An Early Proponent of Connectedness:
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1749 - 1832
He’s a literary giant just like Shakespeare or Dante: Goethe’s cultural influence stretches way beyond the boundaries of his mother tongue. You know of him as a poet, playwright, novelist, literary critic and philosopher. When he traveled to Italy from 1786 to 1788 he had to assume a different name to remain incognito, because he was so well known all over Europe (and this was before paparazzi could pursue famous people by using powerful zoom lenses). In Germany, every high school student has to read Faust, at least Part I, some novels such as The Sufferings of Young Werther, and I distinctly remember that we had to memorize some of Goethe’s poems.
However, even in Germany few people know of Goethe’s extensive scientific studies. He would have preferred the reverse, as he considered his scientific work to be more important:
I do not pride myself at all on the things I have done as a poet. There have been excellent poets during my lifetime, still more excellent ones lived before me, and after me there will be others. But I am proud that I am the only one in my century who knows the truth about the difficult science of color.
he told his secretary Eckermann in the last years of his life. For over 50 years, Goethe did research in botany, comparative anatomy, color and optics, meteorology, geology, and many other areas of natural history. His scientific methodology uses a strictly phenomenological approach and offers an alternative, complementary viewpoint to conventional science and its fragmentation of knowledge.
The prevailing sentiment among contemporary scientists was one of condescension and even ridicule; it was felt that he should stick to what he knew how to do well, namely writing poems, novels, and plays. When he found the intermaxillary bone in the human jaw, a bone which had been known only in animals, the scientists of his day denied this discovery. They considered the absence of this bone a sign for the fundamental difference between animals and humans. Goethe felt that such a notion was completely wrong, that all living beings unfold along a continuum that doesn’t include boundaries or sudden jumps. And he was absolutely correct: it has since been confirmed that the bone does exist, although it has grown together with other bones in the human jaw.
Goethe was excited about his discovery because it confirmed his conviction that everything in nature is intertwined and related, that every part of a greater whole is significant and carries the totality within it. In a letter to his friend Knebel he wrote in 1884:
Moreover, man is very closely related to the animals. Unity of the whole makes every creature into that which it is. Man is man as well through the form and nature of his upper jaw as he is man through the form and nature of the tip of his little toe. And thus is every creature only one tone, one hue of a great harmony, which one must thus study in the whole and at large, lest every particular become a dead letter.1
The basic premise of Goethe’s age (and ours, actually) can be summed up in the words of Francis Bacon: “Reality only presents itself to us when we look out upon the world of the senses. The senses alone provide us with realities, the realities of empirical knowledge.” Such a view of nature and the world around us seemed completely alien and fragmented to Goethe. For him, conscious participation in the fluid and active processes of the world was absolutely essential to a satisfactory understanding of reality. While conventional science of his day strictly separated the observer and the observed, Goethe recognized the observer as a participant. He even went further and postulated that correct scientific investigation transforms the enquirer, because nothing – no-thing – is intrinsically separate. He was convinced that our physical organs of perception developed as a result of our interaction with the world around us, and that thoughtful contemplation of this world creates inner organs of cognition. Everything is connected, involved, and participating in the reality that presents itself at any given moment. Goethe’s methodology offers the tools to help me realize that I am the world, that I don’t have to be limited by the prison of personal likes and dislikes, that I can turn my attention to what goes on all around me. I don’t even have to be a scientist.
The process of Goethe’s methodology which he called Delicate Empiricism begins with exact observation (or exact sensorial perception) of the phenomenon. It requires the withholding of one’s own conclusions, judgements, and associative thinking to allow the creative ideas inherent in the phenomena to reveal themselves. This is by no means as easy as it may sound. It is hard for us to refrain from quickly naming something we think we know (“This is a rose – end of story”) or from judging something according to our sympathies and antipathies (“I hate spiders – end of story”). In both cases we simply repeat something within ourselves that actually hinders us from learning anything new about the object in front of us.
Relying on the trustworthiness and accuracy of our senses, Goethe’s methodology proceeds from exact observation of the phenomenon in question and in the second stage develops what he calls “exact sensorial imagination”, also described as “re-creating in the wake of nature”. The first, observational, stage is characterized by an active, attentive seeing, rather than our habitual passive reception of sensedata. The eyes become fingers as it were, exploring the phenomenon – a plant, for example – from the inside as well as the outside.
Simple artistic exercises can help to internalize this, because just to read about Goethe’s way of understanding nature and the world around us isn’t all that useful. Looking attentively at a leaf or a flower and then drawing exactly what one sees establishes a deeper connection with the observed being. It becomes less of an object and more of a subject. One gains a lived, participatory experience with, rather than information about something.
Artistic skill isn’t necessary because we’re not trying to create a piece of art. What is important here is not the end result but the process. You only need a sketch pad and some soft drawing pencils; Conté and charcoal sticks work well too. Once this becomes comfortable you can proceed to a living plant and faithfully record the daily changes. I will come back to this with future posts.
[T]he existence of a creature we call ‘fish’ is only possible under the conditions of an element we call ‘water’. So that the creature not only exists in that element, but may also evolve there. (From Toward a General Comparative Theory)
While Goethe wrote this quote in connection with thoughts about evolution, proposing that all creatures are shaped from without, by their environment, but also from within – by the being’s inner assertion -, it means to me also, that all creatures and things are connected. Goethe’s worldview as expressed in his scientific work offers an example for a consciousness that experiences itself as a partner of and collaborator with the natural world. Instead of regarding the environment as something at humanity’s disposal and largely disposable, Goethe had a deep sense of connection with everything alive, whether large or small. A feeling such as this expands and enhances the awareness of the self so that it does not stop with the physical boundaries of the individual person. I may look at my little finger as an object that I can name and examine; nevertheless, it is an intricate part of me, and I immediately experience any pain inflicted on it. Likewise, a human consciousness which perceives meaningful relationships within a network of interrelated beings and things rather than isolated static items can no longer view the earth as a commodity to be abused. This is so crucial presently when immeasurable harm is being done to the earth and countless creatures. The pain I inflict on another creature I ultimately inflict on myself. Goethe’s methodology clearly adds an ethical element to science and to the decisions each of us makes as an individual. He was way ahead of the scientists of his day, but maybe his time has finally come.
Please let me know whether you’re interested in learning more about artistic exercises based on Goethe’s methodology. I could post some detailed guides.
I’ve followed this line of connectedness for only 2 weeks; that’s why I signed up for a short period. But I suspect it could be part of a very big deal. An explanation of how the universe got to be.
Wonderfull. Yes please write about other exercises.