229
DOI: 10.1201/9780429440939-23
20
Engaging in the
Goethean Method
An Approach for
Understanding the Farm?
Isis Brook
Crossfields Institute
INTRODUCTION
In my first chapter in this book, I provided some background to Goethe’s scientific work and
indications of why it might be relevant to us today in developing a holistic approach to farming
and to agricultural research. This approach can help with both our understanding of the world
and how we might see ourselves as working in harmony with it. This chapter sets out a way of
working that follows Goethe’s indications on how to develop ‘ new organs of perception’. The
applicability of this to agroecology is as much to do with adjusting our own way of being for a
better understanding of the land and our relationship with it, as it is about how or what to plant
or harvest.
As we saw in the earlier chapter, key aspects of Goethe’s approach are: to hold back on theorising; to open oneself to the phenomenon being studied ( be that a plant, an animal, a landscape or
a farming community); to use our human faculties such as imagination, inspiration and intuition
in the service of the thing being studied and to approach it as part of a whole that is in constant
creation.
GOETHEAN OBSERVATION AS A CAREFUL PROCESS
Goethean observation as a means to come to know a phenomenon is widely recognised as having four stages ( Bockemühl, 1985, Hoffmann, 2007, Holdrege, 2005, Seamon and Zajonc, 1998).
This chapter draws from the training given by evolutionary biologist Dr Margaret Colquhoun and
CONTENTS
Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 229
Goethean Observation as a Careful Process .................................................................................. 229
Choosing the Thing to Study ......................................................................................................... 230
Pre-Stage: Clearing the Workspace ................................................................................................ 230
Stage One: Exact Sense Perception ............................................................................................... 231
Stage Two: Exact Sensorial Imagination ....................................................................................... 233
Stage Three: Seeing- in–Beholding ................................................................................................ 234
Stage Four: Being One with the Object ......................................................................................... 235
Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................... 236
References ...................................................................................................................................... 237
DOI: 10.1201/9780429440939-23
20
Engaging in the
Goethean Method
An Approach for
Understanding the Farm?
Isis Brook
Crossfields Institute
INTRODUCTION
In my first chapter in this book, I provided some background to Goethe’s scientific work and
indications of why it might be relevant to us today in developing a holistic approach to farming
and to agricultural research. This approach can help with both our understanding of the world
and how we might see ourselves as working in harmony with it. This chapter sets out a way of
working that follows Goethe’s indications on how to develop ‘ new organs of perception’. The
applicability of this to agroecology is as much to do with adjusting our own way of being for a
better understanding of the land and our relationship with it, as it is about how or what to plant
or harvest.
As we saw in the earlier chapter, key aspects of Goethe’s approach are: to hold back on theorising; to open oneself to the phenomenon being studied ( be that a plant, an animal, a landscape or
a farming community); to use our human faculties such as imagination, inspiration and intuition
in the service of the thing being studied and to approach it as part of a whole that is in constant
creation.
GOETHEAN OBSERVATION AS A CAREFUL PROCESS
Goethean observation as a means to come to know a phenomenon is widely recognised as having four stages ( Bockemühl, 1985, Hoffmann, 2007, Holdrege, 2005, Seamon and Zajonc, 1998).
This chapter draws from the training given by evolutionary biologist Dr Margaret Colquhoun and
CONTENTS
Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 229
Goethean Observation as a Careful Process .................................................................................. 229
Choosing the Thing to Study ......................................................................................................... 230
Pre-Stage: Clearing the Workspace ................................................................................................ 230
Stage One: Exact Sense Perception ............................................................................................... 231
Stage Two: Exact Sensorial Imagination ....................................................................................... 233
Stage Three: Seeing- in–Beholding ................................................................................................ 234
Stage Four: Being One with the Object ......................................................................................... 235
Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................... 236
References ...................................................................................................................................... 237