Cancer & Thoughts of Home
Nope. This is a house at Port la Galere on the Cote d'Azur of France, designed and built by Hungarian born architect, Antii Lovag. A classic example of organic moderism in 1970.
Lovag rebels against pure geometry and believes that architectural forms should reflect the flexibility of nature, basing his conceptions on the curves of the human body. Inside, this house is also composed of spherical forms, reached via cylindrical corridors and oval doors. It is unclear where walls end and ceilings and floors begin.
Photos: Deidi von Schaewan
posted by jm at 2:28 AM
21 Comments:
Maybe futuristic builders can come up with seed pods that grow into solar-powered housing when planted in the ground. It will be self-repairing because it will be alive like a plant colony. It will not rely on outside electricity nor fossil fuels. Instead of lightbulbs and computer monitors, it will have bioluminescent lighting and holographic displays projected from bundles of 100% organic optical fibers that grow from specialized cells.
Your ideas?
Live housing. Hmmmm. Critters, though. But critters are here already.
It does really seem plausible to find alternative light sources.
Maybe they've been right all along about the Dark Ages mankind is suffering in.:-)
The future is always surprising. I guess I'll have to reincarnate.
My plan is to have public vehicles everywhere in cities, which we drive to our destinations then leave. Pick up another one next time we go. Electrical carts, or some other power.
Fibers. They can do anything and be made of anything, I think.
So. Which would come first? The organic house, self renewing, no longer requiring theft and murder for survival, or the desire to not murder, then the organic light.
Or are theft and murder natural behaviors requiring natural selection for removal, if destined? Why do we do wrong even when recognizing the fact? Is that a clue that we will eventually evolve from these things?
I haven't really heard of cultivating modular house sections like a garden. But bioluminescence and its potential applications are a contemporary area of research.
"Some proposed applications of engineered bioluminescence include: christmas trees that do not need lights, reducing danger from electrical fires; glowing trees to line highways to save government electricity bills; agricultural crops and domestic plants that luminesce when they need watering...."
And whether it will ever be feasible to produce display components by growing them like fibrous plants, I don't know. Still, it's a pleasing scenario to entertain.
"Which would come first? The organic house, self renewing, no longer requiring theft and murder for survival, or the desire to not murder, then the organic light."
The ideas are already here in seed forms. But I suspect that the murder rate will fall before organic technologies are developed to the fanciful extreme I suggested.
"Or are theft and murder natural behaviors requiring natural selection for removal, if destined?"
I'd say: yes and no. Traits tend to persist unless they are selected against, but traits that seem counterproductive in one context may still be useful expressed differently. Humans inherited the biological capacity for violence from pre-human animal ancestors. And plants and animals misled with camouflage and mimickry long before any human trickster. The negative behavioral forms exist because we are still evolving.
Under good conditions, we can exercise more conscious choices. For example, we are omnivorous in design, and we do not require flesh for meals, as strict carnivores would. At one time, being omnivorous advantaged the species, allowed it to survive better and to evolve more rapidly.
The species does learn, so it will leave the coarser aspects behind. What we have now is a lot of people learning from physical existence, at the same time. The spirit can evolve quicker than the body, and can affect the body. The natural selection will be supportive but, for us, probably not the crucial part.
"Why do we do wrong even when recognizing the fact?"
Typically, people have some rationalization, some self-exemption that supports self-defeating behavior, even criminals. In a way, they think they're justified.
Insight breaks through that, at least momentarily, but insight alone isn't always enough to change old ingrained behavioral patterns. People can be dissociated and conflicted, wanting to be better, knowing the root physical and psychological causes, but still behaving compulsively. They have built up momentum in their trajectory.
Brief periods of focused intent, repeated consistently over time, begins to change that. Prayer that is like this is a form of action.
Better yet, intent backed by ethical action re-integrates, re-aligns the mind/body system, makes a real choice and communicates commitment even to the nonverbal parts of the system, and creates new channels for expression. It is a way for the mind/body to vote for what it wants, to say "I really mean it." And it gives the universe opportunities to respond to the communication/initiative/action. Action is creation.
