Are fungi and plants intelligent? How does animal intelligence relate to human intelligence? Many popular books today address such questions, and intelligence in nature is the focus of ardent debate within mainstream science. With the current discussion as a starting point, Craig Holdrege will explore what intelligence could mean in plants, animals, and humans. His guiding question is: How can we gain understanding in a way that does justice to the diverse ways of being found in the world?

All welcome.

Craig Holdrege, Ph.D., is co-founder and director of The Nature Institute in Ghent, NY, an organization dedicated to developing a phenomenological and participatory understanding of the natural world (natureinstitute.org). He is deeply interested in the interconnected nature of things and how we can understand life in truly living ways as a basis for responsible human action. His studies of plants and animals, as well as his commentaries scientific thinking and new developments in the biological sciences, aim to stimulate a transformation in human thinking and perception. Craig is the author of many articles, monographs, and books, including Thinking Like a Plant: A Living Science for Life and Seeing the Animal Whole – And Why It Matters. He gives talks, workshops, and courses nationally and internationally.  

Join us for the launch of the Ruskin Mill Centre for Research.

17.30 Buffet

18.15 Inauguration of the silver flow form – an imaginative and artistic deed for water, with the addition of triturated gold by Simon Reakes, and reciting of a creation myth by Kymberly Foos

18.30 Inauguration of Ruskin Mill Centre for Practice . Opening words by Aonghus Gordon: The vision for the Ruskin Mill Research Trust as a centre for Goethean Science and Rudolf Steiner Spiritual Science. Followed by Prof Laurence Cox, Consultant Director of the new Trust. Introductions from Dr Troy Vine and Dr Judyth Sassoon, Associate Researchers of the Field Centre.

After a short break, the launch will be followed by a keynote presentation from Dr Craig Holdrege from the Nature Institute titled, Intelligence in Nature? An Exploration

Please RVSP Anna.Daniels@rmt.org

This presentation explores Rudolf Steiner’s six basic exercises in three key areas. Firstly, we consider the role of the six exercises in preparing the soul for the meditative and contemplative path. Following this, the six exercises in relation to meditative activity itself are explored. To conclude, the six exercises in the sphere of social engagement are considered.

Bart Vanmechelen Anthroposophic Council for Inclusive Social Development

Joan Sleigh School of Spiritual Science, Goetheanum

Simon Reakes The Field Centre

Free entry. All are welcome.

Join us for the Launch of Ruskin Today, a revised and expanded edition

Freeman College, Sterling Works, 88 Arundel Street, Sheffield, South Yorkshire S1 2NG

All Guild Companions and their colleagues are invited to attend the launch of the revised and expanded book: Ruskin Today.

There will be a buffet from 6pm, followed by a short presentation at 7pm.

This revised and expanded edition of the book is supported by Ruskin Mill Trust and produced as part of the Ruskin bicentenary cross-Trust celebrations that took place in 2019. The book includes new chapters, including Women, Craft and Activism.

RSVP: Anna.Daniels@rmt.org

Colour Workshop

This workshop, for exploring and deepening insights into colour, will be of interest to teachers, therapists, and those interested in Goethean science.

Saturday 21 January

10.00 – 16.00

The Festival Room, Ruskin Mill, GL6 0LA

Fee £25 (RMT staff no charge)

Workshop programme

10:00–11:30 How Real are Coloured Shadows? New Research Perspectives
Matthias Rang, Co-leader of the Natural Science Section of the Goetheanum

11:30–12:00 Break

12:00–13:00 Newton and Goethe as Founders of Holistic Science
Troy Vine, Associate Researcher at the Field Centre

13:00–14:00 Lunch (provided)

14:00–15:00 Exploring the Relationships between Colours
Nora Löbe, Artist and educator at the Swiss Science Centre Technorama

15:00–16:00 Introduction to Metal, Light, Colour Therapy
Hazel Adams, Art Therapist and Metal colour light therapist

RSVP anna.daniels@rmt.org

Lecture

Friday 20 January
19.00 – 20.30
The Field Centre, GL6 0QE

Greenhouse or Mirror with Window? An Optical Approach to Understanding the Earth’s Atmosphere

Viewing the thermal regulation of the earth from the perspective of optics is surprisingly straightforward. Surrounded by a vacuum, the earth’s thermal exchange with the cosmos occurs entirely via light and heat radiation. The climate crisis is thus an expression of a changing relationship of the earth to the cosmos that can be described optically: the earth’s atmosphere is increasingly losing the capacity to be a window to the cosmos and is increasingly becoming a mirror. In this lecture we will consider phenomena, in part from daily life, with which we can develop a characterisation of the the earth’s thermal mantle.

Matthias Rang, Co-leader of the Natural Science Section of the Goetheanum

Book Launch

20.00 onwards

You are invited to the launch of Seeing Colour: A Journey Through Goethe’s World of Colour by

Matthias Rang, Co-leader of the Natural Science Section of the Goetheanum

Troy Vine, Associate Researcher at the Field Centre

Nora Löbe, Artist and educator at the Swiss Science Centre Technorama

This event is open to anyone interested in a hands-on experience of “hominid” fossils. I will be displaying exact museum casts of key specimens that have informed current thinking on ancient humans. We will make observations and comparisons, and discuss how the specimens contributed to paradigm shifts and controversies in human evolution research. We will consider the anatomy, posture and way of life of these ancient creatures and one main focus will be the well-known discussion on brain size, hand dexterity and bipedal posture. No prior knowledge is assumed.

Dr Judyth Sassoon

A presentation and discussion at The Field Centre exploring human evolution.

All are welcome.

In his commentary on Goethe’s Scientific Writings, Rudolf Steiner remarks apropos the structure of the Didactic Part of the Farbenlehre that the “impulse of the age that led to the architecture of Hegel’s whole system is obvious in this path moving from subject to object and back again”.

