|Force upon their deaths, becoming Force 'ghosts' who can communicate with the living

Immortality in fiction - Comic books
The Eternals (comics)|Eternals of Marvel comics fame are a race of ancient people created by the Celestial (comics)|Celestials, along with the Eternals (comics)|Eternals and Deviant (comics)|Deviants

DC Comics also has its fare share of immortals, such as the more advanced New Gods (e.g. Darkseid, Highfather), Vandal Savage, Lobo (DC Comics)|Lobo, Wonder Woman and the rest of the Amazons (DC Comics)|Amazonians, and the Guardians of the Universe. Also, long-time Batman villain Ra's al Ghul uses the Lazarus Pit to keep himself immortal.

In the Indian comic book series Chacha Chaudhary, the character Raaka drank a medicine made by Chakram Acharya, and became immortal.

Immortality in fiction - Anime and manga
In the Dragon Ball series, many antagonists seek the dragon balls to gain immortality including Vegeta, Nappa, and Freeza in the Dragon Ball Z series. Garlic Jr. achieves this feat.

Kakuzu is partially immortal because of his unique ability to add new organs (specifically hearts) to his body in order to increase his already long life though he doesn't view this ability as immortality

Though the world is jealous of Methuselah's immortality, he suffers from it and wants nothing more than to die.

In Baccano characters become immortal after drinking an elixer of immortality, immortals can consume one another if a person gets tired of living forever and wants to die and gains the knowledge of that person.

Later in the series the main antagonist Sosuke Aizen obtains true immortality, but in the process he loses most of his power and is imprisoned for his crimes.

Hitomi Kagewaki|Naraku, the main antagonist of Inuyasha, became partially immortal when he rejected his human heart. He could not be killed unless his heart, which took the form of an infant called Akago, was destroyed. A good example of this is when Sesshomaru shreds Naraku to pieces (and yet he still survives) when they are fighting in the Netherworld, after Inuyasha destroys Naraku's barrier with Kongosoha (Diamond Shard Blast).

In Jojo's Bizarre Adventure Dio Brando the main antagonist of part 1 and 3 of the series becomes immortal after using the power of a stone mask to become a vampire.

Also, the main antagonists of the series, a set of homonculi, attain partial immortality

In Hellsing the Vampire Alucard (Hellsing)|Alucard (Dracula) has lived for 500 years. he hasn't died, but has been beaten twice. the first time was when he was killed as a human after a battle against the Ottoman Empire(he became a vampire by drinking the blood of his soldiers) the second time was when he was beaten by Abraham Van Hellsing.

Charles has also forcefully taken away the 'Code' from his brother at one point in the series, gaining his immortality while V.V

In the Slayers series, there have been a number of characters who appear to be immortal. In Slayers Next, it is revealed that a human who makes the Pledge with the Mazaku (Monster) race can gain immortality. A villain named Halcyform was able to achieve this by pledging with another villain named Seigram, who was indeed, a Mazaku.

The Mermaid Saga is based on a Japanese myth, according to which mermaid flesh may grant immortality to those who eat it. The immortal main character wanders the earth searching for a cure for his condition and meets others with the same fate along the way.

Immortality in fiction - Other versions
Many methods of immortality are sought by Voldemort in the Harry Potter series, including Horcruxes, unicorn blood, the deathly hallows, and the Philosopher's Stone. Albus Dumbledore, the mentor of Harry Potter, considers natural death to be a great adventure, and immortality is associated with evil.

The Immortal (Highlander)|Immortals of Highlander: The Series possess immortality granted by an unknown energy (called the Quickening), which is triggered by the trauma of a violent death

In Tom Robbins' book Jitterbug Perfume, the characters of Alobar and Kudra explore the realms of immortality through their will to attain eternal life.

In Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords|Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II, Darth Sion has a unique force power called Pain, which keeps him alive forever but never allows any of his wounds to heal. The Exile convinced him to turn away from the Force which finally allowed him to die.

In Mother 3, the leader of the mysterious Pig Mask Army is revealed as Porky Minch, an antagonist from EarthBound (series)|Earthbound

After becoming immortal, he did everything one can do in life, several times, becoming terribly boredom|bored of everything due to him lacking the instinctive knowledge of other immortal beings that allowed them to cope with their immortality

The Phantom is a comic character who appears to be immortal, fighting pirates and evil across centuries. However it is just a dynasty of heroes who pass the mask and suit of the Phantom along generations. Their secret is known just to their aides and wives.

In Andromeda (TV series)|Andromeda, the character Trance Gemini is the Incarnation|avatar of the original Vedran sun, and as such, has special powers. She and her sisters can live as long as stars do: for billions of years. It's unknown whether Trance has physical immortality, or if she was even ever alive; it is alluded to on some occasions that she is dead and alive at the same time.

The character Oro (Street Fighter)|Oro in the Street Fighter (series)|Street Fighter metaverse is explicitly said to be immortal. M. Bison constantly claims to be immortal, but that is contradicted by Capcom's statement that he is dead and in Hell. There are also strong hints that Akuma (Street Fighter)|Akuma and Twelve (Street Fighter)|Twelve are immortal.

Vampires are immortal and practically impossible to kill, save for sunlight, fire, or decapitation.

The nameless protagonist of the video game Planescape: Torment has a kind of limited immortality: he will die if injured enough, but he will always wake up again shortly afterward, albeit with some or all of his memories missing

It is implied that Shadow destroyed Black Doom in Shadow the Hedgehog (video game)|Shadow the Hedgehog (which would make Black Doom Biological Immortality|Biologically Immortal), and Shadow himself was almost killed in Sonic Adventure 2; it is implied that he would have died if he wasn't rescued by Dr Eggman

Poul Anderson's The Boat of a Million Years concerns several otherwise ordinary people who stop aging at maturity. The book follows their struggles through the millennia, through the late 20th century and beyond.

In the role-playing game Exalted, there exist objects known as Hearthstones of Immortality. While exceedingly rare, the bearer of one will not only become immortal, but if they were already old when they obtained the stone, they will no longer suffer the ill-effects of old age (senility, failing senses, etc.). In addition, there also exists an Age-Staving Cordial. While expensive, weekly doses of the cordial can increase the imbiber's lifespan by 25%.

In the animated TV series Adventure Time, Adventure Time#Recurring characters|The Ice King, previously known as 'Simon Petrikov' is proven to be at least years old, being a survivor of the Mushroom War. He gained his longevity from an ancient crown artifact he bought somewhere in Scandinavia. The crown itself is also his source of ice power, but also causes him to be seemingly insane.

Immortality in fiction - Fictional immortals
The list is in chronological order for the first appearance of the fictitious character.

* Anton York (Conquest of Life, Wonder Stories|Thrilling Wonder Stories August 1937 by Eando Binder) Anton York was injected with a chemical formula that would halt his aging until the universe was double its current age. At that point he could presumably produce and drink a second dose, if he so desired. A series of Anton York stories were written which were later collected in the anthology Anton York, Immortal in 1965.

