"You take all of Nature together to shed light on individual details; in the totality of her phenomena, you seek to explain the individual. From simple levels of organization, you ascend to the more complex, ultimately assembling the most complex of all--the human being." --Friedrich Schiller (in a letter to Goethe)

Dr. Armin Husemann outlines--for doctors, therapists, students, and other interested readers--the basics and essential aspects of anthroposophic medicine. He takes the reader on an exciting journey of discovery through the realms of minerals, plants, animals, and humankind. In doing so, diverse, unfamiliar perspectives open up for the practice of medicine and other forms of healthcare and therapy.

Dr. Husemann provides an abundance of scientific details that look at the whole person today. He shows ways to recapture the human being within the context of life, nature, and its spiritual origin. This is the essence and basis of anthroposophically extended medicine. The author uses numerous examples to illustrate how a phenomenological encounter with nature leads to a fuller understanding of the human organism and its various clinical pictures, opening new ways toward a more holistic practice of therapies and the healing process.

Form, Life, and Consciousness is one of those rare resources that serve as a guide for the professional while also remaining accessible to those who are interested in gaining a better understanding of the whole human being and a spiritual-scientific approach to medicine and therapy.

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C O N T E N T S

Foreword: "From Reductionist Science to Living Thinking in Medicine"
Preface

1. Form and life
2. Life and Consciousness: From Amphibians to Reptiles
3. Humans and Animals
4. The Human Being and the Processes of Nature
5. Clinical Pictures and Disease Patterns
6. Working Principles of Therapeutic Eurythmy
7. Medical Thinking and Moral Practice

Afterword: "Goethe's Thinking Applied to the Physician's Path of Training"