Feeling nature – seeing and creating “life forces” in nature
The Four Ethers
1.Warmth/Fire Ether
The warmth ether is one of the four life forces. Depending on the conditions, all the ethers or only one or no ether at all can be expressed on one day. Heinz Grill describes the expression of plasticity as a characteristic of the so-called warmth or fire ether. However, heat does not mean the physical temperature or sunlight. It is a cosmic warmth.
There are days when the landscape appears very three-dimensional. One experiences the mountains with their concave valleys and convex hills, the trees and plants in their spatiality and three-dimensionality. One’s gaze can glide into the distance. One experiences hills and valleys very strongly and feels closeness and distance at the same time. The space is perceived in its depth.
The stones and trees radiate a very strong individual character. On days like this, individual things often stand out much more. The whole landscape and nature is enveloped in a picturesque, slightly bluish shimmering mood.
Criteria for observing the Warmth Ether
Seeing the life forces in nature is comparable to seeing according to artistic criteria.
How does the individual appear in relation to the whole?
What is the depth of the landscape like? Can the depth be experienced?
How vivid does the landscape appear?
It is worth mentioning that as a human being one can not only learn to see these 4 etheric or life forces but can even create them.
The paintings of the painter Segantini exemplify this atmosphere. The individual stands out and at the same time it is connected to the whole. Everything appears in a painterly light, but not blurred but very clear and distinct.
1891, 77.5 × 71.5 cm, oil on canvas
Deposit of the Otto Fischbacher Giovanni Segantini Foundation, St. Gallen, Segantini Museum St. Moritz, St. Moritz
Further descriptions by Heinz Grill of the other ethers
2. Light Ether
Along with the warmth ether, the light ether belongs to the “upper ethers”. It works from top to bottom, centripetally. It creates a very clear interaction of light and shadow. The room appears open and clear. It gives the impression that individual things are coming towards you. Contours appear very sharp and clear.
To see the light ether, you can look at the landscape according to the following criteria: How is the interaction of light and shadow? or how do things come towards you?
3. Chemical Ether
The chemical ether and the life ether belong to the lower ethers. The chemical ether has the effect of a silvery, transparent shimmer. The light creates a rather diffuse sphere, the colours are less luminous and clear, the plants reflect more of a silvery shimmer. Heinz Grill describes this sphere as a property of the chemical ether.
To see the chemical ether, one can look at the landscape according to the following criteria: Is the area just above the earth experienced as silver? Do the colours appear less intense and reflect more silvery?
4. Life Ether
The life ether creates a very calm atmosphere on earth. The earth, nature seems to be silent and to retreat as if towards the centre of the earth. Upwards, the sky is open and free. Both belong together, the earth below rests, the cosmos expands and opens upwards.
To see the life ether, you can look at the landscape according to the following criteria:
Can the cosmos be experienced as open and wide upwards? Does the earth appear calm and as if “silent”?