* Robert Hedrock, The Weapon Shops of Isher 1941 and The Weapon Makers 1943 by A. E. van Vogt. A man accidentally becomes immortal, and secretly runs an organization that provides exclusively self-defensive weapons to people and runs a parallel justice system.

* Woodrow Wilson Smith, also known as Lazarus Long, Methuselah's Children 1941 by Robert A. Heinlein. A fairly early 'Howard', Smith becomes the Senior of the Howard families, who are named for Ira Howard (founder of a project to extend the human lifespan). He is mentioned in four other Heinlein novels, most notably Time Enough for Love.

* Vandal Savage (Green Lantern vol. 1 #10, Winter 1943) Caveman Vandar Adg was bathed in the radiation of a mysterious meteorite, granting him intellect and immortality. In subsequent years, he claims to have been or advised dozens of world leaders.

* Immortal Man (Strange Adventures #177, June 1965) Gaining immortality from the same meteorite that granted longevity to Vandal Savage, the Immortal Man instantaneously reincarnates when he dies.

* Ra's al Ghul (Batman|Batman #232, 1971) Ra's maintained an unnaturally long life through the use of natural phenomena known as Lazarus Pits. Other characters given some measure of immortality by the Lazarus Pit include al Ghul's father Sensei (DC Comics)|Sensei, his daughters Talia al Ghul and Nyssa Raatko, and his agent Whisper A'Daire.

*Captain Scarlet (character)|Captain Scarlet (1967), in the British Supermarionation science fiction television series Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, was turned immortal after undergoing Mysteronization.

*Gilgamesh the immortal (1969), from the Argentine comic of the same name, was an ancient king turned immortal by advanced technology.

* Casca Longinus (Casca (series)|Casca: The Eternal Mercenary, 1979) Casca is the Roman soldier who plunges his spear into the side of Jesus on the cross at Golgotha and is cursed to wander the world forever until the two should meet again.

* List of minor characters from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy#Wowbagger, the Infinitely Prolonged|Wowbagger, the Infinitely Prolonged is an alien from Douglas Adams's Life, the Universe and Everything (1982) who was made immortal by an unfortunate accident with an irrational particle accelerator, a liquid lunch and a pair of rubber bands. He has devoted his eternal life to the impossible task of insulting everyone in the Universe alphabetically.

* Raoul Lavallière (né Tibalt de Montrefort), in The Dark Side of the Sun (TV serial)|The Dark Side of the Sun (1983), is a 14C former Knights Templar|Knight Templar with psychic powers. He can only die when the circumstances of a prophecy are fulfilled; he quickly recovers from other methods of killing him.

Craig Hollis) is a Mutant (Marvel Comics)|mutant (possibly an Omega-level mutant) whose power is (as his name suggests) immortality

*Cazador (1992), from the eponymous Argentine comic, is an immortal, insane assassin.

*Bloodshot (comics)|Bloodshot (1992), a super-soldier whose nanites keep him functionally immortal.

*The immortal brothers Timewalker, Archer Armstrong|Armstrong, and the Eternal Warrior (1992), from various Valiant Comics series.

*Mister Majestic, Nemesis (Wildstorm)|Nemesis, Savant (Wildstorm)|Savant, Zealot (Wildstorm)|Zealot, Lord Emp, and other members of the Kherubim, an alien race in the 1992 Wildstorm series Wildcats (comics)|Wildcats. Their foes are the similarly immortal D'rahn and Daemonite races, among them the Daemonite Helspont.

*Manji (Blade of the Immortal)|Manji (1993), a samurai warrior given immortality in the Dark Horse Comics series Blade of the Immortal.

*Backlash (Marc Slayton)|Backlash (1993), an Atlantean member of the hero team Stormwatch (comics)|Stormwatch, in the Wildstorm comics universe.

* Tory Alexander (The Ancient Future Trilogy|The Ancient Future, 1996) Through an elixir of sorts given to her by Taliesin, she achieves immortality thanks to the god-like gene in her DNA.

* Mitchell Shelley, the Resurrection Man (Resurrection Man #1, May 1997) Shelley was an unwilling nanotechnology test subject, who gained effective immortality since, although he can be killed, his death lasts no longer than a few minutes, whereon he is revived by tektites with a different superhuman power. He has similar powers to Immortal Man, whom Shelley was thought to be for a while.[ Cosmic Teams!]. Retrieved March 3, 2008.

*Tomie, from the eponymous 1999 comic book series, is a Japanese High School student who can be killed, but regenerates her body whenever she dies and returns to life.

* Enoch Root (Cryptonomicon, 1999) Root, an alchemist, possesses an elixir which allows him to resurrect after death.

* The Creeper, from Jeepers Creepers (2001 film) and Jeepers Creepers 2, is an immortal demon who feeds on human beings for twenty-three days, on every twenty-third spring.

*Kane (fantasy) A character of the sword and sorcery genre written by Karl Edward Wagner. Kane is a left-handed man with red hair; cursed by a mad god he wanders the Earth for millennia adventuring.

* Robert Carson/Cormac O'Connor (Forever 2003 by Pete Hamill) Cormac arrived in New York in 1741 as a teenager to avenge the deaths of his Irish family. After allegedly dying while protecting an African shaman, he was subsequently granted immortality as long as he remains on the island of Manhattan.

*Rex Mundi (Malibu Comics)|Rex Mundi (2003), from the Malibu Comics series of the same name, is a being involved in most of the Ultraverse's important events through history.

*Immortal (Image Comics)|Immortal, from the 2004 Image Comics series Invincible (comics)|Invincible, is the immortal leader of the Guardians of the Globe.

*Invincible Ed, from the eponymous 2004 Dark Horse Comics series of the same name, is a human who receives immortality through the power of the right.

* Jack Harkness from Doctor Who (2005) and Torchwood, who became immortal after being resurrected by the power of the time vortex (Doctor Who)|vortex.

* Trance Gemini from Andromeda (TV series)|Andromeda the avatar of the Tarn Vedra sun.

* Lo Pan year old warrior played by James Hong in John Carpenter's Big Trouble in Little China.

* Adam Monroe/ Takezo Kensei, a character in the popular television series Heroes (TV series)|Heroes. Due to his ability to healing factor|regenerate, he has lived for nearly 400 years, taking part in events such as the American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War. He has married 10 times, outliving every wife, and has assumed a wide array of different names. Died when his power was stolen.

*John Oldman, the protagonist in the film The Man From Earth. He claims to be a prehistoric caveman who has survived on Earth for 14,000 years. Oldman's name is a pun on the words Old and Man as are other pseudonyms used by him in the past such as John T. Partee of Boston.

Immortality in fiction - Fictional lists
As noted above, specific characters who as a class tend to be immortal such as vampires and robots are not listed individually. Lists of classes who as a group tend to be possibly immortal include:

* Elf (Middle-earth)|Elves in Middle-earth, such as Elrond|Elrond Half-elven. (The Hobbit, 1937, and The Lord of the Rings.) Elves are immortal, and half-elves can choose mortality or immortality.

*Undead, as most undead are portrayed as immortal.

