“Rooted in the World”
By Craig Holdrege
Craig’s new book, Thinking Like a Plant, is written as a practical guide for learning to think the way nature lives. In this excerpt from the book, Craig looks at plant germination and seedling development to provide an overview of the intimate relation between plant growth and human thinking. The metaphor relating the plant to thinking is neither casual nor arbitrary, but is founded upon our objective rootedness in the world.
Notes and Reviews
“Plasticity, Stability, and Whole-Organism Inheritance”
By Stephen L. Talbott
The development of complex organisms tells a dramatic story about the plasticity of DNA in the “hands” of the whole cell and whole organism. The story of development is first of all a story — a narrative with intention and direction — not merely a series of physical causes and effects. The text we present here is excerpted from Steve’s new article, “Genes and the Central Fallacy of Evolutionary Theory,” available in the Biology Worthy of Life section of our website.
“Light in the Dark”
By Henrike Holdrege
A simple demonstration leads to some reflections upon light, two types of darkness, and the dual role of matter as both that which appears and that which can block appearance.
“The Form of Wholeness: Multiplicity and Unity”
By Henri Bortoft
The late Henri Bortoft was a leading expositor of the meaning of wholeness in the sciences. We mark his recent passing with a commentary he offered at a 1999 conference. His concern at the time was, in part, to distinguish true wholeness (which requires one to participate inwardly in the becoming of things) from less productive notions of wholeness (which start with things that have already become). Accompanying the main article, Craig Holdrege recalls his always-enlightening encounters with Henri.
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