My understanding is that it is not in the Bible. However it features strongly in the Qu'ran where it appears to be explicitly created by Allah (the Merciful?) to forever punish those who fail to exercise their free will to worship Him.
There seem to be three possibilities for the origin.
1. The Catholics get it from the Qu'ran.
2. Early Catholics created it and Mohammed liked the idea.
3. Those who wrote the Bible neglected to include it when transcribing the rest of the old oral myths the books are based on.
Khandro,//Everything you are, everything you know, begins with the mind// I'm not sure that you can say that with any degree of certainty. As an individual or a species I think the mind is a relative latecomer. I don't think that when I was a couple of germ cells that hadn't been introduced there was much 'mind' involved. Unless of course you are referring to some ineffable mentality that pervades the universe, the existence of which remains to be demonstrated.
jomifl; Most people do not accept that all their experiences and perceptions, are located inside their heads. They think, as you appear to, that they are where they superficially seem to be; outside of their heads.
Khandro, you didn’t clarify your question to me, and from reading your last post I’m half expecting you to launch into the sort of philosophical discussion I once had with my fellow students where we concluded that none of us really existed at all. If you are trying to make a point, it would help if you would tell us what it is.
Khandro, yet again you are making assumptions about what I think and getting it wrong. I would have thought it beyond argument that perceptions occur inside our heads whilst experiences can occur anywhere.Even if we are all the figment of a universal mind this would still apply within the definitions of reality as we perceive it. I would be interested to hear what you think our minds are and where they exist if not in our heads.
jomifl; Please explain, //experiences can occur anywhere.//
naomi; I mean by 'neutrality', to envisage yourself as an independent entity, with the ability to observe phenomena unencumbered by your own intellectual (and emotional) baggage.
Khandro, in that case, yes I do see myself standing in the Universe in a position of neutrality. I don't believe my own intellectual and emotional baggage affects my rationality. Why do you ask?
Khandro, experiences are the result of our minds processing information which may originate internally such as dreams, hallucinations and emotions or may originate externally, such as those experiences detected by our senses. Those experiences can come from light years away or fom someone with whom we are having a conversation ie.anywhere.