The "war on Christmas" got me thinking
The price we paid for a secular
life
Architecture is one of my hobbies. I am not an
architect, but I do appreciate a well designed building and
space.
In America today, we've lost our sacred public spaces. I don't mean public spaces in the sense that they are publicly owned, although some are. I mean public space in the sense that it is accessible.
Most of our modern cities aren't designed for people, they are designed for cars. Our communion takes place at 70 miles an hour while we are encased in metal and plastic and glass. Instead of our surroundings, we bury ourselves in noise of our choosing. Even if we had time, who can smell a tree or watch a squirrel when it is little more than a flash by our window.
San Francisco is an old city full of sacred public spaces. Union Square, Coit Tower. Golden Gate Park has at least twenty or so that I can think of. The traffic in San Francisco can drive you nuts until you get out of your car. Then you find that most of the city is human scaled. You can spin in any direction and always have a view. The sidewalks are meant to be walked on from one place to another, from one street to another.
Phoenix was built mainly for cars. Even the simplest trip almost requires a vehicle. Sidewalks don't always connect to each other. Outside the residential districts, you take your life into your hand just to cross the street. The city is so spread out that it gives the feeling of being stretched way too thin and on hot days you're almost sure that something will rip through to reveal the city as nothing more than a momentary lapse. The land is old, older than time, but the city is new and doesn't fit well.
Maybe it is as simple as that. In our push to make the cities accessible to cars, we've forgotten to make the outside accessible to ourselves.
But that really isn't it either. We do make spaces set aside, and they are carefully crafted and maintained. But most of them aren't intended to be public. We hide them, or we shelter them out of the mainstream. Maybe it is community we have lost.
I think that in our push for secularism and efficiency, we've sacrificed our art and our souls. At least the part that should be in the center of the city.
We've lost the spark. We've eliminated the touch of transcendence that moves our spirit and imagination beyond time. Even our great buildings are less temples to commerce than storage containers for our business.
No one could mistake the Chrysler Building as anything less than a temple to human achievement. But the Sears Tower is just a tall box on the outside. There is no fire, no passion.
Just a container.
In America today, we've lost our sacred public spaces. I don't mean public spaces in the sense that they are publicly owned, although some are. I mean public space in the sense that it is accessible.
Most of our modern cities aren't designed for people, they are designed for cars. Our communion takes place at 70 miles an hour while we are encased in metal and plastic and glass. Instead of our surroundings, we bury ourselves in noise of our choosing. Even if we had time, who can smell a tree or watch a squirrel when it is little more than a flash by our window.
San Francisco is an old city full of sacred public spaces. Union Square, Coit Tower. Golden Gate Park has at least twenty or so that I can think of. The traffic in San Francisco can drive you nuts until you get out of your car. Then you find that most of the city is human scaled. You can spin in any direction and always have a view. The sidewalks are meant to be walked on from one place to another, from one street to another.
Phoenix was built mainly for cars. Even the simplest trip almost requires a vehicle. Sidewalks don't always connect to each other. Outside the residential districts, you take your life into your hand just to cross the street. The city is so spread out that it gives the feeling of being stretched way too thin and on hot days you're almost sure that something will rip through to reveal the city as nothing more than a momentary lapse. The land is old, older than time, but the city is new and doesn't fit well.
Maybe it is as simple as that. In our push to make the cities accessible to cars, we've forgotten to make the outside accessible to ourselves.
But that really isn't it either. We do make spaces set aside, and they are carefully crafted and maintained. But most of them aren't intended to be public. We hide them, or we shelter them out of the mainstream. Maybe it is community we have lost.
I think that in our push for secularism and efficiency, we've sacrificed our art and our souls. At least the part that should be in the center of the city.
We've lost the spark. We've eliminated the touch of transcendence that moves our spirit and imagination beyond time. Even our great buildings are less temples to commerce than storage containers for our business.
No one could mistake the Chrysler Building as anything less than a temple to human achievement. But the Sears Tower is just a tall box on the outside. There is no fire, no passion.
Just a container.
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Pagan philosopher, libertarian, and part-time trouble maker, NeoWayland looks at keeping truths alive despite a wash of nonsense.
Updated Tuesdays and Thursdays when I can, otherwise irregularly as circumstances permit and the mood strikes.
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Published On: Jul 28, 2008 03:05 PM
Published On: Jul 28, 2008 03:05 PM
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