Good for the Soul

In my architecture class, we just finished reading a book called Thermal Delight in Architecture about how temperature effects how we experience architecture. The author, Lisa Heschong, is, to put it lightly, very anti-artificial climate creators (also known as air conditioners, heaters etc.). She talks about human and animals bodies, and how they have adapted over millions of years to deal with a variety of climates, and how we actually crave that climate change, how it helps keep us in touch with the Earth. Then, she proceeds to mercilessly bashing the unskilled, fabricated climates experienced in modern day buildings. She's quite adamant about the value of simply designing architecture so that it reflects natural fluctuations in temperature while still keeping a building reasonably warm or cool.

Thermal Delight!

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/uimages/chicago/0205_heschong1.jpg

When I read this book, I was a little put off by Heschong's tone. She was being very angry and negative about air conditioning, and living in Texas, I have to say that I am extraordinarily grateful for my 72 degrees Fahrenheit home in the summer. Obviously Heschong has never lived in a place where you could get a third degree burn from walking barefoot on the sidewalk. But as I was reading Black Elks memiors, I had this flashback to Heschong's somewhat romanticized vision of a world where the boundary between being indoors, in civilization, and outdoors, close to the wild and Mother Earth , is blurred, where our connection with living things not of our species is highlighted, where we can feel that we are "like a relative to the birds" (anthology, 368).

Let's be honest: Texas is pretty but ridiculously hot.

http://www.texasclimatenews.org/Portals/3/images/Texas%20sun.jpg

And I kind of kept going with this feeling, trying to figure out if feeling this connection with nature was something that humans craved. The conclusion I came to was basically HECK TO THE YES. Examples, you ask? Why is it that when we go to Kinsolving after class we sit outside when it's sunny? Why is it that we jump in puddles? Why do we try to catch snowflakes on our tongues? Why are we so fascinated by the hearbeat of another animal?

Connect!

http://media.mlive.com/exposure/photo/-302ea979869d3b51.jpg

Gardens. Gardens are a great example of how we crave affirmation of our connection with nature. Think about it. The fact that flower die when we bring them inside is symbolic, I think, of what happens to us when we separate ourselves from our connection to nature. Our souls die. In a garden, though, where our connection is at its peak as we nurture not only the plants but also our bond with them, the flowers bloom.

Garden

http://images.google.com/images?um=1&hl=en&client=safari&rls=en&tbs=isch%3A1&sa=3&q=flower+vase&btnG=Search+images

In Black Elk's Great Vision, there are all these animals transformations. For example, what begins as dancing horses :[changes] into animals of eery kind and into all the fowls there are" (anthology, 362), and the blue man he kills is "suddenly... only a harmless turtle" (anthology, 366). There seems to be, in his vision, a blurred line between species, on that highlights the connection every living thing has, much like there is a blurred line between nature and the "civilized living" of humans in Heschong's ideal world. And in the end, this connection makes Black Elk a more empathetic person, causing him to "feel queer" when other boys "[try] to hit swallows with stones" (anthology, 370) and not engage in the activity himself.

Harmless turtle.

http://magkachi.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/turtle9.jpg

So, I'm thinking that being in touch with out connection to nature and our ability to empathize. Avatar seems to hint at something similar to this idea when Neytiri calls the death of a dog-like creature she killed in order to save Jake Sully safe sad, while Jake rationalizes that it was necessary to keep him alive. Because Neytiri, at this point in the movie, is more closely in tune with her connection to nature, she is better able to empathize with the deceased dog. Jake nurtures his connection to nature by living like the Na'vi. We nurture that connection in our class whenever we have our discussions in the architecture courtyard or meditate outside. And I have to say, nurturing this connection seems like it's good for the soul.

Neytiri teaching Jake so he can become more empathetic and understanding of his connection to nature.

http://www.pajiba.com/assets_c/2010/01/avatar-jake-sully-neytiri-thumb-500x280-7148.jpg