Turritopsis dohrnii - Biological immortality
This ability to reverse the life cycle (in response to adverse conditions) is probably unique in the animals|animal kingdom, and allows the jellyfish to bypass death, rendering Turritopsis dohrnii potentially biological immortality|biologically immortal

Turritopsis dohrnii - Biological immortality
The Turritopsis dohrnii's cell development method of transdifferentiation has inspired scientists to find a way to make stem cells use this process for renewing damaged or dead tissue in humans.

Longevity - Biological immortality
Certain exotic organisms do not seem to be subject to aging and can live indefinitely. Examples include Tardigrades and Hydra (genus)|Hydras. That is not to say that these organisms cannot die, merely that they only die as a result of disease or injury rather than age-related deterioration (and that they are not subject to the Hayflick limit).

List of longest-living organisms - Biological immortality
If the mortality rate of a species does not increase after maturity, the species does not age and is said to be Biological immortality|biologically immortal. There are many examples of plants and animals for which the mortality rate actually decreases with age, for all or part of the life cycle.

If the mortality rate remains constant, the rate determines the mean lifespan. The lifespan can be long or short, even though the species technically does not age.

* Sanicula is a herb, native to Europe and New World|the Americas, which lives about 70 years in the wild. Old saniculae do not die at a higher rate than younger ones.

* Sea urchins, lobsters and some clams have relatively high rates of mortality in the ocean, but mortality does not appear to increase with age.

* Hydras were observed, in a study published in the journal Experimental Gerontology, for four years without any increase in mortality rate.

There are stranger examples of species that have been observed to regress to a larval state and regrow into adults multiple times:

* The Hydrozoan species Turritopsis dohrnii is capable of cycling from a mature adult stage to an immature polyp stage and back again. This means that there may be no natural limit to its life span. However, no single specimen has been observed for any extended period, and it is impossible to estimate the age of a specimen.

* The larvae of carrion beetles have evolved to undergo a degree of reversed development when starved, and later to grow back to the previously attained level of maturity. The cycle can be repeated many times.

Hayflick limit - Belief of cell immortality
Prior to Hayflick's discovery, it was believed that vertebrate cells had an unlimited potential to replicate

Carrel's result is suspected to be due to an error in experimental procedure. To provide required nutrients, chick embryonic stem cells may have been readded to the culture daily. This would have easily allowed the cultivation of new, fresh cells in the culture, so there was not an infinite reproduction of the original cells. If this is true, it has been speculated that Carrel knew about the error, but he never admitted it.

Conversely, it has been theorized that the cells Carrel used were young enough to contain cell potency|pluripotent stem cells, which if supplied with a supporting Telomerase-activation nutrient, would have been capable of staving off replicative senescence, or even possibly reversing it

Digital immortality 'Digital immortality' (or virtual immortality, or immortality in silico) is storing a person's personality in a more durable media, i.e., a computer, and allowing it to communicate with people in the future. The result might look like an Wiktionary:avatar|avatar behaving, reacting, and thinking like a person on the basis of that person's digital archive. After the death of the individual, this avatar could remain static or continue to learn and develop autonomously.

Digital immortality - The realism of the concept
The futurist Ian Pearson believes that humans will achieve a kind of virtual immortality by saving their consciousnesses into computers by the year 2050.

The National Science Foundation has awarded a half-million-dollar grant to the universities of Central Florida at Orlando and Illinois at Chicago to explore how researchers might use artificial intelligence, archiving, and computer imaging to create convincing, digital versions of real people, a possible first step toward virtual immortality.

The Digital Immortality Institute explores three factors necessary for digital immortality. First, at whatever level of implementation, avatars require guaranteed Internet accessibility. Next, avatars must be what users specify, and they must remain so. Finally, future representations must be secured before the living users are no more.

Digital immortality - Archiving and digitizing people
According to Gordon Bell and Jim Gray (computer scientist)|Jim Gray from Microsoft Research, retaining every conversation that a person has ever heard is already realistic: it needs less than a terabyte of computer data storage|storage (for adequate quality). The speech recognition|speech or optical character recognition|text recognition technologies are one of the biggest challenges of the concept.

A second possibility would be to archive and analyze social Internet use to map the personality of people. By analyzing social Internet use during 50 years, it would be possible to model a society's culture, a society's way of thinking, and a society's interests.

Richard Grandmorin summarized the concept of digital immortality by the following equation: semantic analysis + social internet use + Artificial Intelligence = immortality.

Digital immortality - Making the avatar alive
Making the avatar live allows it to communicate with the future in the sense that it continues to learn, evolve and interact with people. Technically, the operation exists to implement an artificial intelligence system to the avatar. This artificial intelligence system will think and react on the base of the archive.

Digital immortality - Calibration process
During the calibration process, the biological people are living at the same time as their artifact in silicon. The artifact in silicon is calibrated to be as close as possible to the person in question.

South African company law - Immortality
Another consequence of the separation between the company and the individual shareholders is that, unlike an unincorporated business, companies do not die with their owners. This does not mean that companies go on always and forever. They can die, too, through takeovers, mergers or bankruptcy, or when their owners decide to close them down.

William Godwin - Interest in earthly immortality
Godwin explored the themes of life extension and immortality in his Gothic fiction|gothic novel St

Deism - Beliefs about immortality of the soul
Deists hold a variety of beliefs about the soul. Some, such as Lord Herbert of Cherbury and William Wollaston, held that souls exist, survive death, and in the afterlife are rewarded or punished by God for their behavior in life. Some, such as Benjamin Franklin, believed in reincarnation or resurrection. Others, such as Thomas Paine, had definitive beliefs about the immortality of the soul:

Deism - Beliefs about immortality of the soul
Still others such as Anthony Collins, Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke|Bolingbroke, Thomas Chubb, and Peter Annet were materialists and either denied or doubted the immortality of the soul.

Fall of man - Immortality
According to the Genesis narrative, during the Antediluvian|Antediluvian age, human longevity approached a millennium, such as the case of Adam who lived 930 years

Fall of man - Immortality
However, the grammar does not support this reading, nor does the narrative: Adam and Eve are expelled from the Garden lest they eat of the second tree, the tree of life, and gain immortality.Harry Orlinsky's Notes to the NJPS Torah Another explanation is that Adam will undergo a spiritual death

Christian views on Hell - View of conditional immortality and annihilationism
A minority of Protestants believe in the doctrine of conditional immortality, which teaches that those sent to hell will not experience eternal conscious punishment, but instead will be extinguished or annihilationism|annihilated after a period of limited conscious punishment.[ The Problem of Hell]

Prominent evangelical theologians who have adopted conditionalist beliefs include John Wenham, Edward Fudge, Clark Pinnock and John Stott (although the last has described himself as an agnostic on the issue of annihilationism). Conditionalists typically reject the traditional concept of the immortality of the soul.

The Seventh-day Adventist Church, Jehovah's Witnesses and Christadelphians teach the annihilationist viewpoint.

