preexistence
Being before birth
Preexistence is the state of existing before something else, particularly before birth or before the current world came into being.
The term appears most often in theological and philosophical contexts, where it refers to the belief that souls exist before they enter human bodies.
Some religious traditions hold that Christ had preexistence before his earthly incarnation.
The adjective form is preexistent: The doctrine holds that preexistent souls choose their earthly circumstances.
Existing before another
- antecedentSomething that precedes
- precedingComing before in order
- previousOccurring before another
- earlierAt a prior time
before · former · anterior · primordial · prehistoric · antediluvian · primeval · pristine
Soul's rebirth after death
- transmigrationSoul passing into another body
- premortalBefore earthly life began
- soulInnermost animating essence
- immortalityExemption from death
Platonism · foreordination · anamnesis · prenatal · karma · samsara · theology · doctrine
Something that comes first
- forerunnerOne that comes before
- antecedentSomething that precedes
- originStarting point or source
- sourcePoint of origin
genesis · prototype · archetype · ancestor · progenitor · seed · root · foundation
prior
Existing before another
- antecedentSomething that precedes
- precedingComing before in order
- previousOccurring before another
earlier · before · former · anterior · primordial · prehistoric · antediluvian · primeval · pristine · aboriginal
reincarnation
Soul's rebirth after death
- transmigrationSoul passing into another body
- premortalBefore earthly life began
- soulInnermost animating essence
immortality · Platonism · foreordination · anamnesis · prenatal · karma · samsara · theology · doctrine · philosophy
precursor
Something that comes first
- forerunnerOne that comes before
- antecedentSomething that precedes
- originStarting point or source
source · genesis · prototype · archetype · ancestor · progenitor · seed · root · foundation · groundwork
timeless
Unaffected by eras
- everlastingLasting for all time
- immortalCannot die
- perpetualLasting without interruption
ageless · unending · endless · undying · sempiternal · infinite · boundless · eternal · abiding · constant
- ChristologyChristology, Jesus, incarnation, Jesus Christ, Christ
- karmacomeuppance, good deeds, poetic justice, karmic debt, what goes around comes around
- soul conceptsatman, psyche, anima, pneuma, ba
preexistenceafterlife
Existence beyond mortality
life after death · future life · afterworld · hereafter · eternity
preexistencenonexistence
Absence of being
coming into being · creation · origination · genesis · emergence