Awareness Engagement Technology: Healing with Nature
This makes sense when we
consider that nature underlies all aspects of reality. No part of human life is separate from
nature: the mind and body function as one mind/body unit and are inextricably
linked by the natural laws that govern their functioning. Disease, we know, is
a disruption of natural functioning. Conversely, health exists where nature is
pure, robust and fully functional.
A significant
goal of healing modalities is to facilitate reinstatement of the normal
functioning of nature’s laws and processes – to restore individual conformity
to the operational patterns and blueprint of nature.
There are a
variety of ways to restore the blueprint.
One way is to lead the patient’s awareness to a direct experience of the
pure and primordial forces and workings of nature. Interestingly, this is also the realm of Beauty and Truth.
John Keats,
the 19th Century English poet summarized a view of beauty that had
persisted for centuries. In his “Ode on a Grecian Urn” he states: “Beauty is
Truth, Truth Beauty, - that is all ye know on earth and all ye need to know.”
In this view,
Beauty is the observer’s subjective response to Truth and Truth is the sum and
range of natural laws and forces embedded within experience. These are the same laws and forces of nature
that are responsible for health.
How then does an experience
of the beauty of nature bring about healing and what are the mechanisms?
A beautiful
and truth-full expression of nature has the power to engage and hold attention,
thereby creating an opportunity for the mind/body to identify with, assimilate
and, most importantly, realign itself with the inner laws of nature that are
present within that experience. The
mechanisms are built into the normal functioning of the mind/body.
Awareness is
perhaps the most fundamental characteristic of human life. Awareness
means having the capacity for experiential knowledge - generally of something
either external like a tree, or internal like a thought or feeling.
Attention is the act of directing awareness to
an object. Of critical importance is
the fact that attention amplifies the influence of the object of experience in
the individual’s awareness. We know
that persistent dwelling on problems is overwhelming. On the other hand, giving in to beauty produces quite the opposite
effect. Also critical is the fact that
attention spontaneously flows toward an experience that offers increasing
satisfaction to the mind and conversely, attention avoids association with
experiences that are unpleasant.
Engagement occurs when attention is spontaneously attracted, satisfied and held by experience. When the mind is engaged by a pleasant sensory experience that seems to have depth and meaning, we label that experience as “beautiful”. This is the same experience that is truth-full. It is different from distraction.
If an
experience of the beauty and truth of nature provides significant health
benefits to the observer, how does that happen?
Uncorrupted
laws and forces of nature act as a pattern, a template or blueprint for the functioning
of the individual mind/body. By means
of resonance and entrainment, the abstract content of the experience of
nature’s beauty and truth is incorporated into the participant’s system. This
realignment or restoration is fundamental to the healing process. In fact, it
is the healing process.
How can a healthcare environment provide its users with
authentic experiences of nature that catalyze healing?
There are two
possible approaches to this challenge: One is the introduction of nature directly
into the environment through architectural design. The second is the creation of an illusory nature.
Thoughtful architectural design can
break down the boundary between natural and man-made environments by providing
access to nature through interior gardens, windows, atriums and skylights. Some architects and designers consider that
the building structure itself can be an expression of fundamental laws and
forces of nature. Certain ancient building systems such as the Vāstu Shastra Architecture of India and
China’s Feng Shui recognize and make use of the field-effects generated by the
physical geometry and structure of a building. In this way they try to insure that buildings are in harmony with their
intended purpose.
For example, according to the tradition of Vāstu Architecture, the
architect considers subtle natural influences as well as the more concrete
elements of spaciousness, light, comfort, and organization. Vāstu technology maintains that every
structure of the universe (including that of human beings) can be understood as
a conscious, living field of energy.
The vāstu designer uses the mathematical and geometrical formulae
and ratios found deep within all of life’s structures to create buildings that
are patterned after the physical and energetic expressions of natural laws and
forces. These structures are thought to resonate with vital life energies and
even to emanate that energy or consciousness thereby creating an environment in
which pure natural forces (the blueprint) predominate.
The second
approach is to use illusion to trigger an authentic experience of nature. This is an appropriate approach where the
“outside” world of nature cannot be integrated into interior spaces. In this case the goal is to present the eye
and mind with a sensory experience so convincing and deeply familiar (i.e.
beautiful and truthful) that it engages the mind and triggers a powerful
experience of the “real”.
The key to
harnessing illusion lies in understanding our habits of perception. A magician creates a completely believable
(though unreal) reality through skilled manipulation of our perceptual
habits. Similarly, the architect or
designer must analyze our habits of perception in order to create architectural
design elements that lead us beyond mere idea to an authentic experience
of the real.
Because of my
many years as a painter and photographer of sky, I would like to use the
construction of a sky ceiling as an example of how illusion may be employed to
deliver an authentic experience of nature. In this discussion I expect that
principals will emerge that apply to a wide range of architectural and design
endeavors. In addition to specific
techniques for utilizing our habits of perception to create successful
illusion, we must also consider the appropriateness of the subject matter and
the authenticity of its presentation.
These factors, as in all art, are of the utmost importance.
To begin with,
the purpose of making a sky ceiling in a healthcare facility would be to
trigger the psychological and physiological response that an observer would
automatically have when lying on the ground looking up into a beautiful
sky. We all know the experience and we
all know the result – deep relaxation, freedom and inner peace.
With respect
to appropriateness of subject matter, the sky is highly suitable; it is our
most common and most expansive experience of nature, its beauty is universally
appreciated, and its vastness is, at the very least, a symbolic antidote for
the psychological and physiological boundaries that accompany disease.
With respect
to authenticity and refinement of presentation, it is not easy to create an
illusory sky that has sufficient power to trigger the desired response. This is in large part because the eye and
mind of everyone is highly tuned to the tremendous amount of information that
is present in a real sky.
