Akashic

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. A notion that pertains to a mystical plane encompassing all universal experiences, thoughts, and actions connecting humanity and existence
2. This term describes an ethereal dimension that serves as a comprehensive ledger of every event, idea, and sentiment lived by all entities
3. Pertaining to an invisible repository believed to hold all knowledge of past and future events across time and space

Etymology: Akashic comes from "akasha", a Sanskrit word meaning "space" or "ether", which in Indian philosophy was one of the five elements, the one that holds all the others. The Sanskrit "akasha" itself is built from "a-" (a prefix meaning "toward" or "at") and "kas" (a root meaning "to shine"), giving the sense of something that lets light appear, though the exact sense of the root is debated. The adjective "akashic" was formed in English by adding the suffix "-ic", which turns a noun into an adjective meaning "of or relating to" it. The English noun "akasha" entered the language first, and the adjective followed from it, so the word is a plain English formation on a Sanskrit base rather than a term with a long classical history. The sense of a cosmic record of all events comes from the esoteric writings of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, where "akashic records" was used for an invisible store of every thought and deed. The modern meaning is therefore a product of that theosophical tradition, not of the original Sanskrit word.