All posts filed under: Symbolic Sight

symbols, archetypes; observations, interpretations, insights; context & clarity

Survival of the Most Adaptable

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The German Sustainability Award, sponsored by the Federal Government of Germany, is the most comprehensive environmental award in Europe. Competition is focused in eight categories: architecture, companies, corporate partnerships, design, municipalities, NEA (next economy award), packaging, and research. Research plays a significant role in all areas but merits its own category. A rich potentiality thrives in research and yet it can be daunting, as new ideas are cooled in theoretical frameworks, pooling deep in scientific journals and libraries—instead of focused, like a laser-beam, towards generating new dimensional realities. How do we shift into applied research (pivoting away from what Greta Thunberg recently called the “blah, blah, blah” of politicians’ speeches) and turn the knowledge available to us into solutions and action—baby steps, if that’s what will get us started—immediately? First, we recognize where we are. The leitmotif in the research category this year is adaptation — adaptation to climate change and extreme weather events. In western Europe, as in other regions of the world, the extreme rainfall, flash floods, and intense heatwaves in recent years have made it clear that …

Caveat Meditator

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| INT. – A bookstore in Rishikesh, India – Afternoon | I am with a yoga teacher from the west. She is browsing the shelves for herself, but then remembers that I, her student, am present. She hands me a book. “Here, this is good. You should read this and practice the exercises.” The book she has handed me is on advanced breathing techniques. While it is a good book, it is not a good book for me at this stage. Curiously, she has not asked me essential questions about my previous training, interests, and goals; so how does she know that this is appropriate for me? Simple answer: she does not know. She has not asked me the questions because this retreat she has organized is not for me or other participants. It is for herself. And this book is not for me—not yet. What little I do know about advanced breathing techniques: they are powerful. One must proceed with proper training, adequate knowledge, and competent guidance. Otherwise, it could be dangerous. This book requires far more …

Hygiene and Wellness

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When it comes to hygiene – personal hygiene – the cleanliness of body, clothing, and home environment are typically the focus. And while these are important, hygiene is much more: it is about maintaining health and preventing disease – and so that includes physical and mental cleanliness.  In the 19th century, the poet Robert Browning dropped us into the secret inner world of a monk who is enraged at “Brother Lawrence”. What exactly did this Brother Lawrence do? You might wonder, if you haven’t already read the fiercely gnarled interior monologue known as the “Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister”. Well, for one, Brother Lawrence grew melons to share with the order. (The effrontery! The virtue signaling!) “Oh, those melons! if he’s able   We’re to have a feast; so nice!One goes to the Abbot’s table,   All of us get each a slice.How go on your flowers? None double?   Not one fruit-sort can you spy?Strange!–And I, too, at such trouble,   Keep them close-nipped on the sly!” This is a monk going through the motions of appearing pious, and while we witness his contaminated thoughts …

In the Margins – Poem #3

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| In the Margins – Poem #3 – From the pages of Mary Windermere’s Book of Healing Plants -M.J. Heinrich | Ginger is healing… The feeling of heat Heart aligned coherently To respect those we meet. There is danger in rage: From exclusion and lies, The gatekeeper and cage; Incoherent petty hate, And the “Just wait…” Weight. Wait — weight? Till beauty and strength fade? Till that original voice is erased? Yet there is danger in the rage. Who guides you, to free you- From those who clutch and fake you? Now this is the hour of the Sage. | Feature photo by Klaudia Ekert |

Kneipp*

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Water always finds a way Have you ever wondered at how certain books seem to choose you, sliding into your life just when there is a specific longing and space for them, binding with threads of your destiny from the moment you choose them, too?  That’s how the young Sebastian Kneipp must have felt that evening when he returned from the library in Munich. It was at the end of the 1840s and he was trying to get through his university studies while suffering from a lung disease he couldn’t shake off. From a poor family, he had to rely on knowledge flowing to him from various, perhaps unexpected sources. Knowledge discovered. Knowledge earned by intellectual curiosity. And so one day in the library (was he trying to suppress his coughs in the studied silence of the reading room? Did he wander off into the stacks where nobody was, where he could cough into a handkerchief and not bother anybody?) he found a book by one Dr. Johann Siegmund Hahn — written a hundred years …

Architectural Quality and Culture: Practically Perfect

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Is a utopia the opposite of a dystopia? Dystopia refers to “an imagined state or society in which there is great suffering or injustice, typically one that is totalitarian or post-apocalyptic.” (New Oxford American Dictionary). Utopia calls to mind an ideal place – with all the desirable qualities for a wholesome human society.  Sir Thomas More introduced the term in his 1516 novel Utopia, about a fictional island society. And while that society was located in the south Atlantic Ocean, the word utopia translates from the Greek into English as “no-place”.  So actually, a “utopia” is, in its very code, a promise of perfection with an underlying belief that such a place cannot exist in the real world. Dystopia often calls to mind George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four. But since that novel was published in 1949, dystopian science fiction stories and films have inundated the mainstream. Think of the stories that can be described as “utopian” – how many can you call to mind? Of course, an emphasis on dystopian patterns must have shaped the way that generations of people in western societies have consciously and unconsciously perceived …

Wellness Real Estate

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Where can we live and also thrive in this era of extremes? It’s not merely in a gated and guarded estate, underground bunker, or “remote” island. Even when luxurious, that’s just real estate. What’s wellness real estate? Consciously designed spaces for cooperative communities to form and thrive, rooted in holistic health and well-being principles. Whereas owning real estate can be fragmenting, wellness real estate is about integration. To shift from investing in and owning real estate — to investing in and owning wellness real estate, we must expand our conceptual knowledge. We will put forward here the concepts of land stewardship and wellness, and then highlight some features of wellness real estate. Land Stewardship Property ownership comes with benefits. Beyond their precise contractual obligations, though, most real estate owners are unconcerned with the wider responsibilities of property ownership — which is actually stewardship. With wellness real estate, owners must center on being a property owner and a steward of the land. This means caring for the property and land as well as reaping the benefits. …