For [French mystical philosopher, Henry] Corbin, the Otherworld is a pre-condition of our own world, meaning that our world would not exist without it. The Otherworld thus encompasses our reality rather than being situated by it. He explains this difficult concept by using the following analogy. Although we commonly consider our spirit to be situated within our body or brain during its incarnation, an assumption forced upon us by Descartes’ separation of the mind from the body (and the natural world), the converse is actually true. The body is encompassed by the spirit. Furthermore, imagination, which has the ability to connect with and move between the two worlds, encompasses our psychological and cognitive functions. We are therefore embraced and held by a world of magic which appears to us in visions, dreams and symbols yet it is a world to which we have become increasingly blind and mute.
(Sinead Spearing, Wiccecræft: Shamanic Magic from The Dark Ages, Green Magic: Stathe, Somerset, 2011, p. 4)
I loved CS Lewis' statement, you are not a body with a soul, but a soul with a body. It's wonderful to see the idea deepened here, and I'm going to be thinking for a long time about this quote, thank you for sharing it.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome, Sarah. It's very interesting. I think that though we have 'individual' souls, those souls are all part of the larger soul of the universe, otherwise known as Spirit (or the Mystery, God/dess, the Divine, and so forth). I think the same can be said of mind/consciousness. We are individual parts of something much larger.
DeleteI've always thought decorates was a bit of an ass. it's arguable that we all would have been much better off without cartesian philosophy...
ReplyDeleteI far prefer the idea of being "embraced and held by a world of magic"! much healthier, for us and for the plant...
I agree. Descartes is one of my least favourite people. It's likely there will be more Descartes-bashing in future posts. :D
Delete