Gilgamesh flood myth - The flood hero and his wife are granted immortality and transported far away
#He then boards a boat and grasping Utnapishtim's hand, helps him and his wife aboard where they kneel. Standing between Utnapishtim and his wife, he touches their foreheads and blesses them. Formerly Utnapishtim was a human being, but now he and his wife have become gods like us. Let Utnapishtim reside far away, at the mouth of the rivers.

Gilgamesh flood myth - The flood hero and his wife are granted immortality and transported far away
#Utnapishtim and his wife are transported and settled at the mouth of the rivers.

Maimonides - Resurrection, acquired immortality, and the afterlife
Maimonides distinguishes two kinds of intelligence in man, the one material in the sense of being dependent on, and influenced by, the body, and the other immaterial, that is, independent of the bodily organism. The latter is a direct emanation from the universal active intellect; this is his interpretation of the noûs poietikós of Aristotelian philosophy. It is acquired as the result of the efforts of the soul to attain a correct knowledge of the absolute, pure intelligence of God.

Man is in a position to work out his own salvation and his immortality.

Baruch Spinoza|Spinoza's doctrine of immortality was strikingly similar. But Spinoza teaches that the way to attain the knowledge which confers immortality is the progress from sense-knowledge through scientific knowledge to philosophical intuition of all things sub specie æternitatis, while Maimonides holds that the road to perfection and immortality is the path of duty as described in the Torah and the rabbinic understanding of the oral law.

Maimonides wrote much on this topic, but in most cases he wrote about the immortality of the soul for people of perfected intellect; his writings were usually not about the resurrection of dead bodies

Rabbinic works usually refer to this afterlife as Jewish eschatology|Olam Haba (the World to Come). Some rabbinic literature|rabbinic works use this phrase to refer to a messianic era, an era of history here on Earth; in other rabbinic works this phrase refers to a purely spiritual realm. During Maimonides's lifetime the debate expanded into a full-blown controversy, with Maimonides charged as a heresy|heretic by some Judaism|Jewish leaders.

Some Jews at this time taught that Judaism did not require a belief in the physical resurrection of the dead, as the afterlife would be a purely spiritual realm

Eventually, Maimonides felt pressured to write a treatise on the subject, the Ma'amar Tehiyyat Hametim The Treatise on Resurrection. Chapter two of the treatise on resurrection refers to those who believe that the world to come involves physically resurrected bodies. Maimonides refers to one with such beliefs, as being an utter fool whose belief is folly.

:If one of the multitude refuses to believe [that angels are incorporeal] and prefers to believe that angels have bodies and even that they eat, since it is written (Genesis 18:8) 'they ate', or that those who exist in the World to Come will also have bodies—we won't hold it against him or consider him a heretic, and we will not distance ourselves from him

Maimonides also writes, that those who claimed that he believed the verses of the Tanakh|Hebrew Bible referring to the resurrection were only allegorical, were spreading falsehoods and revolting statements

While these two positions may be seen as in contradiction (non-corporeal eternal life, versus a bodily resurrection), Maimonides resolves them with a then unique solution: Maimonides believed that the resurrection was not permanent or general

In this view, any dead who are resurrected must eventually die again

He writes It appears to us on the basis of these verses (Daniel 12:2,13) that those people who will return to those bodies will eat, drink, copulate, beget, and die after a very long life, like the lives of those who will live in the Days of the Messiah. Maimonides thus disassociated the resurrection of the dead from both the World to Come and the Messianic era.

In his time, many Jews believed that the physical resurrection was identical to the world to come; thus denial of a permanent and universal resurrection was considered tantamount to denying the words of the Talmudic sages

Christian mortalism - Immortality of the soul
Shedd, and Louis Berkhof also taught the immortality of the soul, but some later Reformed theologians such as Herman Bavinck and G

Opponents of #Psychopannychism|Psychopannychism and #thnetopsychism|Thnetopsychism include the Roman Catholic Church, most mainline Protestant denominations, and most conservative Protestants, Evangelicals, and Fundamentalists.

Believers in the opposing concept of universal reconciliation, arguing that salvation will eventually be received by all of humanity, have also referred to various books of the New Testament that seem to describe Grace (Christianity)|grace given to immortal souls such as the First Epistle to the Corinthians

Panbabylonism - Failure to gain immortality
In both tales there is a plant that can bestow immortality and a snake that prevents the characters from gaining that immortality

Panbabylonism - Failure to gain immortality
When Adam eats from the tree he is cast out of Eden lest he also eat from the Tree of Life and gain immortality.

List of people claimed to be immortal in myth and legend - Notable failed quests for immortality
* Gilgamesh (possibly reigned during the 26th century BC) after the death of his companion, Enkidu, Gilgamesh pursues immortality to avoid Enkidu's fate. Gilgamesh fails two tests and does not become immortal, realising instead that mortals attain immortality through lasting works of civilization and culture. Epic of Gilgamesh|Gilgamesh's story is among the ancient literature|oldest stories recorded.

* Qin Shi Huang, the First Emperor of China who reigned during 259 BC–210 BC, also sought immortality in his old age. Twice he sent hundreds of people under the direction of Xu Fu to find the legendary elixir of life, but failed. He died of mercury poisoning after he had eaten too many mercury pills, prescribed by his court doctors to make him immortal.

* Joseph Stalin hired the Ukrainian pathophysiologist Alexander A. Bogomolets to conduct research into life extension. Having been notified of Bogomoletz's death in 1946, Stalin fell into a severe fit of anger and complained, “The scoundrel promised life eternal, but died at age 65. He deceived me, that scum!”

Mordru - Immortality Mordru is apparently ageless. In JSA: Justice Be Done, the Hourman (android)|Hourman Android attempts to de-age Mordru and discovers his life has no beginning or end. Mordru has never been born and will never die.

Taoist sexual practices - Longevity and immortality
Some Ming Dynasty Taoist sects believed that one way for men to achieve longevity or 'towards immortality' is by having intercourse with virgins, particularly young virgins

Taoist sexual practices - Longevity and immortality
Ge Hong also states, however, that it is folly to believe that performing the sexual arts only can achieve immortality and some of the ancient myths on sexual arts had been misinterpreted and exaggerated

Wudoumi Taoism - Immortality
The Celestial Masters believed that in order to achieve immortality, one was not supposed to extend life in the current world, but rather 'feign death' in this world, and be reborn on the other side

List of long-living organisms - Biological immortality
* Hydra (genus)|Hydras were observed, in a study published in the journal Experimental Gerontology, for four years without any increase in mortality rate.

List of long-living organisms - Biological immortality
Other species have been observed to regress to a larval state and regrow back into adults multiple times.

Lingbao Taoism - Immortality techniques
Besides interior meditation practices, immortality could be achieved through the ingestion of potions or Amulet|talismans.Yamada (2000), 248.

Crown of Immortality The 'Crown of Immortality' is a literary and religious metaphor traditionally represented in art first as a laurel wreath and later as a symbolic circle of stars (often a Crown (headgear)|crown, tiara, Halo (religious iconography)|halo or aureola). The Crown appears in a number of Baroque Iconography|iconographic and Allegory|allegoric works of art to indicate the wearer's immortality.

