Metapsychosis

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The belief in a soul's passing through various forms of existence beyond normal rebirth
2. A concept where the soul moves through multiple states of being across lifetimes
3. The idea that a soul undergoes successive incarnations extending beyond typical reincarnation cycles

Etymology: "Metapsychosis" is built from two Greek-derived elements: "meta-", meaning "beyond" or "after" and, in later usage, "change" or "transformation", and "psychosis", which in its original Greek sense ("psykhōsis") meant the animation or giving of life to a soul. The sense of the first element is what gives the word its shape: it describes a soul moving beyond the ordinary cycle of rebirth into other kinds of existence, rather than simply being reborn once. The "psychosis" in this word is not the modern medical term for severe mental illness, which is a much later coinage from the 19th century and comes from the same Greek root "psykhē" (soul, mind) with a different suffix. Here the older sense of the soul's animation or transmigration is the one in play, so the word belongs to the vocabulary of ancient and later philosophical discussions of the soul rather than to psychiatry.