Overall, it was a productive discussion, I would say. Rodriel and I joined via Zoom, and 4 others attended in person at the Steiner Library. They started by lighting a candle and reading a poem:
The apparition of these faces in the crowd;
Petals on a wet, black bough.
- Ezra Pound
The person who shared it said it evoked the essay's theme in a certain way, which made some sense to me at the time, but I can't recall exactly how he described the relationship (perhaps Ken does).
We then discussed some of the essay's themes, talked a bit about Levin, and explored a few specific illustrations, examples, and concepts. Michael raised an interesting point about Goethean phenomenology/science, similar to what I had raised previously on the forum, about how it's difficult to tell whether the contents of those explorations are born from genuine supersensible experience or, rather, it is more like an intellectual commentary on 'participatory thinking', 'living thinking', and so on. Rodriel mentioned his surprise that anyone could delve into Goethean science yet still fail to grasp its living essence. I mentioned that I would be equally surprised if I didn't see the same thing happening so often in Anthroposophy/SS!
It felt somewhat difficult and uncomfortable for me to speak about these inner dynamics in real-time, and I probably rushed through some lines of thought and perhaps assumed too much background familiarity with this phenomenological approach (perhaps imputing the prior discussions with Rodriel to others). Still, they seemed pretty well-oriented toward the core principles and aims of the essay. It was a new and educational experience for me, and I am glad that we were able to stick closely with the phenomenological foundations.
They mentioned that they plan to keep the Zoom option open for attending their sessions, but the next few sessions are back to more standard Goethean science books and essays. I may join for a few more sessions, but I hope that they choose to explore this approach further. I suggested that, if they choose to do so in the future, they consider working through The Game Loop essays next time, and that I would happily attend those discussions!
They also mentioned Ernst Lehrs a few times and his work, Man or Matter, which I just ordered. Here is the preface:
"In this book, the reader will find expounded a method of investigating nature by means of which scientific understanding can be carried across the boundaries of the physical-material to the supersensible sources of all natural events, and thereby into the realm where is rooted the true being of man. The beginnings of this method were worked out by Goethe more than 150 years ago. The nineteenth century, however, failed to provide any fertile ground for the development of the seeds thus sown. It was left to Rudolf Steiner, shortly before the end of the century, to recognize the significance of 'Goetheanism' for the future development not only of science but of human culture in general. It is to him, also, that we owe the possibility of carrying on Goethe's efforts in the way required by the needs of our own time. The following pages contain results of the author's work along the path thus opened up by Goethe and Rudolf Steiner - a work begun twenty-seven years ago, soon after he had made the acquaintance of Rudolf Steiner. With the publication of these results he addresses himself to everyone - with or without a specialized scientific training - who is concerned with the fate of man's powers of cognition in the present age.
* The reader may welcome a remark as to the way in which this book needs to be read. It has not been the author's intention to provide an encyclopedic collection of new conceptions in various fields of natural observation. Rather did he wish, as the sub-title of the book indicates, to offer a new method of training both mind and eye (and other senses as well), by means of which our modern 'onlooking' consciousness can be transformed into a new kind of 'participating' consciousness. Hence it would be of no avail to pick out one chapter or another for first reading, perhaps because of some special interest in its subject-matter. The chapters are stages on a road which has to be travelled, and each stage is necessary for reaching the next. It is only through thus accepting the method with which the book has been written that the reader will be able to form a competent judgment of its essential elements."