Crown of Immortality - Wreath crowns
In ancient Egyptian religion|ancient Egypt, the crown of justification was a wreath placed on the deceased to represent victory over death in the afterlife, in emulation of the resurrecting god Osiris

The placing of the wreath was often called a crowning, and its relation to immortality was problematic; it was supposed to secure the wearer immortality in the form of enduring fame, but the triumphator was also reminded of his place within the mortal world: in the traditional tableaux, an accompanying slave whispered continually in the general's ear Memento mori, Remember you are mortal.For a full discussion, see Mary Beard (classicist)|Mary Beard, The Roman Triumph (Harvard University Press, 2007), passim, limited preview [ online.] Funerary wreaths of gold leaf were associated particularly with initiates into the mystery religions.Mark J

From the Early Christian era the phrase crown of immortality was widely used by the Church Fathers in writing about martyrs; the immortality was now both of reputation on earth, and of eternal life in heaven

The metaphor of the athlete of Christ gaining the Crown of Immortality is developed further by St John Cassian in On Gluttony Ch [

The first use seems to be that attributed to the martyr Ignatius of Antioch in 107.

Crown of Immortality - Advent wreath
An Advent wreath is a ring of candles, usually made with evergreen cuttings and used for household devotion by some Christians during the season of Advent. The wreath is meant to represent God's eternity. On Saint Lucy's Day, December 13, it is common to wear crowns of candles in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Italy, Bosnia, Iceland, and Croatia.

Crown of Immortality - Advent wreath
Before the reform of the Gregorian calendar in the 16th century, St. Lucy's Day fell on the winter solstice. The representation of Saint Lucy seems to derive from the List of Roman deities|Roman goddess Lucina (goddess)|Lucina, who is connected to the solstice.

Crown of Immortality - Crown of martyrdom
having through patience overcome the unjust governor, and thus acquired the crown of immortality

Crown of Immortality - Crown of martyrdom
cquote|A small, weak, despised woman, who had put on Christ, the great invincible champion, and in bout after bout had defeated her adversary and through conflict had won the crown of immortality. Emblem of Christian martyrs, The Crown or wreath of Immortality, is a reward for those who stayed faithful until death.(1 Corinthians 9:24-27, James 1, 12 and Revelation 2, 10.

Crown of Immortality - Crown of stars
The crown of stars, representing immortality, may derive from the story of Ariadne, especially as told by Ovid, in which the unhappy Ariadne is turned into a constellation of stars, the Corona Borealis (Crown of the North), modelled on a jewelled crown she wore, and thus becoming immortal

and Jean Duvet were receiving very wide circulation.

In Ariadne, Venus and Bacchus, by Tintoretto (1576, Doge's Palace, Venice|Doge's Palace, Venice), a flying Venus crowns Ariadne with a circle of stars, and many similar compositions exist, such as the ceiling of the Egyptian Hall at Boughton House of 1695.

Crown of Immortality - Allegorical development
Immortality seems to have been a preoccupation of Urban; his funeral monument by Bernini in St Peter's Basilica in Rome has Death as a life-size skeleton writing his name on a scroll

Two further examples of the Crown of Immortality can be found in Sweden, firstly in the great hall ceiling fresco of the Swedish House of Knights by David Klöcker Ehrenstrahl (between 1670–1675) which pictures among many allegory|allegoric figures Eterna (eternity) who holds in her hands the Crown of Immortality.

The second is in Drottningholm Palace, the home of the Swedish Royal Family, in a ceiling fresco named The Great Deeds of The Swedish Kings, painted in 1695 by David Klöcker Ehrenstrahl. This has the same motif as the fresco in the House of Knights mentioned above.

The crown was also painted by the France|French Neoclassicism|Neoclassical painter Louis-Jean-François Lagrenée, 1725–1805, in his Allegory on the Death of the Dauphin, where the crown was held by a young son who had pre-deceased the father (alternative titles specifically mention the crown of Immortality). image and Diderot's description

Crown of Immortality - Poems, texts and writing
* Edward Grim wrote about Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury who was murdered on December 29, 1170 as the person ...promised by God to be the next to receive the 'crown of immortality'....

* The preface to Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem The Revolt of Islam contain: Should the public judge that my composition is worthless, I shall indeed bow before the tribunal from which Milton received his 'crown of immortality'....

* A Latter Day Saints scripture, Doctrine and Covenants 81:6, contain: And if thou art faithful unto the end thou shalt have a 'crown of immortality', and eternal life in the mansions which I have prepared in the house of my Father..

Flag of the European Union - Crown of immortality
The circle of stars may also be interpreted as a Crown of Immortality, a literary and religious allegory featuring in Baroque iconography which indicates the wearer's immortality, either as a Crown (headgear)|crown, tiara, Halo (religious iconography)|halo or aureola. The symbolism of such a crown is akin to the traditional laurel wreath.

Samudra manthan - The nectar of immortality
Finally, Dhanvantari, the heavenly physician, emerged with a pot containing Amrita, the heavenly nectar of immortality

People believe that after bathing there during the Kumbha mela, one can get the primeval heaven and moksha(Sanskrit:mokṣha).

Deva (Hinduism)|devas (demigods) appealed to Vishnu, who then took the form of Mohini and as a beautiful and enchanting damsel, Mohini distracted the asuras, took the amrita, and distributed it among the Devas, who drank it

Milan Kundera - Immortality
In 1990, Kundera published Immortality (novel)|Immortality. The novel, his last in Czech, was more cosmopolitan than its predecessors, as well as more explicitly philosophical and less political. It would set the tone for his later novels.

Immortality (Celine Dion song)
'Immortality' is a Single (music)|single from Celine Dion's album Let's Talk About Love. It was released on June 8, 1998 outside the United States. The Bee Gees can be heard on the background vocals, and are credited as special guests on/for the recording. It was used as a theme song for the Brazilian telenovela Torre de Babel. For that occasion was release a promo CD Single only in Brazil with various remixes.

Immortality was composed especially for Dion by brothers Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, and Maurice Gibb, the members of the Bee Gees, and was produced by Walter Afanasieff. A demo version of the song featuring just the brothers can be found on subsequent greatest hits albums of the Bee Gees.

There are two music videos. The first one, directed by Scott Floyd Lochmus, shows Dion and the Bee Gees in the recording studio in It was included as a bonus on the Au cœur du stade (DVD)|Au cœur du stade DVD. The second one was directed by Randee St. Nicholas and released at the end of July This more elaborate video deals with themes of love, loss and reincarnation, with a cameo from the Bee Gees themselves.

The song was a commercial success reaching number 2 in Austria and Germany, number 4 in Europe, number 5 in the United Kingdom, and number 8 in Switzerland. In Brazil, the Cuca mixes became very popular. However, the track was never released as a single in the United States. Sony Music Entertainment decided to release To Love You More there (in the USA) instead.

Immortality was certified platinum in Germany (for over 500,000 copies sold), gold in Sweden (15,000), and silver in France (145,000) and the UK (200,000).

