FALLING IN LOVE WITH LIFE Our Next Evolution BY JAS O N F. M C LEN NAN AN D B I LL R E E D
This article is the second of three. In the first, “Regenerating the Whole, from Living Buildings to Building Life” (Trim Tab, Spring 2013) we introduced aspects of the different thinking required to engage in the practice of living system development or regeneration; how this thinking is different from the leftbrain, piecemeal, technical efficiency approach to sustainability; and why this shift is essential to achieve a sustainable condition. This second piece is intended to emphasize the necessary shift in our state of being. This is the right-brain, heart, and consciousness aspect of human being. Developing our state of being is not generally considered a useful practice by the culture of Western thought. We demonstrate this bias, or fear, of its legitimacy by limiting our professional focus almost exclusively to the other half of the story. The story the green building community has implicitly been telling is that green techniques and technologies, and the facilitation of human interrelationships, are sufficient. As if, with these efficiencies, we will transform our culture and relationship with life; that somehow, we will be transformed, magically, into understanding and caring for life on the planet in a way that benefits and respects all the living processes and systems. While mechanical technologies must support the effort toward sustainability, the greatest source of leverage is within humanity’s inner development and outer practices: developing the understanding of why, and the practice of how, to be in right relationship. The third article will address some processes to practice living system design and development and the ways various practitioners are attempting to bridge the world of things and relationships into engaging in the wholeness of life. How do we help our clients, stakeholders, and ourselves live into and develop this way of being? ©ISTOCK - JZABLOSKI
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