Legends of the end : prophecies of the end times, Antichrist, apocalypse, and Messiah from eight religious traditions

The latter days -- The Antichrist -- The Messiah -- The prophecy of Rene Guenon -- Globalism and Antichrist -- Saoshyant vs. Angra Mainyu: Zoroastrian eschatology -- Messiah: Jewish eschatology -- Maitreya: Buddhist eschatology -- The Parousia: Christian eschatology -- The Imam Mahdi and the Prophet Jesus: Muslim eschatology -- Christian and Muslim eschatology compared -- Hindu eschatology: Kalki and Christ compared -- Hindu, Judeo-Christian, Lakota, and Hopi eschatology compared -- The sige of Shambhala: Tibetan Buddhist eschatology -- Benjamin Creme: prophet of the theosophical Antichrist -- Motif of the herald: the will and the intellect -- The brief millennium -- End and beginnning in God's hands -- The system of Antichrist -- To fight or not to fight -- The esoteric apolcalypse -- The apocalyptic function of Antichrist -- The practice of apocalypse.

the Laws Which Relate The Modern World To Earlier Ages, And The Position Of Our Own Era In A Universal Time-cycle, Are Explained In This Book In A Way Which Reveals The Essential Nature Of Time. It Is Shown That Time Imposes Patterns Of Its Own On The Order Of Events, Which Reveal Themselves By Numerical Regularities. By Means Of A Platonic View Of Creation, Which Connects Temporal With Non-temporal Realities, It Is Shown To Be Possible To See How Man's Inner Life Holds The Balance Between These Two Kinds Of Objective Reality.
traditional Cosmological Doctrines Form The Background To The Ideas Presented, Which Include Insights Into The Power Of Universal Time To Realize Evil, And How This Can Be Overcome By Those Who Understand It. Both Non-christian And Early Christian Sources Are Also Quoted In This Connection, To Illustrate The Universality Of The Cyclic Idea Of Time.
connections Are Made Between Metaphysical Ideas Of Time And The Scientific Idea Of Entropy And Its Varied Applications. The Cyclic Idea Of Time Is Used To Resolve The Apparent Conflict Between The Vast Tracts Of Time Which Have Elapsed Before Homo Sapiens And The Relatively Recent Appearance Of Revealed Religion.
the Last Two Thousand Years Are Analyzed Numerically In Terms Of Traditional Cosmology, So As To Make It Possible To Calculate Our Present Position In A Universal Era, Together With The Time Within Which This Era Will End. Finally, There Is A Review Of The Possibility That This Ending May Coincide With The Last Times, And The Implications That This Would Have For Current Values And Religious Beliefs.

'how, When, And Why Did The World Begin? And How Will It End? Or Is There No Ending Or Beginning? What Is Infinity, And Are Such Questions Merely About Illusions? What Part Does Mind Play In Creation? Are We And The Universe Programed Toward A Certain End. . . ? All That Can Honestly Be Given In Response To Such Questions Is An Introduction To That Constant And Recurrent World-view Which This Book Uniquely Provides.'
-john Michell

christian Platonism Has A Long And Distinguished History, But Few Orthodox Catholics Have Tried To Make A Serious Contribution To This Tradition In Recent Times. Robert Bolton's Extraordinary Book Is Just Such A Contribution. Influenced By René Guénon's The Reign Of Quantity And The Signs Of The Times, And Respectful Of Tradition, This Is A Work Of Great Creativity As Well As Metaphysical Intelligence.
-stratford Caldecott, Chesterton Review, Centre For Faith & Culture, Oxford

time, Like Beauty, Is One Of The Foremost Mysteries Of Human Experience. Here Dr. Bolton Has Taken A Deliberate And Courageous Effort To Confront The Nature Of Time. It Is Like A Breath Of Fresh Air To See Such Care Taken To Present What Can Authentically Be Called The Traditional View. 'recurrence' And 'never Again' Are The Poles Of This Mystery So Well And Ably Covered In This Book.
any Work That Presents The Views Of Such As Plato So Well Is Inevitably Going To Be Of Cardinal Value-but Dr. Bolton Also Goes Into Other Wisdom Traditions. This May Not Be Easy Reading, But What A Relief From The Mechanically Tedious Choice Between 'big Bang' And 'steady State', And Whatever Else The Material Mechanists Have Dreamed Up As Our Only Diet For Consideration. It
-keith Critchlow, Nov. 2000

whether The World Ends Tomorrow Or Lasts For Centuries, We All Exist In A 'climate' Of The End Of Days. As Thomas Merton Wrote, 'we Live In An Age Of Two Superimposed Eschatologies: That Of Secular Anxieties And Hopes, And That Of Revealed Fulfillment. Sometimes The First Is Merely Mistaken For The Second, Sometimes It Results From Complete Denial And Despair Of The Second.' The 'end Of Time' Obviously Relates To History, But-just As Obviously-it Cannot Be Contained Within It.

