The term “eschatology” is derived from the Greek words “eschatos” (ἔσχατος) meaning “last” or “farthest” and “logia” (λογία) meaning “study” or “discourse.” Thus, eschatology literally translates to the “study of the last things,” signaling its focus on end times and ultimate outcomes.
Searching the internet, typing in “eschatology” will typically lead one first to Christian theology, but if we go to Wikipedia and scroll down through all the other “isms,” or start poking around in “secular eschatology,” or “eschatology and science,” or physics, things really start to get interesting.
The topic, arguably a primary driver in our lives, seems still pretty much the province of the collective unconscious, and just outside the “Overton Window” in most venues.
We do talk about the scary times we’re in from a secular point of view. We pray to science and somehow for a magic collective leap into mature ethics, while having allowed ourselves to become enslaved by infantile thugs, thugs that force us to look at eschatology.
Reminds me of the power of koan study, meant to be unsolvable by the intellect: "Like a red-hot iron ball stuck in your throat, you can’t swallow it, you can’t spit it out, and you can’t leave it where it is"… if you want …