It's like the art critic and the artist. The former's role is more reactive and more distant than the latter. The latter is creative, synthesizing, and immersed deeply in process but still standing a little bit way away from the inspiring energy -- near enough to participate, but not so close as to be rendered entirely mute by beauty and power.
"Is that a clue that we will eventually evolve from these things?"
Yes, I think so. Good point. And having awareness now is a clue that we are evolving now.
Good questions. :-) Very essential to ask good questions.
"My plan is to have public vehicles everywhere in cities, which we drive to our destinations then leave. Pick up another one next time we go. Electrical carts, or some other power."
That's a good idea, if traffic is kept to a minimum. Mayor Bloomberg of New York City is planning $8 tolls within the city itself to reduce traffic and pollution.
For safety reasons, and to promote green public spaces at the ground level, I'd like to see widespread use of underground public transport systems, too.
I think cities are ideally circular in layout.
Maybe a color coded system of lines or markers can help orient and guide. Could be like a giant color wheel: If you know the color wheel, and you know the color for your area and location, then you know exactly where you are with respect to the other sections of the city. You can see by color intensity or tone if you're approaching the center. Routes are less like obstacles than in a completely rectilinear gridded layout, and you could even travel in a circle to get where you want to go (clockwise or counterclockwise will both get you there).
the fanciful extreme I suggested.
Heheh. So you admit it. A dreamer in cloaked in a realist's garb.
The natural selection will be supportive but, for us, probably not the crucial part.
I think the same process goes on in the spiritual realm.
Action is creation.
I like this idea.
Very essential to ask good questions.
Questions are the premise from which I begin. I think this is why my opinions are so strong. They've come from many years of questioning, and every time I get an insight I recognize as fact it leads to another question.
I've asked these questions all my life but, of course, have gotten less than satisfactory answers from others. I had high hopes that this time around, on this new medium, the answers might be lurking in the universal congregation. Maybe the output is still in the works.
Answers anyone?
near enough to participate, but not so close as to be rendered entirely mute by beauty and power.
So that's my problem! I think I AM rendered mute but try to articulate nonetheless. No wonder.
Mayor Bloomberg of New York City is planning $8 tolls within the city itself to reduce traffic and pollution.
I don't think I like this idea. Don't think it will work, just cause anger and frustration.
I think city planning is going to be a big thing coming right up. It's an exciting field.
The circular travel is a fascinating idea, especially if power sources change and cost becomes less of a factor. This would change the brain connections.
This goes back to my theory that we are too rectangular and more curves would change personality behavior. A softening and ease of interaction. Back to the instability of the right angle.
I think we do wrong because of a perceived reward. Then the justification comes. All leading to excessive guilt in the human race. This is why I am a champion for reward as a means of changing behavior. Which is the greater reward?
We have to separate from money as reward. Commodities.
Or how 'bout this idea?
Say we associate penetrating a creature and drawing blood with food and survival from the old days. Or striking hard and killing. The impulse toward this violence, the predatory instinct, is so deeply habitual that as our food sources changed, the change is behavior has lagged behind. And it has rerouted into other areas.
I still think we are moving toward vegetarianism where the habitat allows as our teeth seem to indicate. Perhaps our musculature will change as well and the violent impulses driving their use.
"We have to separate from money as reward. Commodities."
Extrinsic reward or intrinsic reward? I think the latter are better to emphasize. But they are less tangible to those with weaker inner perception. It also helps if people are rewarded for good effort, rather than for static characteristics.
"The impulse toward this violence, the predatory instinct, is so deeply habitual that as our food sources changed, the change is behavior has lagged behind. And it has rerouted into other areas."
Yes, indeed.
I've heard it suggested that it has something to do with the older portions of the brain running away with the rest of the mind/body. The layers that represent later evolution should be managing the impulses.
The ancient part of the brain is impulsive. It also contributes a basic form of intuition that constantly scans the environment for changes; it was a survival trait that operates automatically, subconsciously.
