Conceptual approach
2.3 CONTEMPLATION This thesis presents contemplation as the way forward, alongside melancholy. Interviewees inspired this suggestion (see Chapter 3), and Bowring amongst others, support it. Bowring states that “Landscape architecture has the opportunity to contribute to the emotional wellbeing of the world through the shaping of places which foster contemplation” (2016, p. 30). However, she positions contemplation as a possibility within a melancholic aesthetic and does not consider it in isolation of melancholy. The following section explores contemplation from a different angle. It explores it first as a stand-alone experience in order to reunite the two concepts later in the most meaningful way.
For the developmental nature of contemplations, draws from an example of direct instruction from an Eastern teacher, in the hopes that it provides insights into the basic personal and environmental conditions required to help someone reach a state of contemplation. Although it is ultimately the individual’s receptivity that determines whether or not they reach this state, a well-considered environment is recognized to be a highly enabling factor (Hermann, 2005). Spiritual teacher, Swami Sivananda, explains that concentration is necessary for meditation [contemplation] and that purpose, focus, and purity of the mind are necessary for concentration (Sivananda, 1975). One can understand it like this:
What is contemplation? Contemplation, like melancholia, is an elusive word that has different meanings according to the circles in which it is used. The Oxford English Dictionary says that it is “the action of looking thoughtfully at something for a long time, deep reflective thought, the state of being considered or planned, or religious meditation”.
PURPOSE, FOCUS, PURITY OF MIND
CONCENTRATION
CONTEMPLATION ‘approximately leads to’ (from non-scientific sources)
Philosophers, theologians, writers and spiritual leaders across the world, from Aristotle and Plato to Rumi and Edgar Allan Poe, have described the virtues of contemplation and many have devoted themselves to practicing and instructing others. Aristotle even declares, “Contemplation is the highest form of activity”. This ‘elevated state’, one that might heal people and address concern for degrading environments, goes beyond a thoughtful gaze.
It seems that without the first two stages, one cannot achieve a state of contemplation. The five authors of Contemporary landscapes of contemplation have similar insights, but they do not emphasize the progression from one state to the next, and thereby underestimate the importance of ‘pre-conditioning’ in order to contemplate.
In a study of Buddhism, Thurman provides descriptions of such a state. He distinguishes “calming contemplation” from “insight contemplation”, where the first provides physical and mental benefits by emptying the mind, and the second contributes “… more to psychological, intellectual, and spiritual development…” (Treib, 2005, p. 1). This thesis takes special interest in the socalled “insight contemplation” in which the individual is actively involved to understand, reflect and ponder a particular situation. Meditation is a related term, one that is sometimes used interchangeably with contemplation. In the western context, it carries associations to religious practices and techniques (Treib, 2005).
The sublime interlude Unlike contemplation in landscape architecture, the sublime experience, has been explicitly described as an experiential sequence. Similar to this exploration, Roncken investigates how a sequential sublime experience can facilitate creativity and identification with 21st century degraded landscapes (Roncken, 2018). The sublime experience and the ‘making of meaning’ are compatible with melancholy, contemplation, and disappearing glacier landscapes. Although it is beyond the scope of this thesis to address the sequential sublime experience, Roncken’s work provides support for the notion of a sequence and exemplifies the depth and possible breadth of experience within it. This thesis aims to provide input for a design, so that degree of depth is not required here, but would be interesting for further research.
Contemplation is not a static state; it is developmental. It begins with focused attention, but this transitions into communion with the object of contemplation (Treib, 2005). Western descriptions of the contemplative state describe conditions, landscapes, and art that foster it, but they are less clear about instruction and practices to achieve it, or rather, ‘prerequisites’ for contemplation.
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