Editing Pre-existence

{{Short description|Belief that souls exist before conception}}
{{More citations needed|date=October 2022}}
{{Redirect|Premortal life|the concept in the Latter Day Saint movement|Premortal life (Latter Day Saints)}}
[[File:Monreale god resting after creation.jpg|thumb|268x268px|''God resting after creation'' – [[Christ]] depicted as the creator of the world prior to his [[Incarnation (Christianity)|incarnation]] as [[Jesus in Christianity|Jesus]],<ref>George Ferguson, 1996 ''Signs & symbols in Christian art'' {{ISBN|0-19-501432-4}} page 92</ref> [[Byzantine mosaic]] in [[Monreale]], [[Sicily]].]]
'''Pre-existence''', '''premortal existence''', '''beforelife''', or '''life before birth''', is the belief that each individual human [[Soul (spirit)|soul]] existed before mortal [[Conception (biology)|conception]], and at [[Ensoulment|some point before birth]] enters or is placed into the body. Concepts of pre-existence can encompass either the belief that the soul came into existence at some time prior to conception or the belief that the soul is eternal. Alternative positions are [[traducianism]] and [[Creationism (soul)|creationism]], which both hold that the individual human soul does not come into existence until conception or later. It is to be distinguished from [[preformation]], which is about physical existence and applies to all living things.{{efn|[[Ancient Greek philosophy|Ancient Greek thought]] and [[Islam]] affirm pre-existence, but it is generally denied in Christianity.}}

==Ancient Greek thought==
{{See|Metempsychosis}}
[[Plato]] believed in the pre-existence of the soul, which tied in with his [[innatism]]. He thought that we are born with knowledge from a previous life that is subdued at birth and must be relearned. He saw all attainment of knowledge not as acquiring new information, but as remembering previously known information.<ref>{{cite book | last=Givens | first=Terryl L. | title=When Souls Had Wings: Pre-Mortal Existence in Western Thought | publisher=OUP USA | year=2012 | isbn=978-0-19-991685-6 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_ewVDAAAQBAJ | access-date=March 18, 2021 | pages=31–33}}</ref>

==Baha'i Faith==
{{unreferenced section|date=March 2021}}
[[Baháʼí literature]] refers in a number of places to at least four key dimensions of pre-existence. Firstly, that the individual soul of a human being comes into being at the time of conception<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hornby |first1=Helen |title=Lights of Guidance |publisher=Baha’i Publishing Trust of India |page=344 |edition=1988 |access-date=26 May 2025}}</ref> and only thereafter is eternal; in other words, it is not pre-existent. Secondly, in distinction to the above, that the souls of the world's greatest spiritual teachers, the founders of world religions, are pre-existent. Thirdly, that God, a reality which human consciousness can not comprehend, is pre-existent, that is he exists prior to time and to his creation. Fourthly, that the relationship between God and the phenomenal or contingent world is one of emanation, as the rays of the sun are to the earth. In other words, the pre-existent world of God remains separate from and does not descend into his creation.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-02-15 |title=The Hidden Nature of Life After Death |url=https://bahaiteachings.org/hidden-nature-life-after-death/ |access-date=2023-01-26 |website=BahaiTeachings.org |language=en-US}}</ref>

==Buddhism==
{{update|section|date=January 2022}}
In [[Buddhist cosmology]], [[Saṃsāra (Buddhism)|saṃsāra]] is the cycle of life and death.<ref>{{cite book | last =Trainor | first =Kevin | year =2004 | title =Buddhism: The Illustrated Guide | publisher =Oxford University Press | isbn =978-0-19-517398-7 | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=_PrloTKuAjwC | access-date =2016-09-25 | archive-date =2020-05-18 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20200518042910/https://books.google.com/books?id=_PrloTKuAjwC | url-status =live | page = 58 | quote = Buddhism shares with Hinduism the doctrine of Samsara, whereby all beings pass through an unceasing cycle of birth, death and rebirth until they find a means of liberation from the cycle. However, Buddhism differs from Hinduism in rejecting the assertion that every human being possesses a changeless [[soul]] which constitutes his or her ultimate identity, and which transmigrates from one incarnation to the next.}}</ref> When a person dies in earth its human soul is born into the [[Naraka (Buddhism)|Naraka]] (underworld or the "purgatories" of the souls) and afterwards it is reborn on earth.<ref>Braarvig, Jens (2009). "The Buddhist Hell: An Early Instance of the Idea?". ''Numen''. '''56''' (2–3): 254–281.</ref> [[Yama (Buddhism)|Yama]], a [[dharmapala]] (wrathful god), is said to judge the dead and preside over the Narakas and the cycle.<ref>Soka Gakkai, Nichiren Buddhism Library</ref>