But when the brain is functioning in a more integrated way, as a cooperative whole, the subtle energy flows forward and can mediate the rest of the system. Focused, it can become something like a sensory organ for higher forms of intuition and inspiration. There's more forethought.
Ultimately, the energy has the potential to evolve and literally expand beyond its earlier parameters.
One time, I tried to focus on the evolution of subtle energy to understand it better: I had a mental image of the neurological system, spine, brain stem, and brain represented as a tree with two interconnected crowns. In my visualization, there's an interweaving energy pattern. It seems to be my personal reinterpretation of the traditions that metaphorically liken to a serpent the energy rising up the spine. I wonder if there's an apple hiding in there somewhere.
The sequence of five of the major chakras are said to be repeated in miniature within the brain, so there is a correspondence.
Well, let's see. Okay, here is a link to an article by some people who seem to be thinking along somewhat similar lines, with more anatomical detail and scientific support. Intriguing -- I'll have to find some time to peruse their Web site.
Now we're cookin'.
It's good to read others on the same wavelength and always good to be reminded of universals and possibilities.
There are five essential chakras in the brain. The pineal and pituitary glands, the amygdala and hypothalamus glands, and the Altamajor. These five are held together in harmony by the Atlas bone at the base of the brain, and top of the spinal column. Together, these six parts of the brain ally with the deactivation of the parietal lobes, the part of the brain associated with separation, and the activation of the frontal cortex, both of which are accessed through deep meditation and initiation.
Big clues here. The amygdala is fascinating. Apparently there are two pathways connected to fear and emergency response linked to this. One goes directly to the response mechanism, and the other through consciousness/intellect of some sort, then to the response. Something about the mental pathway developing more as we evolve. I need to review.
The Atlas is the connection between the spinal cord and the brain, lying at the first vertebra at the top of the spine. In 99% of people the Atlas is misaligned, resulting in all body-mind and Central nervous systems being disrupted, not able to send out its signals at optimum value.
Very interesting.
The parts of the brain associated with the sense of separation, of aloneness, are the parietal lobes, which house the OAA, the orientation association area. The function of the OAA is to give us orientation in space. However, in the human brain the OAA is chronically overactive. With a hyperactive parietal lobe, we become fundamentally, and existentially separate from everything we perceive, be it hand, glass, person, earth or universe.
Exceptionally fascinating.
Good article. Must get to work on these brain parts. It all comes down to mechanics and is doable. We can't wait for the group. They'll come in their own time.
Very very good. Thanks.
Are you tired of the informational overload with no real deep transformation?
This is where I landed this week. I'm calling a halt to the intake unless I know it's valuable. I can tell. I don't necessarily want the deep transformation, just words that are genuinely enjoyable and pertinent. I'm doing an experiment that started in the last few days. A cursory glance at the daily horror is enough to keep up and I wonder if any at all is necessary. Osmosis seems to be operative.
Hi JM, I definitely agree with you on city planning being a very big deal, with Pluto in Capricorn around the corner. It seems that urban life and living in general is poised to make a major comeback. Hmm... maybe that's what I should go back to school for?
Neo, what an idea.
It's a great field and I'm sure of it with Pluto in Cap.
People on the local level get really enthused. I think we will be looking at infrastructure and deciding what will be razed and what will be preserved and rebuilt in Capricorn. Revitalization of neighborhoods in new ways and interesting inner city developments. Urban life is always exciting and I agree. I think it will be coming back.
It's amazing to see what
has already happened since I moved to my city. The downtown has been rebuilt around a pedestrian mall and it's unrecognizable from when I arrived. lots more ahead too as they redo the RR station next.
The great thing about being in the field is seeing immediate results of a grand magnitude. Very rewarding. Lots of creativity.
I agree with the two of you: Urban design and enlightened architecture sounds very exciting indeed. :-)
"I'm doing an experiment that started in the last few days. A cursory glance at the daily horror is enough to keep up and I wonder if any at all is necessary. Osmosis seems to be operative."
