Soul Of The Earth

In nature one can tap into the Soul of The Earth - Anima Mundi.

Anima mundi means "Soul of The World" in Greek. According to several systems of thought, this world spirit or mind refers to an intrinsic connection between all living things on the planet.

The idea originated with Plato:

"Therefore, we may consequently state that: this world is indeed a living being endowed with a soul and intelligence ... a single visible living entity containing all other living entities, which by their nature are all related."

The Stoics believed it to be the only vital force in the universe, and similar concepts also hold in systems of eastern philosophy such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, and Neo-Confucianism.

Other resemblances can be found in the thoughts of philosophers across the ages, and as recently as the 1960s by Gaia theorists such as James Lovelock:

"We still find alien the concept that we and the rest of life, from bacteria to whales, are parts of the much larger and diverse entity, the living Earth."

For psychologist Carl Jung, contact with Nature was a powerful way to get in contact with the universal spirit, soul or intelligence.

He felt that Earth Keeping, or the conscious tending of the ecological balances that make up the web of life, was a practice every bit as spiritual as meditation, prayer or attendance at religious services.

"Nature is an incomparable guide if you know how to follow her," he advised.

Life, Universal Soul and the Earth are an inseparable living entity  - anima mundi. We will either succeed together, or we will fail together.

It is up to us.