The live version of this song was included on the One Night Only (Bee Gees album)|One Night Only CD and DVD by the Bee Gees, released on November 3, Dion also performed this song during her Let's Talk About Love Tour. The song was performed also on British TV programme Top of the Pops on July 1998.

In 2001, Donny Osmond covered Immortality for his 2001 album This Is the Moment.

Immortality (Celine Dion song) - Critical reception
Entertainment Weekly editor David Browne called this song 'banal' and said that it is flimsy concoction that droops under the weight of its arrangement. The New York Observer editor Jonathan Bernstein called this collaboration dispiriting.

Immortality (Celine Dion song) - Formats and track listings
'European CD single'

#My Heart Will Go On (Soul Solution mix) – 4:18

#(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman#Celine Dion version|(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman – 3:40

Immortality (Celine Dion song) - Official versions
#Immortality (Cuca cool remix) – 4:26

Immortality (Celine Dion song) - Official versions
#Immortality (album version) – 4:11

The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus - Immortality
After much debate, the immortals decide that using the Mantle of Immortality on Santa Claus is more appropriate than continuing to wait for someone more worthy, and he is granted immortality just as the Death (personification)|Spirit of Death comes for him.

Immortality of the soul
'Christian mortalism' incorporates the belief that the human Soul (spirit)|soul is not naturally Immortality of the soul|immortal;... and may include the belief that the soul is uncomprehending during the time between Human body|bodily death and Judgment Day Resurrection of the Dead|resurrection,... known as the intermediate state. Soul sleep is an often pejorative term. so the more neutral term materialism was also used in the nineteenth century, and Christian mortalism since the 1970s......

Historically the term 'psychopannychism' was also used, despite problems with the etymology and application. The term 'wiktionary:thnetopsychism|thnetopsychism', has also been used, for example Gordon Campbell (2008) identified Milton as believing in the latter. though in fact both De Doctrina Christiana (Milton)|De doctrina Christiana and Paradise Lost refers to death as sleep and the dead as being raised from sleep The difference is difficult to identify in practice.

Related and contrasting viewpoints of life after death include universal reconciliation, where all souls are seen as immortal and eventually receive salvation, and special salvation, where a positive afterlife is exclusively held by just some souls

Immortality of the soul - Etymology and terminology
Since the phrases soul sleep or soul death does not occur either in the Bible or in early Anabaptist materials, an explanation is required for the origin of the term. Additionally several other terms have been introduced relating to the view. Modern theologians have used the term Christian mortalism and related wordings from the 21st century onwards.

Immortality of the soul - Soul sleep
The phrase soul sleep appears to have been popularised by John Calvin in the subtitle to his Latin tract Psychopannychia (, , , ). The title of the booklet comes from Ancient Greek|Greek psyche (soul, mind) with pan-nychis (παν-νυχίς, all-night vigil, all-night banquet),.. so Psychopannychia, originally, represents Calvin's view; that the soul was conscious, active.

Immortality of the soul - Soul sleep
The title and subtitle of the 1542 Strasbourg 1st edition read: .

Immortality of the soul - Other terms
*Psychopannychism - In the Latin it is clearer that Psychopannychia is actually the refutation of, the opposite of, the idea of soul sleep. The version may have caused the confusion that by -pannychis Calvin meant sleep (in Greek -hypnos not -pannychis, vigil).. The subtitle was taken up as .. The tract first appeared in English as .

Luther's use of similar language (but this time defending the view) appears in print only a few years after Calvin:

*Hypnopsychism - from hypno- + psyche (sleep of soul) was a more correct coinage from Greek than that of Calvin's editor. Eustratios of Constantinople (after 582) denounced mortalism as a heresy using this term.

*Thnetopsychism - A possibly contrasting phrase is (from Greek thnetos [mortal] + psyche [soul, mind])., 320 pp

Immortality of the soul - Mortalist arguments
Historically, Christian mortalists have advanced theological, lexical, and scientific arguments in support of their position.

Immortality of the soul - Theological arguments
Some early eastern Christians argued for mortalism on the basis of the identity of blood with life in Leviticus 17:11.

Immortality of the soul - Lexical arguments
In the late eighteenth century, the standard Hebrew lexicon and grammar of John Parkhurst (lexicographer)|John Parkhurst. expressed the view that the traditional rendering of the Hebrew word nephesh as reference to an immortal soul, had no lexical support.. Mortalists in the nineteenth century used lexical arguments to deny the traditional doctrines of hell and the immortal soul..

Immortality of the soul - Scientific arguments
The eighteenth-century mortalist Henry Layton presented arguments based on physiology. Scientific arguments became important to the nineteenth-century discussion of mortalism and natural immortality,. and mortalist Miles Grant cited extensively from a number of scientists who observed that the immortality of the soul was unsupported by scientific evidence.

Immortality of the soul - Historic proponents of the mortality of the soul
The mortality of the soul has been held throughout the history of both Judaism and Christianity.

Immortality of the soul - Judaism
Although in the Book of Genesis Jacob mentions he would descend into the Sheol where he thought his son Joseph (son of Jacob)|Joseph already was and the Witch of Endor summons the ghost of the deceased prophet Samuel (Bible)|Samuel at the behest of King Saul, modern scholars believe the concept of an immortal soul going to bliss or torment after death entered mainstream Judaism after the exile and existed throughout the Second Temple era, though both ‘soul sleep’ and ‘soul death’, were also held,

Mortalism is present in certain Second Temple Period pseudepigraphal works,..... later rabbinical works,. and among medieval era rabbis such as Abraham Ibn Ezra (1092–1167), Maimonides (1135–1204), and Joseph Albo (1380–1444).

Some authorities within Conservative Judaism, notably Neil Gillman, also support the notion that the souls of the dead are unconscious until the Resurrection of the Dead#Judaism|Resurrection.Gillman, Neil. The Death of Death: Resurrection and Immortality in Jewish Thought. Jewish Lights, 1997.

Traditional rabbinic Judaism, however, has always been of the opinion that belief in immortality of at least most souls, and punishment and reward after death, was a consistent belief back through the giving of the Torah at Mt. Sinai. Traditional Judaism reads the Torah accordingly. As an example, the punishment of kareth (excision) is understood to mean that soul is cut off from God in the Afterlife...

Immortality of the soul - Second to eighth centuries
The most well known case of mortalism in the early church is that recorded by Eusebius of Caesarea:

This synod in Arabia would have been during the reign of Emperor Philip the Arab (244–249|49).. Redepenning (1841). was of the opinion that Eusebius' terminology here, the human soul dies was probably that of their critics rather than the Arabian Christians' own expression and they were more likely simply psychopannychists, believers in soul sleep.

Some Syriac writers such as Aphrahat, Ephrem the Syrian|Ephrem and Narsai believed in the dormition, or sleep, of the soul, in which …souls of the dead […] are largely inert, having lapsed into a state of sleep, in which they can only dream of their future reward or punishments

Immortality of the soul - Ninth to fifteenth centuries
Mortalism evidently persisted since various Byzantine writers had to defend the doctrine of the veneration of saints against those who said the saints sleep. John the Deacon (Byzantine writer)|John the Deacon (eleventh century) attacked those who dare to say that praying to the saints is like shouting in the ears of the deaf, as if they had drunk from the mythical waters of Oblivion..

