“The question is not what you look at, but how you look and whether you see.”
— HENRY DAVID THOREAU
The spring 2024 issue (#51) of our biannual publication, In Context, is at the printers! And you can find it here online as of May 1.
In the meantime, you can access our 50th issue, published in the fall of 2023, to peruse our latest activities; new writings by our staff; a classic essay by Goethe on Dialogical Knowing; and a sharing of ten unique plant observation exercises used in our education programs to help enhance the perception and understanding of different ways of being.
Our Latest Podcast production is special: A three-part reading and conversation about Craig Holdrege’s in-depth article, “Where Does an Animal End — The American Bison?” (from In Context # 34). Listen to Part 1 to hear Craig reading a section on the embodied and peripheral boundaries of the bison, followed by his conversation with podcast host, John Gouldthorpe.) In Part 2, Craig reads further into the piece, capturing the continuity that can be experienced between a being’s physical and spiritual life. A conversation on that topic also follows. Part 3 will air in December 2023.
In addition to publishing our staff’s work relating to Goethean Science and Phenomenology on this site, we also periodically showcase the work of others in the field. A new such addition to our Writings By Author section is the work of Mark Riegner PhD, who taught Ecology and Evolution for 35 years at Prescott College in Arizona, and has authored two insightful articles that you can link to from here.
About The Nature Institute's Mission — In this short video, Craig Holdrege, the director of The Nature Institute, asks the fundamental question "Do we really 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~
Enhancing Our Capacities Through
Plant Observation
A central emphasis in our workshops and courses is learning through direct experience — often with plants. In this feature from In Context #50, Craig shares the details of ten exercises in plant observation that help cultivate a greater perception and understanding of ways of being.
A Thirteen-Year Project — Now Complete!
Institute researcher emeritus Stephen Talbott’s new online book aims “to recapture the drama of life in the place where it actually occurs — in organisms themselves — and to lay bare as clearly as possible the failure of reigning evolutionary theory to explain the special qualities of that drama. His 25-chapter book, Organisms and Their Evolution: Agency and Meaning in the Drama of Life, is a highly original and thought-provoking publication. You can read individual chapters and download the whole book, free-of-charge at our adjunct website.
We recently expanded and redesigned our online Bookstore to better serve you and to offer titles from other Goethean authors whose work we value. We encourage you to browse or contact us with any questions.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Drawing into Nature, Spring 2024
A 6-session course with artist/educator Ella Lapointe
Tuesdays, May 7 - June 11 4:30 - 6:00 pm
From a Reader…
Dear Craig,
I’ve never written a message to a stranger before but after reading your “Story of an Organism: Common Milkweed” I really needed to tell you what an exceptional job I thought you did in explaining the biology of this plant. The science was complete without being overwhelming and I was so grateful for the accompanying photos. I could clearly understand what you were saying by seeing the actual plant and it’s relevant parts. I found your article while searching for an aerodynamic explanation of how milkweed seeds float and disperse. Although I wasn’t able to find anything on milkweed specifically, I did find a fascinating explanation of dandelion seed vortexes.
I’m grateful to have found The Nature Institute on this trip down the “Google hole” and have added my name to your mailing list. Thank you for your thoughtful work.
- Franki Brinkman