Necessity of space

[douglas germann]

Christy, Wendy, Pat, and all--

Alexander writes:

        First among these concepts of matter is the most fundamental one
        —that life is a quality of space itself.
        ....
        One aspect of this structure is the “wabi-to-sabi” of Zen
        teaching: The Japanese concept of beauty which is best
        translated as “rusty beauty.” These things are all beautiful,
        but they are damaged. Life itself is damaged, and nothing which
        is perfect can be truly alive. Christopher Alexander, The Nature
        of Order: An Essay on the Art of Building and The Nature of the
        Universe, Book One: The Phenomenon of Life, p 60.

Which leads me to propose an experiment to all our OS friends: Have any
of the spaces we've opened had more life and others less? Or any of the
aspects of them--has this closing circle had more life than that?

Alexander further writes:
        It was clear, in the context in which I was asking these
        questions, that I intended to use the criterion of life as a
        basis for making distinctions about good and bad in
        architecture, and that I was intending, further, to encourage
        students to make buildings which have as much life as possible.
        Christopher Alexander, The Nature of Order: An Essay on the Art
        of Building and The Nature of the Universe, Book One: The
        Phenomenon of Life, p 75.

			:- Doug.


On Sat, 2009-05-23 at 11:20 -0400, douglas germann wrote:
> Wendy--
> 
> Evocative! Thanks for seeing these radiations from and to.
> 
> To meet then is to be in ki?
> 
> Ki = life?
> 
> So could it be then that ki is not just "experienced in relation to" OS,
> but is actually in OS? May it actually be OS?
> 
> I have another couple of thoughts, which I will post separately, to do
> them honor.
> 
> 			:- Doug.
> 
> On Fri, 2009-05-22 at 10:59 -0600, Wendy Farmer-O'Neil wrote:
> > Hi Doug,
> > You wrote:
> > 
> > But I think there is a next step, a deeper step: it is to the between. He writes of something *making* 
> > me feel alive, *generating* a feeling of life, *inducing* greater harmony: these speak of one (living) 
> > thing touching--meeting--another. It is this bumping, interacting, back and forth which is the 
> > essence of what he is pointing to. This happens only in the between.
> > 
> > I hear you speaking of ki.  Here is a quote from Terry Dobson Sensei:
> > 
> > You are not an inert piece of stuff.  You are a vibrating, charged, radiant being.  There is a meeting 
> > between us.  That's ki.
> > 
> > As i understand it so far, ki is conceptualized as permeating all matter, not just living beings. So it 
> > could also be experienced in relationship to open space, in any environment.
> > 
> > Cheers,
> > Wendy
> > 
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