A being is born into a Naraka as a direct result of its accumulated actions ([[karma (Buddhism)|karma]]) and resides there for a finite period of time (it varies from hundreds of millions to sextillions of years, but these periods are equivalent to hours or even years in earth time) until that karma has achieved its full result. After its karma is used up, it will be reborn in one of the higher worlds as the result of karma that had not yet ripened. The cycle is completed or finished when the soul reach the [[Nirvana]].<ref>Chad Meister (2009). ''Introducing Philosophy of Religion''. Routledge. p. 25. {{isbn|978-1-134-14179-1}} <q>Buddhism: the soteriological goal is nirvana, liberation from the wheel of samsara and extinction of all desires, cravings and suffering.</q></ref>

==Chinese mythology==
In [[Chinese mythology]], the Naihe Bridge (奈何桥), also called the Bridge of Forgetfulness, connects earth with the [[Diyu]] ("earth prison"), that is the realm of the dead or purgatory. It is typically depicted as a subterranean maze with various levels and chambers, to which souls are taken after death to atone for the sins they committed when they were alive. The number of levels in Diyu it is said to be three, four, ten or even Eighteen "courts", each of which is ruled by a judge, collectively known as the Yama Kings. The god of the dead is [[Yanluo Wang]], it oversees the kings of the courts. [[Ox-Head and Horse-Face]] are the guardians of Diyu, and their role is the capture of human souls who have died and bring them before the courts of Hell, where they are rewarded or punished based on the actions performed in their lifetime. Legend has it that the dead who have committed serious sins in life cannot cross the Naihe Bridge and will be pushed into the "Blood River Pool" by Ox-Head and Horse-Face to suffer the torture of insects, ants and snakes, while the dead who have done good deeds will be able to cross the bridge very easily.<ref>{{cite book | author = Fang Zi | date = 1 April 2020 | title =Who is Geli Ou? | publisher = Linking Publishing Company | pages = | isbn = 9789570854701 | oclc = | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=T-DdDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT57}}</ref>

The goddess of forgetfulness, [[Meng Po]], serves Meng Po Soup (孟婆汤) on the Naihe Bridge. This soup wipes the memory of the persons before they cross the bridge so they can reincarnate into their next life without the burdens of the previous life. She awaits the dead souls at the entrance of the 9th round (Fengdu). In some variations she is referred as [[Lady Meng Jiang]]<ref>Attribution: Prose in this article was copied from the following pages: [[Diyu]] and [[Meng Po]] on January 16, 2021. Please see the history of that pages for attribution</ref>

==Christianity==
{{Origenism}}
{{See also|Pre-existence of Christ}}
A concept of pre-existence was advanced by [[Origen]], a second and third-century [[church father]].<ref>[http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/const2.html Medieval Sourcebook: Fifth Ecumenical Council: Constantinople II, 553]. [[Fordham University]], 1996.
</ref> Origen believed that each human soul was created by God<ref>{{cite book
|author=Origen
|title=De Principiis
|url=http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/origen122.html
|volume=I.V.3
|quote=let us inquire whether God, the creator and founder of all things, created certain of them holy and happy, so that they could admit no element at all of an opposite kind, and certain others so that they were made capable both of virtue and vice; or whether we are to suppose that He created some so as to be altogether incapable of virtue, and others again altogether incapable of wickedness, but with the power of abiding only in a state of happiness, and others again such as to be capable of either condition.}}</ref> at some time prior to conception. He wrote that already "one of [his] predecessors" had interpreted the Scripture to teach pre-existence, which seems to be a reference to the Jewish philosopher [[Philo]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Chadwick |first1=Henry |title=Origen: Contra Celsum |date=1953 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=0-521-29576-9 |page=307}}</ref>