legends Of The End Have Always Been With Us; Every Spiritual Tradition That Has A Story Of The Beginning Of Things Must Also Have One Of Their Final End-the End Of The Earth, Of The Universe, Of Time Itself. And Just As All Such Myths Symbolize Invisible Realities, So Every Historical Event Is Precisely An Invisible Reality Made Visible And Tangible. This Book Takes A Look At Eight Legends Of The End: Hindu, Buddhist, Zoroastrian, Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Hopi, And Lakota. When These Stories Are Placed Side-by-side, Great Differences And Startling Similarities Become Apparent-similarities Both In Broad Outlines And In Minute Details. In Light Of This Traditional Lore, The Author Begins And Concludes With A Penetrating Spiritual Meditation On The Meaning Of The End. Without A Grasp Of This Meaning, To Date The End Is Impossible. With Such A Grasp, Even The Most Accurate Dating Is Irrelevant, For To Know The Meaning Of The End Of Days Is Already To Be Beyond It.

'charles Upton Is A Serious Thinker From Whom I Have Learned Much. His Writing Merits Close Attention.'
- Huston Smith, Author Of The World's Religions, Etc.

Whether the world ends tomorrow or lasts for centuries, we all exist in a 'climate' of the End of Days. As Thomas Merton wrote, 'We live in an age of two superimposed that of secular anxieties and hopes, and that of revealed fulfillment. Sometimes the first is merely mistaken for the second, sometimes it results from complete denial and despair of the second.' The 'end of time' obviously relates to history, butjust as obviouslyit cannot be contained within it. Legends of the End have always been with us; every spiritual tradition that has a story of the beginning of things must also have one of their final endthe end of the earth, of the universe, of time itself. And just as all such myths symbolize invisible realities, so every historical event is precisely an invisible reality made visible and tangible. This book takes a look at eight Legends of the Hindu, Buddhist, Zoroastrian, Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Hopi, and Lakota. When these stories are placed side-by-side, great differences and startling similarities become apparent-similarities both in broad outlines and in minute details. In light of this traditional lore, the author begins and concludes with a penetrating spiritual meditation on the meaning of the End. Without a grasp of this meaning, to date the End is impossible. With such a grasp, even the most accurate dating is irrelevant, for to know the meaning of the End of Days is already to be beyond it. 'Charles Upton is a serious thinker from whom I have learned much. His writing merits close attention.'Huston Smith, author of The World's Religions, etc. Ever since the advent of nuclear weapons, biological warfare and irreversible degradation of the environment, we have all been facing the End of Days. Whether the world ends tomorrow or lasts for centuries, this is the ‘climate’ of our times. We are all more or less familiar with the Christian apocalypse—but what do the other world religions have to say about the Last Days? This book persents eight Legends of the End: Hindu, Buddhist, Zoroastrian, Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Hopi and Lakota. When these stories are placed side-by-side, great differences and amazing similarities appear—similarities both in broad outlines and in minute details. Every spiritual tradition must include both a story of the first Beginning and a myth of the final End—the end of the earth, of the universe, of time itself. In relation to this End, the secular worldview limits us to the perspective of Fear: the fear of the end of life, the dissolution of matter. But in the Spiritual worldview, the fear of material disaster is swallowed up in the unveiling of eternal Truth. Apocalypse means ‘revelation’. Ever since the advent of nuclear weapons, biological warfare and irreversible degradation of the environment, we have all been facing the End of Days. Whether the world ends tomorrow or lasts for centuries, this is the 'climate' of our times. We are all more or less familiar with the Christian apocalypse—but what do the other world religions have to say about the Last Days? This book persents eight Legends of the End: Hindu, Buddhist, Zoroastrian, Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Hopi and Lakota. When these stories are placed side-by-side, great differences and amazing similarities appear—similarities both in broad outlines and in minute details. Every spiritual tradition must include both a story of the first Beginning and a myth of the final End—the end of the earth, of the universe, of time itself. In relation to this End, the secular worldview limits us to the perspective of Fear: the fear of the end of life, the dissolution of matter. But in the Spiritual... General Fiction The esoteric aspect of time, and the law of metaphysical entropy contained in it, is the subject of this study which has the aim of exploring a radical alternative to what is popularly believed about the meaning of history.