Almost all of us have a sense of awe when we see a magnificent sunset or walk through a dense forest. We have the same feeling when we visit a great cathedral or see a work of art. There is something about the colors, the complexity, the arrangement, the variation, that strikes us deeply but we can’t quite put our fingers on.
Because we can’t define the natural order that produces these feelings, we tend to consider it as something subjective. But clearly, because the experience is so universal, and is able to be reproduced in physical structures such as great buildings, we need to treat it as something real and essential.
What is order? We know that everything in the world around us is governed by an immense orderliness. We experience order every time we take a walk. The grass, the sky, the leaves on the trees, the flowing water in the river, the windows in the house along the street – all of it is immensely orderly. It is this order which makes us gasp when we take our walk. It is the changing arrangement of the sky, the clouds, the flowers, leaves, the faces around us, the dazzling geometrical coherence, together with its meaning in our minds. But this geometry which means so much, which makes us feel the presence of order so clearly – we do not have a language for it.
Christopher Alexander, The Nature of Order, Book One, The Phenomenon of Life page 9
