[Scpg] Can There Be A Sustainable Future without Beauty? James Hubbell plus Workshop info

[Wesley Roe and Marjorie Lakin Erickson]

Can There Be A Sustainable Future without 
Beauty?  http://www.sandiegoart.com/JHubbell/thought2.html

Check out James Hubbell Webpage and join him for a Workshop Aug. 23-25 in 
Mexico , look at website http://www.sandiegoart.com/JHubbell/colonia.html 
of school Colonia Esperanza, Tijuana, Mexico where work party and workshop 
will happen. Will post more details later today

                                           January 3, 1994


                        The word "sustainability" has become fashionable in 
our world. It is a
                        necessary goal if our society is to continue, but 
what does it mean? Is
                        sustainability a technological problem, a social 
problem, a spiritual
                        problem, or is it a combination of all of them and 
more? How do you
                        make a whole out of the many complicated needs?

                        The best example of sustainability in nature and 
past cultures, is that
                        they are sustainable because of a profound 
sensitivity to their
                        surroundings both large and small, and the elegant, 
beautiful,
                        relationships to their life in a particular world.

                        The context that sustainability must exist in, is 
an infinite compassion
                        for the world we live in, and a balance of the many 
parts. Beauty can
                        be arbiter of the myriad decisions needed to build 
whole, ecological,
                        truly sustainable solutions, whether it be a 
building, a sewage system
                        or agricultural plan.

                        We have lived in a century that has made technology 
and what we
                        thought were its benefits, God. Technology devoid 
of a sense of the
                        whole is an attempt to dominate life and nature. 
Can we build a
                        sustainable world and leave out the mystery of that 
world?

                        Beauty can be a guide in helping us put together a 
complex world and
                        be a tool to help us make changes for the better. 
Our particular time
                        in history is marked by indecision and misdirected 
efforts, not only in
                        the technical fields but in such diverse worlds as 
politics, architecture,
                        philosophy and culture. We are unsure about life 
and why we are
                        here. How do we fit in, and how do we decide where 
we wish to go?
                        We are beginning to sense that even those paths 
laid out by science
                        and logic may not take us to where we wish to be. 
Beauty may not be
                        "the way" but it can help us in choosing "the how." 
Einstein wrote that,
                        "The theory that turned out to be true, was also 
the most beautiful.'

                        At the present time, we have a great many of the 
tools and technical
                        know-how to make a new world...everything from 
stainless steel
                        hipbones to sustainable houses and cities. But how 
do we relate this
                        know-how to life and each other so that it truly 
serves life? It is here
                        that a sense of beauty and esthetics can help us 
give form and
                        meaning to what otherwise would be a scattering of 
possible
                        solutions. It is as if we had all the parts of a 
human being laid out
                        before us. How do we put them together into an 
elegant and
                        sympathetic whole?

                        There is a connection of Beauty (both inner and 
outer), to love. Both
                        of these qualities can open within us feelings and 
sensings that seem to
                        be outside of fear. Putting aside fear even for a 
moment begins to
                        change things. Somehow Beauty and love awaken the 
part in us that
                        allows us to be ourselves. I call this, "to give 
light." It can come
                        through an individual or a work of art. It is very 
much one human
                        reaching to another and allowing for the wholeness 
of the other.

                        I believe we underrate even our traditional concept 
of Beauty. Why is
                        nature so prolific in endowing its creatures with 
magic of form, color,
                        and diversity? Is it merely for competition and 
precreation? Or does
                        the beauty of the flower or an Indian maiden 
dressed in her beaded
                        buckskin change the rules of the game? For the 
Hindu woman, to
                        adorn herself is to "decorate the temple of the 
Lord." Is Beauty
                        perhaps the physical manifestation of love? Does 
Beauty open the
                        door and allow love in?

                        It is my hope that we are rediscovering Beauty. Not 
the pretty of the
                        19th century or the ugliness of our century, but a 
robust kind of
                        beauty that accepts the intertwining of chaos and 
order, and of
                        darkness and light...one that guides and transforms 
life because it
                        seems life as a whole. We can learn to put a sense 
of beauty to work
                        for us.

                        When we treat things, schools, our homes, ourselves 
as if they have
                        the right to be beautiful, we give these a new and 
vital life. It makes
                        life special and celebrates the magic of our world.