Christopher Alexander’s concept of living structure gives us a unifying picture of reality and an ethical view of things. The life (goodness) of any portion of the world arises from this structure.1 Living structure is, furthermore, deeply connected to the human self.2
Our mechanistic world-view has disconnected us from our selves. We have a disconnected view of reality, which seems objective, but which leaves me out. My existence as I experience it is not part of the world-view. It fails to connect me with the world.3
In the world-view proposed by Christopher Alexander, there is a direct connection between the outer objective world and our inner experience of self, our own actual person. The connection is immediate, pervasive, and profound.4
When wholeness is profound, we experience it as life, in nature, in things, and even in actions.5 The relation of the outer (objective) wholeness and the inner (subjective) self are two facets of the idea of life (goodness) in things.6
What people like can often not be trusted, because it does not come from the heart. Liking something from the heart is different. It has a healing effect. It makes us more whole. It makes us more human. It even increases the life in us.7
Liking from the heart is the only way in which we can see structures as they really are.8 We can only see deeper order with the heart.
Notes:
1. Christopher Alexander, The Nature of Order: An Essay on the Art of Building and the Nature of the Universe, Book 1 – The Phenomenon of Life, P, p. 314.
2. Ibid..
3. Ibid..
4. Ibid..
5. Ibid..
6. Ibid., p. 315.
7. Ibid..
8. Ibid..
Related posts:
Christopher Alexander on the Nature of Deeper Order
We nurture order into being
Good order as an organizing principle
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