Metaphysics of Soul, Universal Spirit, and Consciousness

What is it about?

C.G. Jung, left the true nature of psyche and consciousness open to many possibilities. He had sophisticated intimations about the intricate connection between mind and matter. Ultimately, it became a mainstay of Jungian psychology that the psyche cannot be reduced to any other factor, because it is the medium for experience itself. In modernity, the nature of consciousness has continued to spark an exotic spectrum of philosophical and scientific investigations. Some theorists see consciousness as a merely emergent property of dead particles in the universe – physicalism –; others see consciousness as another basic property of the universe – panpsychism –, and still more some see consciousness as the basic and ultimate reality of the universe itself – Idealism. Each of these camps has issues to solve in their methods of investigation and their underlying presuppositions. This essay argues, faithful to the author’s interpretation of the Jungian tradition, that consciousness and psyche cannot be reduced to matter, nor can it be seen as a mere basic property of the universe. Instead, the author advances a form of ontological idealism which makes the whole universe a process of consciousness. The absolute reality of consciousness as such is argued to be atemporal and non-local, and this is referred to as Universal Spirit. The local embodied reality of life is claimed to be generated by the Soul, which originates from Universal Spirit.

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