Some scholars, including [[John Behr]] and [[Marguerite Harl]], argue that this idea, condemned by the church, may have been taught by some later [[Origenism|Origenists]], but that Origen himself was [[Orthodoxy|orthodox]] in this regard and "never used the terms 'pre-existence of souls' or 'pre-existent intellects', and that Origen was talking about realities outside of time and not about any concept of temporality before our time.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.firstthings.com/article/2018/12/orthodox-origen |title=Orthodox Origen |author=Joseph T. Lienhard |date=December 2018 |website=[[First Things]] |access-date=12 February 2023 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221225112550/https://www.firstthings.com/article/2018/12/orthodox-origen |archive-date=25 December 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Origen of Alexandria|author-link=Origen |translator-last1=Behr |translator-first1=John |translator-link1=John Behr |chapter=Introduction |title=Origen: On First Principles (Oxford Early Christian Texts) |publication-place=Oxford, UK |publisher=Oxford University Press |publication-date=7 February 2018 |isbn=9780199684021 }}</ref> Such orthodox understandings of Origen also show up in [[Maximus the Confessor]] and in the idea of an [[atemporal fall]] as taught by Christian theologians [[Sergei Bulgakov]] and [[David Bentley Hart]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://davidbentleyhart.substack.com/p/sensus-plenior-i/comments |url-access=subscription |title=Sensus Plenior I: On gods and mortals |last=Hart |first=David Bentley |author-link=David Bentley Hart |date=31 August 2022 |website=Leaves in the Wind |access-date=5 February 2023 |quote=First Reader (Aug 31, 2022): Should we favor the ‘atemporal fall’ view then? David Bentley Hart (Aug 31, 2022): Well, I certainly do. But the original Eden story isn't about the ‘fall’ at all, except in the vague sense that it was a mythic aetiology of life's miseries. Second Reader (Sep 2, 2022): Can you briefly describe what you understand or hold the ‘atemporal fall’ to be? Hart (Sep 2, 2022): No, not briefly. Second Reader (Sep 2, 2022): An extended response would, of course, be satisfactory also! But no, if you are aware of any particularly good reflections on it, I’d be grateful for a reference. Hart (Sep 2, 2022): Bulgakov, The Bride of the Lamb}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://afkimel.wordpress.com/2017/05/01/sergius-bulgakov-on-evolution-and-the-fall-a-sophiological-solution/ |title=Sergius Bulgakov on Evolution and the Fall: A Sophiological Solution |last=Gottshall |first=Charles Andrew |date=1 May 2017 |website=Eclectic Orthodoxy |access-date=9 February 2023 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221202030046/https://afkimel.wordpress.com/2017/05/01/sergius-bulgakov-on-evolution-and-the-fall-a-sophiological-solution/ |archive-date=2 December 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://afkimel.wordpress.com/2018/01/15/origen-and-the-eschatological-creation-of-the-cosmos/ |title=Origen and the Eschatological Creation of the Cosmos |last=Behr |first=John |author-link=John Behr |date=15 January 2018 |website=Eclectic Orthodoxy |access-date=5 February 2023 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230124131351/https://afkimel.wordpress.com/2018/01/15/origen-and-the-eschatological-creation-of-the-cosmos/ |archive-date=24 January 2023 |quote=Our beginning in this world and its time can only be thought of as a falling away from that eternal and heavenly reality, to which we are called.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://issuu.com/jacobswell/docs/jacob_s_well_spring_2022_online_1_ |title=The Redemption of Evolution: Maximus the Confessor, The Incarnation, and Modern Science |last=Chenoweth |first=Mark |date=Summer 2022 |website=Jacob’s Well |access-date=5 February 2023 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220814135608/https://issuu.com/jacobswell/docs/jacob_s_well_spring_2022_online_1_ |archive-date=14 August 2022}}</ref>

Church Fathers [[Tertullian]] and [[Jerome]] held to [[traducianism]] and [[Creationism (soul)|creationism]], respectively, and pre-existence was condemned as heresy in the [[Second Council of Constantinople]] in AD 553.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf214.xii.ix.html|title=The Anathemas Against Origen}}</ref>

Origen referenced Romans 9:11-14 as evidence for his position:
{{blockquote|
For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth; It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.
|source={{cite web|url=https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%209%3A11-14&version=NIV|title=Romans 9: 11-14}}
}}

