This is the fourth part of an extensive four part essay by Christopher Alexander, exploring the deep fundamentals of architecture, especially what gives a building a transcendent feeling of being “alive.”
In this fourth book introduces a second aspect of living structure, and that’s the essence of the “Self.”
When a building or a work of art has an intense feeling of “life” or being “alive” there is a corresponding sense of agreement or awakening in the heart of the observer. This sensation is not simply a matter of taste or preference, it seems to be a universal phenomenon, and one that transcends notions of subjectivity and objectivity.
This sensation is that the work that has life is making a strong connection with the observer’s sense of self. It is as if the building has such an intense presence that it has its own “self.”
Alexander argues that buidlings emerge from a substrate or essence that he calls the “luminous ground.” He says that this ground or substrate is an aspect of existance that we don’t truly understand, but that it is close to being Pure Self. At one point he says that “the universe is made up of ‘I’ stuff.”
“I assert that this domain exists as a real thing; that it is parallel to the material world, but that it is inherently incapable of having structure, because it is pure ‘one.’ But it is occasionally visible.…It becomes visible when the structure of a strong field of centers gently raises the lid, lifts the veil, and through the partial opening, we see, or sense, the glow of the Blazing One beyond” (p. 150)
“When I make something which has wholeness or life, I become more alive in the act of making it. When I make something which is dead, or contribute to the making of something which is dead, I become less alive.…People are deeply nourished by the process of creating wholeness” (p. 263)
The Nature of Order, Book Four, The Luminous Ground
by Christopher Alexander
Amazon Link
Other Books in the Series
The Nature of Order, Book One, The Phenomenon of Life
