I was sorry to hear that Polish philosopher Henryk Skolimowski (1930-2018) died in April this year, but happy with the memories of his fruitful life. I first came across Henryk via his books, including Living Philosophy, in the early 1990s, and made the effort to attend one of his seminars in London around 1994. At that time we were running The Knutsford Lectures on the theme of Visions of a New Renaissance, and Henryk’s visionary work seemed be moving in a similar direction. I plucked up courage to invite him to give one of our lectures. Henryk accepted with alacrity. After some correspondence with him in Warsaw we eventually agreed a date. It turned out that Henryk gave the very last Knutsford Lecture, in Knutsford’s oldest building, the Unitarian Church, in May 1996.

The theme of his lecture was The Participatory Mind, corresponding to the title of his book published in 1994. I don’t now recall much of the lecture itself, save that the content was somewhat intellectually challenging. The back cover of the book of that title gives an idea of its scope:

“In a Grand Theory of participatory mind that builds on the insights of such thinkers as Teilhard de Chardin and Bergson as well as contemporaries Dobzhansky and Bateson, Skolimowski points to a new order, one brought about by a Western mind returning to, then reintegrating, the spiritual…”

I do very much recall the essence of this charming, gentle, wise and spiritual gentleman, who we were delighted to host overnight. As we discussed our Lectures venture he wisely pointed out that I had established them in order to educate myself, as well as others.

Henryk was kind enough to sign a copy of his book EcoYoga: Practice and meditations for walking in beauty on the Earth, with the following beautiful inscription: