C. G. Jung, W. B. Yeats, and the Anima Mundi Lecture

This presentation will examine some of Jung’s and Yeats’s writings on the Anima Mundi or World Soul, and other similarities between them including their towers at Bollingen and Galway. It will also include material from their autobiographies. We will see how Jung’s understanding of the Anima Mundi evolved and changed over time; and that the alchemical worldview which strongly influenced him, and the magical worldview which influenced Yeats, are substantially different from the traditional scientific worldview that is still widely accepted today.

We will also consider the importance of the Anima Mundi in our own time, with reference to Jungians Lionel Corbett, James Hillman, and Mary-Jayne Rust; cultural historians Morris Berman and Richard Tarnas; environmental scientist James Lovelock; other writers including Carolyn Merchant, Thomas Moore, and David Suzuki; and an Indigenous perspective. It appears that a loss of connection with the Anima Mundi for many humans today is a major cause of environmental destruction and climate change, as nature has become “de-psychized” (Jung) and perceived as a resource to be exploited for material and economic gain.

It will also be suggested that there is a need for a holistic science which views human beings as embedded within and as part of nature, unlike the traditional scientific worldview which sees us as separate from nature and able to act on it as independent observers who are not intimately linked with the natural world.