Immortality of the soul - Ninth to fifteenth centuries
Pope John XXII inadvertently caused the Beatific Vision|beatific vision controversy (1331–34) by suggesting that the saved do not attain the Beatific Vision, or see God until Judgment Day (in Italian: Visione beatifica differita, deferred beatific vision), which was a view possibly consistent with soul sleep

Immortality of the soul - The Reformation
Mortalism emerged in Christianity when it was promoted by some Protestant Reformation|Reformation leaders, and it survives today mostly among Restorationist sects, such as Jehovah's Witnesses

William Tyndale (1494–1536) argued against Thomas More in favour of soul sleep:

Morey suggests that John Wycliffe (1320–84) and Tyndale taught the doctrine of soul sleep as the answer to the Catholic teachings of purgatory and masses for the dead..

Many Anabaptists in this period, such as Michael Sattler (1490–1527),.. were Christian mortalists.

However, the best known advocate of soul sleep was Martin Luther (1483–1546). In writing on Ecclesiastes, Luther says

Jürgen Moltmann (2000) concludes from this that Luther conceived the state of the dead as a deep, dreamless sleep, removed from time and space, without consciousness and without feeling.. That Luther believed in soul sleep is also the view of . Some writers have claimed that Luther changed his view later in life.

Gottfried Fritschel (1867) argued that quotations from Luther's Latin works had occasionally been misread in Latin or in German translation to contradict or qualify specific statements and Luther's overall teaching, namely that the sleep of the dead was unconscious:. These readings can still be found in some English sources...

The two most frequently cited passages are:

* It is certain that to this day Abraham is serving God, just as Abel, Noah are serving God. And this we should carefully note; for it is divine truth that Abraham is living, serving God, and ruling with Him. But what sort of life that may be, whether he is asleep or awake, is another question. How the soul is resting we are not to know, but it is certain that it is living. .

* A man tired with his daily labour... sleeps. But his soul does not sleep (Anima autem non sic dormit) but is awake (sed vigilat). It experiences visions and the discourses of the angels and of God. Therefore the sleep in the future life is deeper than it is in this life. Nevertheless, the soul lives to God. This is the likeness to the sleep of life..

Others included Camillo Renato (1540), Matthias Dévay|Mátyás Dévai Bíró (1500–45), Michael Servetus (1511–53), Laelio Sozzini (1562), Fausto Sozzini (1563), the Polish Brethren (1565 onwards), Dirk Philips (1504–68), Gregory Paul of Brzezin (1568), the Socinians (1570–1800),. John Frith (1573), George Schomann (1574) and Simon Budny (1576).

Immortality of the soul - Seventeenth to eighteenth centuries
Soul sleep was a significant minority view from the eighth to the seventeenth centuries,. and soul death became increasingly common from the Reformation onwards.

Soul sleep has been called a major current of seventeenth century protestant ideology.. John Milton wrote in his unpublished De Doctrina Christiana (Milton)|De Doctrina Christiana,

Gordon Campbell (2008) identifies Milton's views as thnetopsychism, a belief that the soul dies with the body but is resurrected at the last judgment.. however Milton speaks also of the dead as asleep.De Doctrina Christiana citing 1Thess 4:17, Daniel 12:2 etc.

Those holding this view include: 1600s: Sussex Baptists

Immortality of the soul - Nineteenth to twentieth centuries
Belief in conditional immortality and the annihilation of the unsaved became increasingly common during the nineteenth century,.. entering mainstream Christianity in the twentieth century.. From this point it is possible to speak in terms of entire groups holding the belief, and only the most prominent individual nineteenth-century advocates of the doctrine will be mentioned here.

Immortality of the soul - Nineteenth to twentieth centuries
Others include: Millerites (from 1833), Edward White (Free-Church minister)|Edward White (1846),. Christadelphians (from 1848),. Thomas Thayer (1855),; no relation to Joseph Henry Thayer lexicographer. François Gaussen (d. 1863), Henry Constable (1873),. Louis Burnier (Waldensian, d. 1878), the Baptist Conditionalist Association (1878), Cameron Mann (1888),. Emmanuel Pétavel-Olliff (1891), Miles Grant (1895), George Gabriel Stokes (1897).

Immortality of the soul - Modern Christian groups
Present-day defenders of mortalism include many, such as Nicky Gumbel, some Lutherans, the Seventh-day Adventist theology#Hell and the state of the dead|Seventh-day Adventist Church, Advent Christian Church, the Afterlife group,

Immortality of the soul - Modern Christian groups
Jehovah's Witnesses also teach a form of mortalism but represent a special case. They believe that Jehovah's Witnesses and salvation|144,000 believers began to be raised from the dead a short time after October 1914 (possibly, in the spring of 1918) to receive immortality in heaven, but all other believers will be raised from the dead on Judgment Day to receive eternal life on earth.

Immortality of the soul - Roman Catholic Church
The Roman Catholic Church has called soul mortality a serious heresy.

Immortality of the soul - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The idea that the spirit continues as a conscious, active, and independent agent after mortal death is a fundamental teaching of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Latter-Day Saint canon provides strong and clear support for pre- and post-mortal existence and consciousness of the spirit.

In this cosmology, intelligence, or consciousness, is co-eternal with God, while the spirit that it animates is a material () entity created by God at some time long before it was associated with a physical mortal body. Verse 34 gives a reason behind Paul's longing to be resurrected, which is further supported by Joseph F. Smith's statement that the dead had looked upon the long absence of their spirits from their bodies as a bondage. ()

Latter-Day Saint scripture even gives a definition of soul as the combined entity of the spirit and the body:

The Book of Mormon prophet Alma inquired diligently concerning the state of the spirit between death and the resurrection, and received a clear, but incomplete, answer described in . A more complete and detailed description of the afterlife of the spirit is published in section 138 of the Doctrine and Covenants. Joseph F. Smith's vision of the redemption of the dead casts a bright light on this otherwise mysterious subject.

Immortality of the soul - Modern scholarship
As early as 1917 Harvey W. Scott wrote That there is no definite affirmation, in the Old Testament of the doctrine of a future life, or personal immortality, is the general consensus of Biblical scholarship.. The modern scholarly consensus is that the canonical teaching of the Old Testament made no reference to an immortal soul independent of the body... This view is represented consistently in a wide range of scholarly reference works...

According to Donelley, Twentieth century Biblical criticism|biblical scholarship largely agrees that the ancient Jews had little explicit notion of a personal afterlife until very late in the Old Testament period, and only the latest stratum of the Old Testament asserts even the Resurrection of the dead|resurrection of the body

However, N. T. Wright suggests that the Bible offers a spectrum of belief about life after death. While John Goldingay|Goldingay suggests that Ecclesiastes|Qohelet points out that there is no evidence that human beings would enjoy a positive afterlife, Philip Johnston argues that a few Psalms, such as Psalm 16, Psalm 49 and Psalm 73, affirm a continued communion with God after death, but give no elaboration of how, when or where this communion will take place.

