“The question is not what you look at, but how you look and whether you see.”

— HENRY DAVID THOREAU


Upcoming Events

From Lived Experience to Living Understanding: The Importance of Embodied Learning in a Digital World

A talk followed by conversation with Jon McAlice

Wednesday, May 14, 7:00 pm

No registration is necessary; donations are welcome.

When Craig and Henrike Holdrege visited the Amazon in 2015, they had the rare opportunity to observe the most prevalent (yet notoriously hidden) tree-dwelling mammal in Central and South American rainforests: the three-toed sloth. Craig wove first-hand observations into the detailed portrait of the sloth that comprises the first chapter of his book, Seeing the Animal Whole—And Why It Matters. Now you can listen to this fascinating portrait, “In Praise of Slowness: What Does It Mean to Be a Sloth?”, in the latest episode at our podcast, In Dialogue With Nature.

More than a careful description of the sloth, the text also helps us imagine how all the characteristics of an animal express a coherence. “Every detail can begin to speak ‘sloth,’ not as a name,” Craig writes, “but as a qualitative concept to which no definition can do justice.” We invite you to listen . . . slowly.

In Context: Spring 2025 Issue

The spring 2025 issue (#53) of our biannual publication, In Context, is now available in print and online. New writings include a feature by Jon McAlice and Craig Holdrege on challenging the inquiring mind to see beyond boundaries, and Marisha Plotnik’s images and impressions from her recent study of leaf color change. You’ll also find a report on our third Climate Change Colloquium by Marisha, plus news of our many activities.

 

Separate entities can either compete or develop strategies to cooperate. In either case, the starting point is separation. This is a foundational assumption of modern biology. But what if relatedness is more fundamental? How would we behold living beings and what we call their environment? A consideration of oak trees guides this exploration of sympoiesis — creating together.

 
 

News From The Institute

Read here about recent staff activities at the institute as well as abroad. You can find field notes from our Foundation Course 2024 summer intensive and more, including a Fall Colors art/observation workshop; talks introducing Goethean Phenomenology to students and professional philosophers; and workshops for bringing Goethean practice into the classroom.

 
 

Our online Bookstore offers titles from our faculty and other Goethean authors whose work we value. We encourage you to browse or contact us with any questions.

Other Research and Resources

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 four insightful articles that you can link to from here.

About the work of The Nature Institute — In a rare interview, recorded in Brazil, Henrike and Craig Holdrege speak of their transformative work and the Goethean perspective that has long inspired it. This Q & A followed a two-week course, “Seeing Nature Whole,” that the Holdrege’s have frequently taught each December in Florianópolis.

 
 
 

From a Reader…

Dear Craig,

Once again I’m introducing papers from The Nature Institute website, this time for a HS botany course, and I’m just so grateful for your work (and Steve’s) and that a resource like yours exists. …I appreciate so much those who approach science thoughtfully, with open minds and hearts. It has lit a fire in several students over the years, and helped to humanize even those who are not especially otherwise interested in science.

- Executive Director, Waldorf High School