Origen argued that God could not love Jacob and hate Esau until Jacob had done something worthy of love and Esau had done something worthy of hatred and so the passage means only that Jacob and Esau had not yet done good or evil ''in this life'' and their conduct ''before'' this life was the reason why Esau would serve Jacob.<ref>{{cite book
|author=Origen
|title=Commentary on John
|url=http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/origen-john2.html
|volume=Book II, Section 25
|chapter=Argument from the Prayer of Joseph, to Show That the Baptist May Have Been an Angel Who Became a Man
|quote=If, then, when they were not yet born, and had not done any-thing either good or evil, in order that God's purpose according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth, if at such a period this was said, how if we do not go back to the works done before this life, can it be said that there is no unrighteousness with God when the elder serves the younger and is hated (by God) before he has done anything worthy of slavery or of hatred?
}}</ref>

Origen also referenced Jeremiah 1:5:
{{blockquote|
Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.
}}

He brought forth a question:
{{blockquote|
How could his soul and its images be formed along with his body, who, before he was created in the womb, is said to be known to God, and was sanctified by Him before his birth?<ref>{{cite book
|author=Origen
|title=De Principiis
|url=http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/origen122.html
|volume=I.VII.4}}</ref>}}

Those who reject pre-existence, which would be every [[Christian denomination]] that accepts the conclusions of the [[Second Council of Constantinople]] (i.e., all [[Catholics]] and [[Eastern Orthodox Christians]] and many [[Protestants]]), simply see Jeremiah 1:5 as another passage about [[Attributes of God in Christianity#Omniscience|God's foreknowledge]]. This [[ecumenical Council]] explicitly stated "If anyone asserts the fabulous pre-existence of souls, and shall assert the monstrous restoration which follows from it: let him be [[anathema]]."<ref>{{cite web |title=The Anathemas against Origen |url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf214.xii.ix.html}}</ref>

===Latter-day Saints===
{{main|Premortal life (Latter Day Saints)}}
{{see also|Mormon cosmology#Pre-mortality|Plan of salvation (Latter Day Saints)#Premortal life}}

The concept of '''premortal life''' is an early and fundamental doctrine of [[Mormonism]].<ref name=PremortalSpirits>{{Cite journal |journal=[[Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought|Dialogue]] |publisher=[[University of Illinois Press]] |title=Premortal Spirits: Implications for Cloning, Abortion, Evolution, and Extinction |url=https://www.dialoguejournal.com/articles/premortal-spirits-implications-for-cloning-abortion-evolution-and-extinction/ |page=47 |last=Condie |first=Kent C. |volume=39 |issue=1 |date=Spring 2006}}</ref><ref name=Development>{{cite journal|last=Ostler|first=Blake|author-link=Blake Ostler|year=1982|title=The Idea of Pre-Existence in the Development of Mormon Thought|url=https://dialoguejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/Dialogue_V15N01_61.pdf|journal=[[Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought|Dialogue]]|publisher=[[University of Illinois Press]]|volume=15|issue=1|pages=59,73–74}}</ref><ref name=Intelligences>{{cite thesis|title=Joseph Smith's Concept of Preexistent Intelligences: Development and Critique|url=https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1049&context=masters |institution=[[Liberty University]]|date=May 1999|degree=Master of Religion|last=Bowen|pages=5–7|first=David R. Sr.|location=Lynchburg, Virginia}}</ref> In the faith's eponymous text, the [[Book of Mormon]], published on March 26, 1830, the premortal spirit of Christ appears in human form and explains that individuals were created in the beginning in the image of Christ.<ref name=Intelligences/><ref>{{cite book|title=Book of Mormon, Ether 3:15-16|url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/ether/3.15-16?lang=eng|volume=Ether 3:15-16|date=26 March 1830}}</ref> In 1833, early in the [[Latter Day Saint movement]], its founder [[Joseph Smith]] taught that human souls are co-eternal with [[God in Mormonism|God the Father]] just as [[Jesus]] is co-eternal with God the Father, "Man was also in the beginning with God. Intelligence, or the light of truth, was not created or made, neither indeed can be."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ward |first=Ryan D. |date=2022-07-01 |title=A Reflection on Joseph Smith's Restorationist Vision of Truth |url=https://www.dialoguejournal.com/articles/a-reflection-on-joseph-smiths-restorationist-vision-of-truth/ |journal=[[Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought|Dialogue]] |volume=55 |issue=2 |page=94 |doi=10.5406/15549399.55.2.05 |issn=0012-2157}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Doctrine and Covenants|url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/93.29?lang=eng|volume=93:29|date=6 May 1833}}</ref>

