Two Fish on One Hook
A Transformative Reading of Thoreau's Walden

Raymond P. Tripp, Jr.

Softbound

$14.95

This study of Thoreau’s transcendental work offers us the task of doing as Thoreau does, exhorting us to follow the patterns Thoreau sets up in Walden and to approach his work as an act of communication-- one that urges us to listen, to hear, and to act upon what he has to say: one that becomes a transformative experience.

It is all too easy, however, to admire Thoreau’s art and miss his meaning. Thoreau has constructed Walden on transparent overlays of meaning—biography, literature, philosophy, and religion—but in whatever way we read it, Thoreau’s words are what work the communicative transformation of his readers. Form, meaning, and language are Thoreau’s instruments for unearthing the truth, and Tripp steadfastly follows their spiraling movement down the concentric intricacies of Thoreau’s message through the broad structure of Walden, section by section, chapter by chapter, sentence by sentence, word by word until at last they merge, patterns and purposes, form and idea, heaven and earth, at Walden Pond.

The Boundaries of Natural Science
Eight Lectures

Rudolf Steiner

With an introduction by Saul Bellow

Softbound

Sorry - out of print

The widespread penetration of twentieth century life by modern science has created a troubling gulf between the inner experience of human consciousness and the external scientific investigation of the physical world. This is reflected in the so-called "mind-body split" in our modern times.

These two "worlds" collide again and again in our daily experience. Increasing efforts are expended to order modern society "scientifically"; yet, as Nobel prize-winning author Saul Bellow states in his lucid foreword, "the scientific method . . . is powerless to explain the consciousness that directs it."

For this crucial dilemma Rudolf Steiner suggests a solution beyond the "boundaries of natural science." Steiner argues for a twofold extension of consciousness. The first involves mental disciplines leading to a pure, sense-free thought activity. The second requires the mind to learn how to set aside thinking and give itself over to pure perception. Both exercises can lead to the development of higher cognitive faculties that enable us to grasp the vital connections between the inner and outer realms.