The Wisdom of Flowers. Wisdom and Destiny

Maurice Maeterlinck — a Belgian playwright, essayist, and poet, Nobel Prize laureate — is best known for his plays that captivate with a fairy-tale atmosphere and the flight of poetic imagination. Maeterlinck's most famous play, "The Blue Bird," tells the... story of children who receive from a fairy the ability to "see the souls of things." Perhaps the author himself possessed this art, as Maeterlinck's natural philosophical works are no less enchanting than his fairy tales. The talent of a Symbolist poet and the insight of a nature-loving artist allow Maeterlinck to engagingly narrate about mesmerizing worlds, possibly more harmonious than human society. Amazing facts from the life of various flowers, the description of the complex and coordinated work of a bee colony or the organization of a termite mound transform in Maeterlinck's presentation into not just notes of a naturalist, but into a kind of manifesto of the existence of a unified higher intelligence that manifests itself in all living beings on our planet. Reflections on the life of plants, insects, and animals, profound conclusions about human existence, history, literature, religion, bold parallels and unexpected conclusions invite the reader to ponder the formation of the human soul, the desire of the individual to find their place in the surrounding world, and to deepen the awareness of their connection with nature. This edition presents selected essays and treatises by Maurice Maeterlinck, written from 1896 to 1926: "The Treasure of the Humble," "Wisdom and Destiny," "The Life of Bees," "The Buried Temple," "The Double Garden," "The Intelligence of Flowers," "The Life of Termites."