After Smith's death, the doctrine of premortal life was elaborated by some other leaders within the [[Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] (LDS Church).{{cn|date=January 2025}} Although the mind and intelligence of humanity were still considered to be co-eternal with God, and not created, [[Brigham Young]] taught that the spirit was different from the mind or intelligence, resolving the seeming conflict between [[Book of Mormon]] verses indicating God was creator and Smith's later teaching that all individuals were co-eternal with God.{{cn|date=January 2025}} Young postulated that we each had a pre-spirit intelligence that later became part of a spirit body, which then eventually entered a physical body and was born on earth.{{cn|date=January 2025}}

The LDS Church teaches that during the premortal life, there was a learning process which eventually led to the next necessary step in the premortal spirits' opportunity to progress. This next step included the need to gain a physical [[Human body|body]] that could experience [[pain]], sorrow and joy and "walk by faith".{{cn|date=January 2025}} According to this belief, these purposes were explained and discussed in [[Divine Council#Hebrew|councils in heaven]], followed by the [[War in Heaven]] where Satan rebelled against the plan of Heavenly Father.{{cn|date=January 2025}}

==Hinduism==
In the [[Bhagavad Gita]], considered by Hindus to be a most holy scripture, [[Krishna]] tells [[Arjuna]]; "Never was there a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor all these kings; nor in the future shall any of us cease to be."<ref>{{cite book
|title=Bhagavad-gītā As It Is
|url=http://vedabase.net/bg/2/12/en
|chapter=Chapter 2 Verse 12}}</ref> Hinduism teaches [[Reincarnation#Hinduism|reincarnation]]. Consequently, everyone has pre-existed in another form.

==Islam==
In Islam, all souls are believed to have been created in adult form before earthly life at the same time the God created the father of mankind, [[Adam in Islam|Adam]]. The [[Qur'an]] recounts the story of when the descendants of Adam were brought forth before God to testify that God alone is the Lord of creation and so only God is worthy of worship<ref>{{qref|7|172|b=y}}</ref> and so on the [[Day of Judgement]], people cannot use the excuse that they worshipped others only because they were following the ways of their ancestors. Humans do not remember, as they are born with an undeveloped mind (leaving only an innate awareness that God exists and is one, known as the ''[[Fitra]]''), and God decreed when every human would be born into the physical world.

==See also==
{{columns-list|colwidth=20em|
* [[Atemporal fall]]
* [[Afterlife]]
* [[Bodhisattva]]
* [[Gnosticism]]
* ''[[Hypostasis of the Archons]]''
* [[Kabbalah]]
* [[Manichaeism]]
* [[Near-birth experience]]
* [[Origen#Views|Origenism]]
* [[Scientology]]
* [[Spiritualism (movement)|Spiritualism]]
* [[Western esotericism#Philosophy|Western esotericism]]
* [[Past life regression]]
* [[Reincarnation]]
}}

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Wikisource1911Enc|Pre-existence, Doctrine of}}
* [http://www.catholicity.com/encyclopedia/m/metempsychosis.html Metempsychosis: From the ''Catholic Encyclopedia'']—''see'' [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10234d.htm CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Metempsychosis].
* [http://www.iep.utm.edu/origen-of-alexandria/ Origen of Alexandria (185-254 CE), ''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy''].
* [http://www.theosophy-nw.org/theosnw/reincar/re-imo.htm "Reincarnation as Taught by Early Christians"], by I. M. Oderberg, from ''Sunrise'' magazine, May 1973, Copyright © 1973 by [[Theosophical University Press]].
* [http://kuriakon00.tripod.com/reincarnation/fifth_council.htm The Fifth Ecumenical Council], from online site ''Kuriakon: Infinity'', section "Reincarnation".

[[Category:Christian anthropology]]
[[Category:Mormon cosmology]]
[[Category:Souls]]