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World-Soul
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World-Soul

religion
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History

World-Soul, soul ascribed to the physical universe, on the analogy of the soul ascribed to human beings and other living organisms. This concept of a spiritual principle, intelligence, or mind present in the world’s body received its Classical Western expression in the writings of Plato (5th century bc) and Plotinus (3rd century ad). It may be related to the common archaic notion of the ensoulment of all things (see animism). A possible Eastern analogue may be seen in the Indian notion of atman (q.v.), the supreme cosmic Self.