Every increase, every true higher development of the organism, can only be achieved by outgrowing itself. Each expansion is followed by a contraction. The shoot’s regression must precede the leaf’s resurrection in the form of the corolla into bract and calyx.
The most beautiful flower, on the other hand, would be condemned to infertility if it were not prepared to ‹sacrifice› its own being in the stamen, to ‹dissolve into dust›. For Goethe, the deepest secret of life shines through here. There is no true perfecting life on earth, no increase, without the interweaving of death into the life process. An involution process must precede any new evolution at a higher level. In the overall process of life, regression, dying, and dismantling, which, viewed as individual processes, seem to represent only negative elements, must be accorded a positive role that promotes development.
From Walther Bühler, Das Maß des Regenbogens [The Measure of the Rainbow]. Stuttgart 1993, p. 47.
Image Sofia Lismont – Translation: Monika Werner
