Ecʹstasy

(Greek εκ-στασιζ, from εξ-ιστημι, to stand out of [the body or mind]). To stand out of one’s mind is to lose one’s wits, to be beside oneself. To stand out of one’s body is to be disembodied. St. Paul refers to this when he says he was caught up to the third heaven and heard unutterable words, “whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell” (2 Cor. xii. 2–4). St. John also says he was “in the spirit”—i.e. in an ecstasy—when he saw the apocalyptic vision (i. 10). The belief that the soul left the body at times was very general in former ages, and is still the belief of many. (See Ecstatici.)