I saw Life of Pi last night. Here is what I came away with:
• Each of us has survived a life storm of some sort, the trauma of birth, etc. • We each find ourselves out to sea in a lifeboat with a tiger (the wild , uncontrollable energy of life)... I do. • How we relate to this tiger determines our life experience. • The story we prefer to favor is either one that deals with the tiger or one that attempts to deny the tiger. • The story that faces the tiger can awaken, enliven and free us to the what it is to live in this world. • The story that attempts to deny the tiger puts us to sleep, dulls us and keeps us in mental and emotional chains. • Any story perspective can be used to either face or deny the tiger (science, spirituality, art, humor, relationships, etc.). • All the ways humans numb themselves with drugs, alcohol, judgement, religion, politics, worry, etc. can be attempts to escape the lifeboat and the tiger. • The story that there is no story or that life is an arbitrary collection of subjective stories can be an attempt to deny the tiger and can put us to sleep in the name of awakening. • Conclusion: When I feel more alive and connected I am dealing with my core relationship to the tiger. When I feel dull and isolated I am attempting to deny and avoid the tiger.
Places for gazing into the Mystery are created wherever people settle. From ancient caves through stone cathedrals to contemporary steel and glass structures, the builders of each era use current technologies to sculpt openings from their cultures into timelessness. James Turrell's Skyspace at Rice University is a sacred space for our times. It transcends religion and philosophy and invites us to directly experience the overlap of energy and matter, light and shadow, the heavens and the earth.
Here's
a drawing from my book 24 Patterns of Wisdom. It illustrates how,
despite our defenses, the beliefs and structures securing our sense of
well-being are sometimes overpowered by forces beyond our control.
Swirling currents dissolve the clear descriptions of who we are , why we
are here and where we are going. The pattern of the flood is
devastating. Yet, it is temporary.The flood can move us into the
humility and gratitude that connects us more deeply with the rest of
life and flows into renewal...Stay safe, stay connected, stay open.
We share a primal bond with clay. Both are made of
Earth's raw stuff, both are animated by forces greater than ourselves, both are shaped by designs we did not invent. As we mold clay into the
architecture that shelters us, we discover the blueprints of the soul
supporting and guiding us.
People
think of sacred space as being separate from the world. My experience
is that it provides a gathering place for the whole world. In sacred
space, the totality of forces participate in a mysterious dance of
stirring formlessness into form, lightlessness into light, silence into
sound, renewing the world again and again. To enter sacred space is to enter the paradox of both finding yourself and rediscovering your connection to the whole world.
Design provides vessels for offering. Each shape contains the imagination of its maker. The form of every designed object, from a chair to a concert hall, is a dream made tangible. As matter is structured by desire, it creates containers that receive the energies poured into them before they offer them onward into the stream of existence. In this way, the things we design reflect the vessels of our bodies-hearts-minds as we are shaped by life to offer life into the currents of living.
Architecture
invites us to cross thresholds of experience. It calls us to move
beyond what we know to discover fresh nuances of the spirit-matter
dance. Each portal is marked by twin pillars, embodying the hope and
fear encountered at threshold crossings. Passing between these pairs of
opposites and crossing into interior realms, we enter a unique sense of
place. At these moments, we have the opportunity to see ourselves and
our surroundings with fresh eyes. We can look again at what we thought
we knew and sense it as if for the first time.
Architecture establishes our place in the world. It marks where we stand between heaven and earth. Our dwellings orient us in the four directions of space and where we reside in the flow of time. Each building and room, each monument and plaza, offers us a place to say "I AM. I honor the opportunity to inhabit this world." Then architecture provides the stage to enact what each of us is here to do. It sends out the invitations. All we have to do is join the party. Our place within the fluid
ecology of the world is truly established when it honors and supports
our interdependence with the whole, dynamic system of renewal. Honoring
our place involves honoring the place of every being on the planet. When
we inhabit a community, we are living within a society that includes
much more than human beings. Everyone is already at the party, the more we learn and harmonize with each others songs the more revitalizing it will be.
Architecture reveals the possibilities of light. Each form offers the
sun's radiance a different nuance of reflection. Each material discloses
a varied tone in the spectrum. The interplay of light and architecture
describes our journey to discover the mysteries of spirit dwelling in
matter.
Architecture has the power to reveal dimensions of the soul that
words cannot describe. Tangible form opens our senses to intangible
qualities of spaciousness and silence. Matter defies gravity and reveals
the animating design of spirit. Our human form enters a resonance with
the universal design guiding the whole creation... Celebrate
architecture!
I'm an architect and author, writing this blog to explore the following questions—How do we live well on this planet? Confronted with the greed, ignorance and fear shaping much of the world, how can we find openings to dwelling here with wisdom, connection, creativity and delight? Looking into these questions reflects my passion for understanding how our thoughts and actions shape buildings and cities. My two books—THE TEMPLE IN THE HOUSE and A HOME FOR THE SOUL—examine the idea of design as a language of human experience. This blog expands these connections to explore how imagination influences what we build in nature. In turn, it looks into ways nature can open our imaginations to more inspiring, sustainable and creative ways of dwelling here now. Let me know what you think.
