Homo Mysticus presents three renowned lectures delivered by Wolfgang Struve from 1974 to 1984, translated into English in this volume. The first two were published in German in 1983 and serve to develop the fundamental difference between world and reality, philosophy and mysticism, and relative and absolute transcendence. The third lecture was given in 1984 and seeks to present the non-conformity of reality with all natural and reflective experience of the I and what imaginings and volition proceed from it. It shows how the terror and the horror at this non-conformity pervades the thinking and feeling of mankind and, properly endured, translates man into the real. In the confusion and quagmire of contemporary "mysticism," "religious thought," "alternative thought," "esotericism," and so on, it is refreshing to find a truly philosophical discussion of mysticism that is rigorous and analytical. Philosophical and mystical experiences are finally given expression in this remarkable collection.

This recently discovered and very timely 1970 Massey Lectures by Nobel Prize-winning scientist George Wald, now in print for the first time ever. Where did we come from, who are we, and what is to become of us — these questions have never been more urgent. Then, as now, the world is facing major political and social upheaval, from overpopulation to nuclear warfare to environmental degradation and the uses and abuses of technology. Using scientific fact as metaphor, Nobel Prize–winning scientist George Wald meditates on our place, and role, on Earth and in the universe. He urges us to therefore choose life — to invest in our capabilities as human beings, to heed the warnings of our own self-destruction, and above all to honour our humanity.

Czechoslovakia's leading twentieth-century painter, Frantisek Kupka (1871-1957) is a pioneer of modernist abstraction. As early as 1911, he was one of the most visible and widely exhibited abstract artists in the world; later, in the early 1930s, he was a founding member of the Abstraction-Creation group. This hefty volume--the only monograph on Kupka currently available--offers a massive survey of his paintings, drawings, prints, posters, sculptures, correspondence and other ephemera from the collection of Jindrich Waldes, Kupka's close friend and gallerist. Waldes' collection was confiscated first by the Nazis, who deemed abstraction decadent, and later by the Communists, who declared his work "an example of imperialist ideology and cosmopolitan nihilism that is harmful to the people." Also included is a foreword by Jiri Waldes, the collector's son, and Ludmila Vachtova, one of the most knowledgeable experts on the artist.