The Inner Studio - Riverside Architectural Press

THE INNER STUDIO
The elusive world of interior signals such as intuitions, dreams,
and instincts is easily ignored, but these subtle and sometimes delicate
images and voices have much to teach us. On one level they
heighten our capacity to relate to the world and to ourselves; on
another they also promise something positive and important to the
environment. Learning to value our own sensitivity opens the door
to creating built places that will do the same for everyone who
encounters them. Experiencing ourselves more richly will change
the world as we create more places for people to belong and feel at
home with their inner experience. As we bring our openness to the
world, it is hard not to be struck by how overwhelming and undernourishing
much of our built world has become.
At its most subtle level, openness offers us the potential of looking
directly at our relationship to what is around us. When we are
open, we are not trying to get anything, we are trying simply to be
with something or someone. We are not competing with anyone or
pursuing a goal. Our attention is open and resting with the object,
whether it is internal or external. Does our usual way of looking
involve trying to get something from the object? The energy
required to sustain an attitude of “getting something” will affect,
paradoxically, what we can see and what we are able to receive.
When we are simply seeing, immersed in seeing, we can make
contact with what we are observing. Taking an uninterrupted,
sustained, steady look at something means allowing whatever our
senses encounter to exist, churn, or play until the current of energy
that accompanies the experience is finished.
One way to experience this is to take a few breaths, close your
eyes, and allow your attention to settle on an awareness of your
body. Allow your body to answer the question “How am I feeling?”
Then open your eyes and bring the quality of your answer to whatever
your eye falls on.
Though it may sound simple, this takes practice. Most of our
seeing is so overlaid with opinions and rushing to know and
acquire that the moments of pure seeing are few. Openness enables
us to simultaneously take in and explore the quality of what is
before us and what is inside us. We have to be mindful of balancing
perception and comprehension. Too much concentration, and
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