I think that's exactly right. There's much to be learned from our current era as it goes through growing pains. But after a while, we know enough to stay abreast with less effort.
Taking in too much negative news tends to overstimulate the ancient warning systems in the brain and body. It shuts down access to the nourishing energy from higher dimensions. Information that's really important for one to know will still get through to us via our associates, in our own researches, or serendipitously.
Put another way, we always need to free enough of our attention and energy for other purposes.
Maybe our internal "equanimity meters" can tell us the best balance. :-)
Maybe our internal "equanimity meters" can tell us the best balance
Love it. The meters.
Taking in too much negative news tends to overstimulate the ancient warning systems in the brain and body
I'm taking it a step further to include positive as well. I'm concerned with the amount most of all. I'm trying to create space in my mind between the word string-up.
I often struggle to follow other people's writing and sometimes I wonder, "Why am I doing this to myself?" So I'm going to train myself to stop when it's painful. Like food. I used to eat things sometimes when I was famished and I didn't completely like the taste. I partially did. I no longer do that. I'm much more discerning than I used to be.
A stretch and workout can develop the mind like a muscle, however, but trying to make sense of most of it is becoming senseless. At least for the moment.
So I'm applying this principle to words and restricting the intake to see if ideas from other sources can come into focus more. In alignment with my current aims since achievement of my goals is becoming nore important.
Like your brain article yesterday. Very good, informative, nicely written, and pertinent.
The blogs are fun, but the torrential verbiage can be distracting, I am discovering. So an editing of intake is underway all around.
Put another way, we always need to free enough of our attention and energy for other purposes.
Information that's really important for one to know will still get through to us via our associates, in our own researches, or serendipitously.
Absolutely.
It's amazing how much comes in and how little is retained consciously. People seek clues as they go and a sense of belonging, but I'm going inward to see if the answers are already there, as I suspect, and looking for just the right receptors.
It might have something to do with the editing job I'm undertaking in my work. A major life editing could be involved.
I think this happens sometimes when one becomes exceptionally focused on a specific goal. I enjoy that state of being. I lean in that direction by nature, preferring to do one thing at a time. Of course, I have a Saturn-Pluto conjunction which especially likes concentration.
I'm great at multi-tasking but I won't do it. I think it can be problematic and is the basis for some of our societal problems. Not doing it perse, but lauding its value and criticising those who don't do 1000 things at once.
I feel that doing nothing needs to be acceptable as well.
On city planning. This is interesting.
My city is growing and building fast. Several years ago a new library was constructed, designed by a trendy architect with an unusual style, very noticeable. I didn't like it. Too pretentious and diassociated from the surroundings. I sensed an ego problem. Very contrived and forced, although charming in ways on the surface.
He was recently hired to design a new wing for the art museum, and it was completed last year. This one is not working. Something is basically wrong and the people sense it. All that money and anticipation have led to great disappointment, and they are trying strange things to rectify the discomfort.
This portends Capricorn possibly. Better planning and design up ahead. Buildings are meant to last for awhile so they should have some blend, some historic connection,and most of all, environmental connection. Also, stylistically compatible with the character of the people who make up the city.
Architecture is very important. We need visionaries with knowledge of the past and a sense of continuity.
It seems that urban life and living in general is poised to make a major comeback. Hmm... maybe that's what I should go back to school for?
If you've got the passion, go for it. That was the only "logical" path for me and my geography degree, back in the 70s, but the cities were reeling and crumbling and had much further to fall before some became cool. It's a much different scene now.
I've witnessed a remarkable transformation in my own urban environment since I arrived in '75, particularly along the river: toxic, weed-filled and rubble-strewn zones are now filled with parks, theatres and (alas) high-rise, big-buck condo blocks. It's where people want to be, even if they don't yet want to be on the street strolling. People still drive a few blocks to cultural events, but there are many open-air concerts and they are thronged. Lotsa folks are pushing for urban spaces that are easier on all the senses. Can ya hear my enthusiasm?
Yep, real "intelligent design" seems like a great fit for Pluto in Cap.
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