Nature’s Open Secret: Introductions to Goethe’s Scientific Writings

The holistic paradigm, Gaia, deep ecology, and new alchemy all have a hidden ancestor: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832). At the youthful age of twenty-one, Rudolf Steiner was chosen to edit Goethe’s scientific writings for the principle Goethe edition of his time. He recognized the significance of Goethe’s work with nature and his epistemology, thus beginning Steiner’s own training in epistemology and spiritual science. This collection of Steiner’s introductions to Goethe’s works re-visions the meaning of knowledge and how to attain it. Goethe had discovered how thinking could be applied to organic nature and that this experience requires not just rational concepts but a whole new way of perceiving. With a fundamental declaration of the interpenetration of human consciousness and the world around them, Steiner shows how Goethe’s approach points the way to a more compassionate and intimate involvement with nature. Nature’s Open Secret is a translation of Goethe’s Naturwissenschaftliche Schriften, Einleitungen (1884–1897). Previous translations were titled Goethe the Scientist and Goethean Science.