ABSTRACT
The years between the Enlightenment and the Romantic Movement witnessed many debates which were highly influential on the development of modern esotericism. Modern esotericism may be understood as an example of the dialectic of the rationalisation of religion and life on the one hand, and the quest for individual salvation and resacralisation of an indivisible cosmos on the other. Three scholars occupy a prominent position among today's heroes of esoteric literature: Carl Gustav Jung, Mircea Eliade and Joseph Campbell. Carl Gustav Jung played a major role in elaborating the modern esoteric concept of the soul. Everyone has somehow heard of the 'New Age' and connects it with 'esotericis', but no one really knows exactly what the term means. Deep ecology performs a similar function for the esoteric concept of nature, does transpersonal psychology for the concept of the soul. The Psychology and Religion Movement of Ralph Waldo Emerson found its chief advocate in William James.
