Overview

Expressed in its simplest form, Yeats's view of the cosmos is idealist in the philosophical sense, holding that reality exists “essentially as spirit or consciousness,” also termed mind. His conception is at odds with modern scientific thinking, in which mind and consciousness are the product of the brain's functions, since he views mind not only as separate from the physical body but existing before it, even before physical reality and perception. For Yeats, this independent mind is “spirit” and the universe is a community of spirits, existing outside space and time and perceiving each other. Space-time is a product of these spirits and their perceptions, an expression of their reflection into sensation, in particular the aspects of emotion and intellect. When the spirits reflect into time and space, “each sees the others as the visible universe” or “as thoughts, images, objects of sense,” which means that all phenomenal reality is the product of living perception (§5.1). Mountains, buildings, trees, and chairs are all seen as the expression of spirits and perception. Some of the concepts of A Vision are difficult to grasp because elements can simultaneously be an inherent part of the individual soul and also manifested external phenomena; the phenomena are in turn the effects of other beings.

A proportion of these spirits are human souls and born into this world, though Yeats never raises the question of what proportion makes up humanity, or indeed many other fundamental questions about origins and process. However, human souls are continually reincarnated on earth in a series of lives that evolve and repeat at a higher level, in a form of upward spiral. Through the progressive incarnations, different aspects of the being’s essence can be expressed, until, at the end of this series, all that is within the archetype of its essential being has been expressed in time and space. The soul is then ready to enter into a whole new dimension beyond the (twelve) cycles of time and space called the Thirteenth Cycle or Thirteenth Cone (§10.4).

During its passage through the cycles, each human soul passes through three states—incarnate physical life, interlife, non-physical incarnation (see Ch. 11)—its abilities, nature, and purposes determined by its current state.