Form, Life, and Consciousness

Form, Life, and Consciousness: An Introduction to Anthroposophic Medicine and Study of the Human Being

“‘Medical études’ is the title Armin Husemann would have preferred for the studies published here, and rightly so. In this book, Husemann—an anthroposophic physician, Goethean researcher, teacher, and head of the Eugen Kolisko Academy at the Filder Clinic in Filderstadt (near Stuttgart)—develops a medical perspective on the human being that infuses the often highly abstract scientific foundations of medicine with artistic sensibility. The result is a new, supple form of medical thinking that might be called ‘medical science through art,’ to use an expression previously coined by Husemann himself.” —Prof. Peter Heusser, MD

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 anyone interested in gaining a better understanding of the whole human being and a spiritual–scientific approach to medicine and therapy.

“We must accept the insight that the carcinoma of fascism is the result of a defective immune system and is forming metastases wherever universities disseminate the thought processes and worldview of materialism—in other words, all over the world.” —Armin Husemann, MD

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

Notes
Illustration Credits

About the Author

Dr. Armin J. Husemann, MD, born in 1950, worked as a school doctor from 1988 to 1993. He has been a general practitioner in private practice since 1987 in Stuttgart, Germany. Since 1993, he has been the director and a lecturer at the Eugen Kolisko Academy (formerly The Anthroposophic Medical Seminar) in Filderstadt. Dr. Husemann’s books translated into English include The Harmony of the Human Body: Musical Principles in Human Physiology (Floris Books, 2003); Human Hearing and the Reality of Music (SteinerBooks, 2015); and Form, Life & Consciousness: An Introduction to Anthroposophic Medicine and Study of the Human Being.