This “impulse of the age” did not only lead to Goethe’s Farbenlehre and Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit—we also find it developed in the evolutionary thought of Owen Barfield, which his fellow Inkling J.R.R. Tolkien brought to expression in his increasingly popular Legendarium. In this lecture we will consider the structure of the Didactic Part of Goethe’s Farbenlehre as an evolution of consciousness and then compare this with Owen Barfield’s conception of evolution (with a short intermezzo on the Phenomenology and history of the elves).

Dr Troy Vine

Free entry

All welcome

This presentation draws on the work of Jochen Bockemühl, whose pioneering approach to place and landscape studies is informed by both J. W. Goethe and Rudolf Steiner. Bockemühl, in employing the fundamental principles of Goethe’s work, further enhanced his approach through Steiner’s meditative indications. Bockemühl considered his approach to be a ‘holistic mode of observation’. In his Awakening to Landscape, Bockemühl proposes that “A holistic study of nature begins' by gaining further experience in moving from phenomenon to inner vision and then makes this its guide in turning the eye back to the phenomenon.” There are three stages implicit in Bockemühl’s articulation; three stages that form a continuum. These are (1) studying the phenomenon, (2) moving from the phenomenon to inner vision, and (3) turning the eye back to the phenomenon. This presentation explores the stages of this iterative cycle in relation to the question of place.

All are welcome.

Simon Reakes, MSc

Simon is currently undertaking doctoral study at the Royal Holloway University of London exploring Genius Loci and contemporary methods of Goethean inquiry

Venue: The Field Centre

Entrance: £ donation on the door

Maker’s knowledge (artisanal epistemology) is the embodied knowledge of craftspeople, gained by virtue of their physical engagement with a particular craft. It points to a recent realisation that the production of material objects requires large-scale experiential knowledge that is complex, innovative, methodical and evolving. Here, I will speak about the importance of maker’s knowledge in general and also highlight its role in furthering science in the early modern period and its recent use as a research method for understanding human culture in the past. All the examples I use refer to human engagement with rocks and minerals.

All are welcome.

Dr Judyth Sassoon, Associate Researcher for the Field Centre; PDRA Palaeobiology, University of Bristol

Venue: The Field Centre

Entrance: £ donation on the door

Goethean science is often characterised as a qualitative approach to science. What exactly this is supposed to mean is rarely spelt out, but generally implied is some kind of opposition to quantitative or mathematical approaches to science. Viewing Goethean science in opposition to mathematics may certainly be helpful for gaining an initial understanding of what it is, but taking this distinction as essential impedes not only a deeper understanding, but also its subsequent development. 

 In the first half of this talk we will compare the polar structures of colour and space to show that connecting Goethe’s colour studies to nineteenth century developments in mathematics, specifically projective geometry, can enrich our understanding of polarity. In the second part of this talk we will compare sequences generated by geometrical transformation and plant development to show that the practice of projective geometry can help sensitise us to the metamorphosis of plants. 

Dr Troy Vine, Associate Researcher for the Field Centre, Humboldt University of Berlin

Venue: The Field Centre

Entrance: £ donation on the door

Nature’s importance for human well-being has a high media profile and there is a growing call for a deeper, more connected relationship with the animals and plants around us. But what about the past? Does the past matter and what kind of relationship can we have with the creatures of earth’s deep history? What is the ontological status of animals and plants that are only known to us through fossils?  Referring to Goethe’s work on animal and plant archetypes, I will present some of my recent research and discuss the role of “typological thinking” in how we think about and relate to extinct animals.   

Dr Judyth Sassoon, Associate Researcher for the Field Centre; PDRA Palaeobiology, University of Bristol

Venue: The Field Centre

Entrance: £ donation on the door

Some living examples of the Community Humanizing Impulse in the life of Ute Craemer - bridgebuilding between humans and beyond!

With Ute Craemer (co-founder of the World Social Initiative Forum, pioneer of the Associação Comunitária Monte Azul, Alliance for Childhood in Brazil)

Venue: The Field

Entrance: £ donation on the door

Barry Lopez once pointed out that we have developed a relationship to the experienced world in which we would rather think about the fox slinking through the meadow, than be with the fox slinking through the meadow. This preoccupation with our own thinking has the tendency to blind us to the qualitive differences apparent in the world around us. Rudolf Steiner called attention to the fourfold expression of being on earth with his remarks concerning mineral, plant, animal and human. These express themselves in qualities of form, life, sentience and intention. By attuning ourselves to the nature of these different qualities, we can become more aware of the nature of our relatedness to the wholeness of which we are also a part and begin to learn from the world what it needs of us.

John McAlice, Senior Educator and Researcher at the Nature Institute

Venue: The Field

Entrance: £ donation on the door

The School of Spiritual Science is a framework of understanding and practice which can support every human being in awakening to itself and a deeper understanding of the world. The School invites all those who are interested in self-mastery, to actively participate in furthering the dignity and responsibility of human beings, as integral co-learners and co-creators of an emergent and interconnected future. As evolving soul-spiritual beings, we may become ever more aware of the interrelationships of all things… 

In this session, we will introduce some core qualities of this work and invite you into an open conversation of exploration. Together we will look at the value of tuning ourselves as instruments of perception, in the practices of observing, reflecting, resonating, contemplating and articulating.  We intend to explore how we might create a mood and find a language which may open such spaces in which soul-spiritual perception can unfold. 

We warmly invite you to join us on this journey, as apprentices of life.

With Joan Sleigh (Goetheanum) and Bart Vanmechelen (Anthroposophic Council for Inclusive Social Development)

Venue: The Field

Entrance: £ donation on the door