In Dialogue with Nature

In a reading of Martin Wagenschein's essay "Two Moons?" he contrasts the view of the physicist versus the poet when considering the moon.

In a talk recorded at the institute, Craig Holdrege honors Earth Day with a presentation revealing some of the remarkable qualities of the plant world, the “mantle of the earth.”

Craig showed slides to illustrate certain points. The images are not necessary to appreciate the talk, but they can be downloaded here if desired.

In this recorded live talk at the institute by Ryan Shea, he explores ways in which we might receive the capacity of presence directly from nature by working with lessons from plant and animal teachers.

In a rare interview, recorded in Brazil in 2019, Henrike and Craig Holdrege speak of their transformative work and the Goethean perspective that has long inspired it.

The final installment of our 3-part podcast on the American bison, Craig's reading focuses on the animal as a many-layered being with a web of both physical boundaries and expansive living relations. The bison is more than a  thing among things. A discussion follows the reading.

Following up on the bison's manifold ways of being highlighted in Part 1, this second episode portrays the relationship between the members of the Great Plains tribes and the bison. It offers glimpses of the continuity that can be experienced between a being’s physical and spiritual life.

Here is Part 1 of our three-episode podcast based on Craig Holdrege’s in-depth article, “Where Does an Animal End? – The American Bison” which first appeared in issue #45 of In Context, our biannual publication. Each part features a reading from the article followed by a conversation with the author. Part 2 will air in November, followed by Part 3 in December.

The Nature Institute co-founder and educator Henrike

In a talk recorded at the institute in April 2023, Jon McAlice briefly traces the philosophical history of man’s relation to meaning in the natural world through the ideas of various 18th century thinkers. Jon then arrives at his central theme: In a world increasingly objectified by science and technology, are there ways of being that allow us to experience the presence of meaning in the natural world?

Welcome to our two-part podcast. First, we share a recording of Craig Holdrege reading his essay, “Where Do Organisms End?” (which first