| "Modern man will never find
peace until he comes
into harmony with the place where he lives." Carl Jung
The ancient Greeks spoke of the "genus loci,"
or spirit of a place. They sited a shrine to honor the Earth Goddess
Gaia at Delphi in Greece because the unique personality or spirit
of that place was divined to be especially suited to Gaia residing
there. Understanding the forces that drew the early Greeks to reach
that decision may well be a concept that is at the very root of
developing sustainable human societies on earth.
Like trees, the human spirit needs roots, and a
primary root of the psyche is in the land. Carl Jung was an explorer
of those deeper regions of the mind, the unconscious, where primal
energies originate. In our sleep, the unconscious comes to the forefront,
and Jung observed that people tended to have dreams of an archetypal
nature when sleeping at certain places. He called such place perception
"psychic localization," and asserted that it was an important
part of human nature.
Scholar Ananda Coomaraswamy agreed with Jung about
the unique association between place and consciousness and noted
that myths were frequently linked to certain places. He coined the
phrase "land-nam," a term derived from the Icelandic tradition
of claiming ownership of a place through weaving together a mythic
metaphor of plants, animals and geography of a place into a unique
mythic story .
The spirit of place or archetype of the land plays
a strong role in traditional societies, where it is commonly held
that each place has a personality and some places are associated
with spiritual sentiments. Ancient wisdom deserves respect and preservation,
but what additional value may such concepts as the spirit of place
have for modern society?
From 1988 to l993 a series of annual symposiums
“The Spirit of Place: The Modern Relevance of An Ancient Concept”
were produced to help restore the wisdom of the past about the significance
of place and explore its meaning to modern times. Speakers from
all disciplines and cultural heritage backgrounds participated,
from aerospace engineering, biophysics, psychology, architecture,
biology, law, history, anthropology, music, dance and art. Members
of 20 different American Indian tribes participated with speeches,
music, singing and dancing, along with others from Eskimo, African,
Polynesian, and Oriental ethnic backgrounds. The rule that was used
to organize such a diverse group was that they had to share in a
common quest for understanding the subtle power of place and participate
as peers, equal experts in whatever their profession.
Lessons of The Spirit of Place
In producing these programs our principle goal
was to explore the modern validity of this ancient concept. In these
five programs, listening to nearly 300 speakers, formally and informally,
we heard common themes emerge. The following are some of these shared
areas of agreement:
1)
Among indigenous cultures all around the world, the belief in the
existence of special places of power and spirit seems universal.
It is commonly believed that some places have spiritual powers,
and these places are normally seen as cornerstones of traditional
cultural belief systems. Modern society has not paid much attention
to sacred places, which is a source of great concern to traditional
cultures. Another concern is that modern cultures tend to see places
as only having value to the past or to other cultures, rather than
to society in general.
2)
At each of the Spirit of Place symposiums researchers and designers
from many disciplines agreed that gaining a sense of place is a
very important part of their work, yet there is very little research
on this topic or professional organizations seriously investigating
the topic. Modern people are often aware of the unique spirit of
a place, but do not have a vocabulary to express their feelings,
except through art.
3)
A characteristic style of art seems to arise from a geographic region;
it is a voice that speaks to us through indigenous art of the spirit
of that place. Drawings, paintings, carving, sculpture, stories,
songs, poetry and dances, are all fed by the spirit of a place.
The artist's mind is not so encumbered by the constraints of intellectual
reasoning and so it becomes a more clear channel for the unconscious
to expressed. He or she gives voice and form to the spirit of the
land.
4)
The experience of place is multi-faceted and influenced by culture,
personal uniqueness and modality of awareness. There may be many
more sensory processes by which we perceive the earth and nature
than modern science and psychology are willing to admit. Ancient
traditions such as Chinese Feng Shui assert that we have at least
100 senses to perceive place. The needs of modern society for ecologically
conscious design suggests that in the training of designers we should
seek to cultivate the inner designer as well as training professional
skills.
5)
Each place has a unique quality which in turn influences what can
best be done there.
The built environment can serve as an amplifier of the powers of
a place, or it can negate the influence of locality, yielding what
Frank Lloyd Wright called "cash and carry architecture."
Architecture and design that honors the spirit of place and gives
it meaning and form expresses beauty and nourishes health and creativity.
Architecture is ultimately a ritual in structural materials.
6)
The act of making a pilgrimage to special places is among the oldest
and acts of human respect for nature and spirit, and one of the
least understood and appreciated by modern society, despite the
facts that we undertake pilgrimages by the millions each year. Psychology
needs to better understand the value of pilgrimage to human life
as it may be one of the most important ways that we can discover
our meaning, find health, and be inspired, as well as build reverence
for nature.
7)
The lack of feeling connected to a place, especially a place where
one lives and works, can be an important source of mental and physical
stress. People need to feel peaceful where they are, and maintain
a psychic connection with a place of natural beauty if they do not
reside in one. Actor James Earl Jones, who gained his awareness
of the power of place by growing up on a dirt farm in northern Michigan
has observed: "I have always thought it quite wonderful and
necessary to keep connected to nature, to a place in the country
landscape where one can rest and muse and listen."
8)
Geomancy is the spiritual parent of modern design. Many ancient
geomancies understand the importance of the relationship between
place and personal experience and take elaborate measures to insure
people are harmonized with the spirit of a place. When principles
of design from Feng Shui and other geomancies are applied to modern
buildings and communities, positive results occur. We need to set
aside our limiting beliefs and appreciate the power of such approaches
in the same fashion that western science has acknowledged the healing
values of acupuncture, even though modern science cannot prove the
existence of the life force chi and other geomantic concepts.
9)
Modern science is beginning to measure the subtle properties of
place. We now know that air ions, electrical and electromagnetic
fields do influence health and well-being. More research needs to
be devoted to the study of subtle environmental fields. Documenting
the existence and value of these fields, may well lead to a whole
new art and science of design with modern science and ancient wisdom
working together.
10)
In a Spirit of Place keynote, psychologist Robert Sommer observed
that people can become "a voice" for the spirit of that
region as much as for a human community or a relationship. John
Muir, for example, seemed to embody the spirit of Yosemite Valley.
The Lakota holy man Black Elk was a voice for the Black Hills of
South Dakota. Rachel Carson was inspired by Cape Cod to write about
"the sense of wonder" in nature as well as the dangers
of pesticides to ecological balance. Becoming a voice for the land
creates a "psychic anchor" that seems to be important
to mental health.
11)
The spirit of place concept is less understood by modern society,
and one result is that conflicts about the value of place can and
do arise between traditional and modern cultures. It is easy to
flame the fires of conflict in such situations, creating enemies
to raise funds to wage wars that should never have to exist. This
kind of self-righteous scapegoating is as exploitive as developers
who wish to commercialize sacred places for the sake of pure profit.
The more difficult task is to build bridges of respect and cooperation
between traditional and modern cultures, but it is the only path
that can lead us to greater harmony and understanding.
12)
We need new laws and land-use categories that facilitate honoring
the power of place, including recognition of sacred places. Creating
the public policies that yield such laws will require cross-cultural
communication, cooperation and understanding unprecedented in modern
society.
Conclusion
The consensus among participants in the Spirit
of Place Symposiums is that we must rediscover the wisdom about
the power of place and turn it into practical concepts that will
guide modern people to live in harmony with the earth, as well as
show respect for ancient traditions.
This article is an edited extract from Dialogues
With The Living Earth by James Swan, an anthology based primarily
on the Spirit of Place presentations and published by Quest Books,
l996.
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