Anima Mundi

The breath, the life, the spirit, the soul of the world... anima mundi.

There are those who believe the world is a living spiritual being.

This was understood by the ancient philosophers and the alchemists who referred to the spiritual essence of the world as the anima mundi, the “Soul of the World.” They regarded the World Soul as a "pure ethereal spirit diffused throughout all nature, the divine essence that embraces and energizes all life in the universe."

Plato believed this. "This world is a living being endowed with a soul and intelligence... a single visible living entity containing all other living entities." Many of the artists during the Reanissance believed this. They created as if nature was "permeated with life, divinity and numinous mystery." (I like how that sounds!) Carl Jung believed this. It is his thinking that there is a divine light that exists in the very depths of our psyches. My friend Jenny believes this. In her latest blog she writes, "everything is holy". Right on, Jenny! You're in good company.

The Soul's Quiet Voice

We hear the word soul in song lyrics and read about it in books and poems--it has been analyzed and scrutinized by songwriters, poets and researchers throughout history. Though soul may seem mysterious, it is hardly inaccessible. It is with us all the time, quietly waiting to be discovered. The soul is not only ephemeral but fundamentally ordinary and familiar. It is available to us at all times and exists in all things. Soul speaks to us through iamgery, imagination and intuition. It is our task to be awake to its calling.

"There is a great spectacle, and that is the sea.
There is a greater spectacle than the sea, and that is the sky.
There is yet a greater spectacle than the sky, and that is the interior of the soul."
-Victor Hugo