I swear I am not making up words again!
It was once thought that the human body … well actually everything in nature … was composed of a combination of simple elements. Actually we still think that today. The primary difference is in ancient times the number of elements was a lot smaller. Asian cultures had 5 basic elements: Fire, Earth, Metal, Water and Wood. These 5 elements play a major role in Eastern mysticism.
Western (or Classical) cultures had a similar concept, though for them there were actually only 4 basic elements: Air, Earth, Water, and Fire. As with the Eastern versions, these have always played a major role in Classical mysticism.
This may not be news to anyone with a little bit of schooling of course. But it might interesting for some to know that in both cases there was actually one more element. The additional elements, though,were not really part of anything else, but reserved for something special. In the Eastern model, there was The Void. In the Classical model there was ….
Yep. Got there finally. Quintessence is literally the fifth essence. Or the fifth element. And what is it? Basically it is Divinity. Perfection. That which only the gods possess.
What’s my point in all this? Well basically in the little challenge that I have been partaking in, it is time for the Q word. And me being me, I have to pick the most difficult word I can think of. So I thought of quintessential. The current definition of the word is the concept of being the “perfect example” of something.
The Quintessential Me needed to know how this word ever came into being. So I dug a little. And ended up with the above gobbledy gook.
Maybe not the best post I ever did. But Q is done!
