Abstract

The philosophy of the Upanisads enabled him to better understand and revise certain sections of A Vision: the Sphere or ultimate reality, the lunar symbolism and eschatology. Yeats found in the Upanisads a confirmation of his belief in the immortality of the soul, something he had sought to prove through countless visits to seances. Yeats also discovered a parallel for his concept of Unity of Being in Turiya, a final stage in meditation wherein bliss and a consciousness of unity are achieved. The imagination, he discovered, was a faculty of the Atman or Self. It created the images in anima mundi seen in their trances by seers and poets.