About Formative Forces in the Plant World (Hardcover)

Domestic postage included in price

Dick van Romunde’s book is the fruit of a life’s work that spans more than four decades — his practice of plant observation as a meditative discipline. It is filled with precise botanical observations of many plants, and illustrated by excellent color drawings by Elly van Hardeveld. Yet, this is more than just another plant guide, for its emphasis is on the way that plant forms (morphology) reveal the working of formative forces in Nature. What are formative forces? The author makes no attempt at an abstract definition. Indeed, there is only a brief introduction to the material, stressing the process of observation, rather than conclusions. We are invited to use the author's observations as examples for our own activity of discovery. The core teaching of this book is that plant study involves a deep penetration by the senses, mind and heart into the very activity of the formative forces. We cannot remain passive, detached onlookers with no relationship to that which we are observing. At the same time, our observation must be objective, in that it must be true to what we are observing, and not merely a projection of our inner moods or wishes (one of the problems with many so-called psychic “attunements”). In his preface to the book, Dr. Ernst Katz outlines three stages of Nature study as a spiritual practice.

The Language of Nature by James Lee and Jannebeth Röell