Neyrey suggests that, for a Hebrew, ‘soul’ indicated the unity of a human person, and this Hebrew field of meaning is breached in the Book of Wisdom|Wisdom of Solomon by explicit introduction of Greek ideas of soul. Avery-Peck argues that

Regardless of the character of the soul's existence in the intermediate state, biblical scholarship affirms that a disembodied soul is unnatural and at best transitional. Bromiley argues that the soul and the body belong together, so that without either the one or the other there is no true man. Disembodied existence in Sheol is unreal. Paul does not seek a life outside the body, but wants to be clothed with a new and spiritual body (1 Cor. 15; 2 Cor. 5).

The says It is this essential soul-body oneness that provides the uniqueness of the biblical concept of the resurrection of the body as distinguished from the Greek idea of the immortality of the soul.

The mortalist disbelief in the existence of a naturally immortal soul is also affirmed as biblical teaching by various modern theologians,.... and Hebblethwaite observes the doctrine is not popular amongst Christian theologians or among Christian philosophers today..

Circle of stars - Crown of Immortality
The Crown of Immortality is a separate and earlier motif (and metaphor) which also uses a circle of stars. It has been widely used since the Early Church as a metaphor for the reward awaiting martyrs, but they are not depicted in art wearing a circle of stars. In art the use is mainly in Baroque allegorical compositions, and those with Ariadne.

Incarnations of Immortality
'Incarnations of Immortality' is the name of an eight-book fantasy series by Piers Anthony

Incarnations of Immortality - Bibliography
*2 Bearing an Hourglass (1984)

Incarnations of Immortality - Themes
This system humanizes what would otherwise be impersonal forces, leading to both extensive considerations of the effects of the incarnation's work and the impact it has on not only humanity but also the other offices of immortality as well

Another humorous side of Incarnations is the portrayed magic/technology duality

Anthony uses the number five extensively, often with things that exist in fours in our world

A fourth theme of Incarnations is the multigenerational human story between the Incarnations. Previous characters repeatedly appear in later novels, and by the final novel, every major character is related by blood, marriage, or affair. See the family tree below.

Incarnations of Immortality - Family tree
'Note:' Colors for each of the Incarnations used are from the covers of their respective books.

'Note:' Gawain II was conceived by Norton and Orlene, but has Gawain's genetic material instead of Norton's (a favor performed by Gaea)

* 'Zane' (Thanatos, the Incarnation of Death) is the lover and protector of Luna Kaftan (Niobe's granddaughter).

* 'Niobe' (Clotho, and later Lachesis, Aspects of the Incarnation of Fate) is Orb's (Gaea) mother, and grandmother to Luna (Death's lover), and Orlene (God). She is also lover to Chronos.

* 'Orb' (Gaea, Mother Nature) is mother to Orlene (God), daughter to Niobe (Clotho/Lachesis, Fate), and former lover of Mym (War).

* 'Parry' (Satan, the Incarnation of Evil) is married to Orb (Mother Nature), and stepfather to Orlene (God).

* 'Orlene' (God (sometimes called the Goddess), the Incarnation of Good) is Nature's daughter, War's daughter, Fate's granddaughter, Time's lover and mother to his biological son (prior to either of them taking their office), Evil's stepdaughter, and Death's wife's cousin.

In Under a Velvet Cloak, Kerena (Nox, Incarnation of Night) is the lover of the original Sir Gawain, Knight of the Round Table, and mother of the original Gawain (Gaw-Two) who was tainted at birth and destined to die early

Incarnations of Immortality - Lesser Incarnations
*JHVH: Incarnation of Jewish God (assumed to be Jehovah)

Incarnations of Immortality - Lesser Incarnations serving Nature/Gaea
*Phobos Deimos: Named after the Greek gods of Phobos (mythology)|fear and Deimos (mythology)|panic. These lesser Incarnations act as assistants to Gaea (Nature). Their functions are not explained in the books (although presumably they have similar natures to their Greek equivalents).

Incarnations of Immortality - Lesser Incarnations serving War/Mars
*Pestilence: disease in general, but especially consistent with the aftermath of battles.

*Conquest: manager of individual battles

*Famine: starvation consistent with battles (although this incarnation has served Death/Thanatos on at least one occasion)

*Slaughter: a representation of the bloodshed associated with battles

Immortality (Pearl Jam song)
'Immortality' is a song by the American rock music|rock band Pearl Jam, released on June 6, 1995 as the third single from the band's third studio album, Vitalogy (1994). Although credited to all members of Pearl Jam, it was primarily written by vocalist Eddie Vedder. The song peaked at number 10 on the Billboard (magazine)|Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks|Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. The song was included on Pearl Jam's 2004 greatest hits album, rearviewmirror (Greatest Hits 1991–2003).

Immortality (Pearl Jam song) - Lyrics
The lyrical interpretation of Immortality can be disputed, as many feel it may be about Nirvana (band)|Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain's death, although vocalist Eddie Vedder has denied this. He stated:

No, that was written when we were on tour in Atlanta

In a later interview, Vedder talked about how he thought of Cobain and himself as parallel trains. He said, You look at it objectively and you think, 'What could be so fucking hard about being in a band?' But if you're coming from a place that's real, it's much harder.

Immortality (Pearl Jam song) - Release and reception
Immortality reached the top 30 in New Zealand.

Immortality (Pearl Jam song) - Release and reception
David Browne of Entertainment Weekly said that the sulking, lashing Immortality appears to be a Big Statement song about death, yet you'd never know that from its obtuse lyrics.Browne, David

Immortality (Pearl Jam song) - Live performances
Live performances of Immortality can be found on various Pearl Jam Official Bootlegs|official bootlegs and the live album Live at Benaroya Hall.

Immortality (Pearl Jam song) - Live performances
For years, this version was only available through bootlegs, but a large portion of the concert, including Immortality, was included on a bonus disc of the Vs/Vitalogy reiussue.

Immortality (Pearl Jam song) - Cover versions
A live Acoustic music|acoustic version of Immortality by the band Seether can be found on the band's 2006 live album, One Cold Night.

Immortality (Pearl Jam song) - Track listing
All songs written by Dave Abbruzzese, Jeff Ament, Stone Gossard, Mike McCready, and Eddie Vedder.

Venom (DC Comics) - Ivo's Immortality Serum
The unstable Professor Ivo perfected an immortality serum that made him immortal, and indestructible, but horribly disfigured his body and made him even more mentally unstable.[ The Unofficial Professor Ivo Biography]

Annihilationism - Conditional immortality
God, who alone is immortal, passes on the gift of immortality to the righteous, who will live forever in heaven or on an idyllic earth or World to Come, while the wicked will ultimately face a second death.

Annihilationism - Conditional immortality
Those who describe and/or those who believe in this doctrine may not use annihilationist to define the belief, and the terms mortalist and conditionalist are often used

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