“The question is not what you look at, but how you look and whether you see.”
— HENRY DAVID THOREAU
What’s the Latest?
“Some Comments on The Contagion Myth” — Craig Holdrege and Jon McAlice critique some of the claims and the manner of argumentation in this controversial book.
“Atomism — An Outline of Discoveries and Theories” — In this technical paper, Gopi Krishna Vijaya traces the development of the ideas about the atom from the 17th century until today. He considers the changing models of the atom and how the idea increased in complexity as scientists implemented different methods and made new discoveries about the properties of matter.
“To Rescue the Whole” — in an in-depth interview in Acres magazine, Craig discusses the work of fine-tuning our thinking capacities to develop a consciousness that is more integrated with the natural world — and each other.
To the Infinite and Back Again — this engaging hands-on workbook in projective geometry by Henrike Holdrege is now being published in Portugese! Read more about the book here. Hard copies are available in our bookstore; a PDF of the book is now freely available online.
About The Nature Institute's Mission — In this short video, Craig Holdrege, the director of The Nature Institute, asks the fundamental question "Do we see the world?" The mission of the institute is to cultivate that seeing and to develop practices to transform our sensibilities and thinking in order to understand the living character of the world.
~Featured~
DNA (black “string”) and nucleosomes (“beads” on the string), as imaged by an electron microscope.
New Chapters on Genes and Teleology
Steve Talbott regularly posts new content for his ground-breaking book-in-progress, Evolution As It Was Meant To Be — And The Living Narratives That Tell Its Story. Here are two fresh chapters:
How Our Genes Come to Expression
If you have the popular picture of “what genes do” and dive into this challenging article, your understanding will be revolutionized. It is based on over a decade of work by Steve.
Teleology and Evolution
Steve asserts that evolution has a directional aspect similar to the way the development of an individual organism is directed. Here he addresses objections from biologists to this view and criticizes the idea that natural selection can explain the apparently purposive functioning of organisms.
Winter is an ideal time to view the crowns of trees and discern some of their history. Craig’s article on “The Forming Tree” provides some clues.
Viruses in the Dynamics of Life
Craig Holdrege
Beyond the many discussions our staff has had about this serious pandemic and the societal responses to it, we felt the need to give more attention to viruses as such. These “invisible germs” present a real riddle. What is an appropriate way to think about them?
Read more
UPCOMING EVENTS
March 8 - 31, 2021 | Model-free Physics and the Forces of Technology — A course with Gopi Krishna Vijaya
April 9, 2021 | The Mind of Plants Online Symposium — Craig Holdrege is one of several authors invited to share their experiences, perspectives, and various approaches to/with plants. More details to come.
May 3 - 21, 2021 | Metamorphosis, Plasticity, and Context-Sensitivity: Learning From Plants — A course with Craig Holdrege and Nathaniel Williams
From a Reader…
Dear Craig,
I am a science teacher at a Waldorf charter school, Credo High School, in Sonoma County. My son goes to Summerfield in 7th grade. I was reading the newsletter they sent out and was inspired by your article. You really have a great way of teaching science. Experiences are so much more powerful and a much richer, deeper way of learning. I would love to implement that lesson in my senior biology class. Is the material that you used available? Specifically the images of the skulls.
Jered Karr
(Craig’s response directed Jered to the teaching kit he created for evolution studies, available here.)
A student works at ordering skulls evolutionarily.