For example,
because sky color is directly correlated with altitude, temperature, humidity,
barometric pressure and pollution - the color seen by the observer will convey
considerable information. Specifically,
a sky blue in the direction of violet - is characteristic of a high-pressure
front (or high-altitude) and elicits a different experiential response than the
softer high-humidity yellowish-blue of a low-pressure front. We simply feel better in the high-pressure,
low humidity conditions and experience has taught us to associate that “feeling
good” with the corresponding hue range of violet-blue.
Clouds have no
intrinsic color so their apparent colors are imparted by the atmospheric
qualities previously discussed as well as the angle of the sun, the time of day
and the complexities of internal shadowing. Their physical structures and
patterns of formation are also built according to complex interactions governed
by the basic laws of fluid dynamics and
thermodynamics. As a result, considerable
information about how the world works is embedded and available in something as
apparently simple as the form, pattern and color of clouds.
Virtually all clouds and
their transformations occur in orderly arrangement. It should be no surprise that clouds display the same patterns
that can be observed elsewhere in the world.
For example, a sky of rippling clouds is little different from the
rippling patterns in a sandy river bottom, the eddies of blood in the aorta or
the centuries old erosion patterns of the Southwest as seen from the air. The functional benefit of these beautiful
patterns, is that they provide yet another view into a deeper level of nature’s
operation – into truth.
In the
presentation of a sky ceiling, there are several perceptual habits that must be
considered in order to create a successful illusion. Correct perspective is one of the more important. When we look up into clouds we see only the
bottom of clouds that are directly above and see increasingly more of the sides
of clouds as our view moves from zenith to horizon. Therefore, the straight up view appears very different than an
oblique view.
Even when we
look up into an empty blue sky it is never a uniform blue of constant
luminosity but always is graded in hue and value.
Consider, for
example, a sky ceiling that is six feet above a reclining observer and displays
an image of sky that covers an area two feet wide and six feet long - with one
end above the head and the other above the feet. If the zenith in the image is directly above the observers head
and the sky above the feet is about fifty degrees towards the horizon, then the
observer in this situation will see exactly what would be observed if an
identical hole were cut in the ceiling and a real sky passed overhead. However, if the image of the sky is reversed
with the zenith above the feet, then the observer‘s view and response is quite
different.
In an informal experiment
thirteen observers were placed beneath such a 2’x 6’ sky image installed in an
eight-foot ceiling. At each end of the
image, about two feet showed a portion of white cloud, while the middle two
feet were open blue sky. The sky was
presented placing the zenith at one end of the image.
The observers’ first
viewings were with their feet beneath the zenith – in other words oriented
incorrectly. All observers were pleased
with the image, commented on its novelty and indicated that it was a pleasant
experience. The common expression was “a great idea”.
In the second
phase of the experiment the image was installed correctly, though the change
was not immediately obvious because of the symmetrical masses of white cloud at
each end. In all thirteen cases the
experience was reported as being considerably different with many of the
observers puzzled by what had caused the change. Only two people noticed that the image had been rotated 180
degrees.
All expressed
their changed experience in terms of a greater perception of space or depth and
increased realism. All observers
indicated that something significant had changed in their subjective experience
as well. They became quieter, were more
absorbed in the experience, looked longer and described a more powerful
subjective inner experience. Most
related this illusion to the childhood experience of lying on their back and
looking up into the sky. In some cases
the experience was likened to the inner experience of expanded peacefulness
that occurs in meditation. After the
second viewing, the prevailing remarks shifted from discussion of the idea
of a sky ceiling to that of the experience of a sky ceiling.
There are other factors related to our perceptual habits that must be
considered when one attempts to create an illusory sky that will actually
trigger the desired psychological and physiological response.
- One
might be tempted to use a wide-angle lens in photographing the sky. However, the curvature generated by
such an approach alerts the eye and mind to the fact that what is being
observed is, in fact, a photograph – not sky.
- Use of
a reflective surface alerts the eye and mind to the existence of a plane
that is located in the ceiling and hence conflicts with the illusion of
deep space.
- Light,
especially in the case of backlit ceiling installations, provides its own
set of cues – conventional fluorescent or incandescent delivers much
different information than 6500 Kelvin “daylight” – a synthetic light that
is also used for treatment of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD).
- The
size and placement of a sky ceiling with reference to the observer either
fixed or mobile may or may not engage peripheral vision and the unique
perceptual attributes associated with that mode of vision.
- The use
of a grid (such as the extrusion that supports a true skylight or a
ceiling grid system) might at first thought seem disruptive but in fact,
because of the perceptual habits developed by years of exposure to grids
in windows and door, grids signal the eye and mind to read the space on
either side as “beyond”. This
actually enhances the illusion of space.
The principle here is that
mind and eye – independent of intellect - are highly sensitive and linked to a
vast depository of information that is continually being collected and updated
as a requirement for successfully navigating in the sensory world. For the sake of efficiency, much of that
process has been relegated to habit and it is by virtue of understanding these
habits that we can maneuver the mind/body into the desired experience and outcome.
To
conclude, it seems worthwhile to explore technologies that can engage awareness
in the experience of fundamental laws and forces of nature and thereby produce
the psychological and physiological states of reduced anxiety and restfulness
that correlate with this experience.
Furthermore, given the constraints that must necessarily exist in
healthcare structures, the thoughtful use of illusion may well assist in the
practical introduction of the benefits that follow from an authentic experience
of nature. It seems quite possible that
the visual simulacra that so fascinate and pervade our society can function as
a tool for assisting in the reintegration of humankind and nature.
Copyright 2004 Bill Witherspoon