HÉLOÏSE
108avoided. Buddhism also acknowledges a
place and function for nakara in its ideol-
ogy, but it strongly emphasizes that its fol-
lowers strive to escape samsara (Sanskrit,
commonly meaning “the wheel of suffer-
ing”) that souls inhabit during all reincar-
nation cycles before reaching nirvana.
Some Chinese philosophies (such as
Daoism) believe hell to be full of pain and
torture; it is a place underground, mim-
icking an earthly prison, where the sun
does not reach, and is meant to be a nec-
essary stage for purging evil before pro-
gressing to a different life stage.
Islam has a similar traditional concept
of hell as Christianity, believing it to be
an inferno of great suffering for souls
being punished that have not lived
according to God’s laws. The Arabic word
for hell, Jahannam, is closely related the
the Hebrew word, Gehenna, which is
Judaism’s word for hell. Judaism’s ideas
about heaven and hell contrast from the
Christian and Islamic ones in that while
in Gehenna the soul’s afterlife involves
becoming fully aware of one’s past deeds,
both good and bad, and that suffering is
the direct result from the personal shame
of not having lived in full accordance
with God’s will.
HÉLOÏSE (1101–1164). A student of
Abelard. The scandal of their romantic
relationship, secret marriage, and then
its bitter ending followed by the mutila-
tion of Abelard were important for medi-
eval reflection on marriage, romance,
and the vocation of philosophy. Heloise’s
correspondence with Abelard is an impor-
tant example of high learning, passion,
and an exploration of the tortuous ques-
tions to which human beings are prey.HENOTHEISM. A term coined by Max
Müller to describe the worship of a single
God, while acknowledging the possibility
of the existence of other gods. Henothe-
ism implies a belief that God or gods
may have circumscribed domains. This is
different from monotheism, according to
which God is omnipresent and there is
no place where God is not.HERACLITUS (Flourished ca. 500
BCE). Pre-Socratic philosopher in Asia
Minor, native of Ephesus. No complete
text of Heraclitus survives; what we know
of his philosophy we know from his aph-
orisms quoted by others, making it diffi-
cult to make a definitive statement of his
final views. Nevertheless, several of Hera-
clitus’ doctrines were influential on sub-
sequent philosophers. These include his
doctrines concerning the logos, and flux.
Heraclitus rejected polymathy, or the
attempt to understand the world by learn-
ing many things, since merely gathering
bits of information could lead one to miss
the unchanging logos that lies behind the
cosmos and that the cosmos proclaims.
The cosmos is in constant flux or change,
so wisdom comes from attending to the
principle of change, not only to the chang-
ing things themselves. This doctrine is