Nature – an extension of the Archetype of the Self as embodied in the image of the White Lion.
Denise examines Nature as a dynamic extension of our psyche in terms of Jung’s Archetype of the Self. She believes that Nature as an archetypal pattern of the soul, interwoven with Humankind’s anxiety lived experiences and revolutionary leaps, constitutes the bedrock of our consciousness. The speaker’s hypothesis is grounded in the Ecological Perspective, which demands a fundamental interconnectedness – as is implicit in the South African concept of Ubuntu. She draws a comparison between lions, in their role of apex predators and an “ordering principle” in nature, with the concept of the Self as the regulating center in the human psyche. Lions’ deep-rooted symbolic and mythological significance is considered, with specific emphasis on the importance of white animals in spiritual traditions, elucidating the proper relationship required between humans and Nature.