They used to call it “creating space”. That was a bit confusing since it could be an invitation or it could be a specific energy field. Often it mean that the discussion leader simply demonstrated a certain openness and the rest followed from there. As a social architect I want to introduce you to energy field design and assembly. Yes, I mean you build up a prescribed and designated area with layer after layer of field effects that include both mental permission but more importantly somazone effects. Yes, we are building, constructing, and enabling a specific energy field to exist that people can come into and be transformed or resonated into to create a specific consciousness.

Rock stars do this, theatre designers do this, night club operators do this whether consciously or not. If you have a home and include a discussion pit in the mix, wouldn’t you want to infuse that space with say a fireplace, a stereo system, soft lighting, and then pillows that embrace ???? But have you really thought about what the effect is that you want to create?
By that I mean that we purposefully want to somatically engage all of the body’s most receptive sensors with the experiences the body needs in order to resonate into a specific vibration. I contend that activating the right resonant vibration is what actually propels consciousness into a very precise kind of situational awareness or presence.

As I design homesteads for my clients I may use a half dozen layers of design to get the pathways, the buildings, the gardens and the other elements positioned just right. But then I look for specific places to incubate specific energy fields. They can be quite different. There is the actual somazone where you spend most of your time working or creating. There is the somazone where you want to experience a zen like nothingness to allow thoughts to arise. There is the party zone, the intimate zone, the playful zone … and so it goes.

An interesting way to look at the design of your home is to imagine seven movie sets that you have admired. Start the design and as you go from room to room and layer in all the experiences you need to achieve the activity you want. Music, color, and lighting are the old standby layers. Then, you can add the more subtle somatic elements like textures, surfaces, scents, and suggestive art. Then when you move out into your naturally appointed spaces with trees, herbs, and water features you begin to work with the sounds of the leaves in the wind, the movements of the leaves as dancers, and the number and types of birds you can attract simply by having the right food beside the seating area.

As you progress in your thinking about what kind of experience you want to create or better yet what kind of awareness you want to invite … then you need to have some clarity around the type of consciousness you want to support . Intelligent discussions need fresh air, some rushing sounds from the garden, upright chairs, some places for visual folks to make public notes or illustrations, modeling clay for the kinesthetics who go nuts without a way to “shape” their thinking etc. No this doesn’t have to be a sterile office setting with white boards all around. For creative discussions you add color, abstract art, baroque music. If you want to close a deal the space would get more sober but be infinitely comforting and reassuring. That should give you some idea of how to match desired behavioral outcome with supporting environmental elements.

Here’s a way make this design idea really payoff. Lets say you have a spectacular view available from the building you occupy. Think about that as precisely the place to put your most important and inhabited work space. So, simply stated you care to achieve as much of paradise as you can for most of the time you are in that building. Then you can systematically arrange other elements in that view plane until there is an impeccable array of layered stimulation around your most constantly occupied location. I have twenty-seven layers in my primary task oriented view plane. So, I am consciously seeing to the need to immerse myself in the beauty and somatic delights of this world most of the time I am here. See the logic of that design thinking? Many people design their homes to impress those who walk in only occasionally and … leave themselves in a dingy corner somewhere in an out of the way place to live!!???.

Often we take great pains to get off to a paradise destination somewhere in the world only to find it over-crowded or so full of interruptions that we wish we had stayed home had a picnic in the back yard. Well … ? where is that ideal space in the backyard and how many elements of somatic effect can you assemble to make the perfect stimulation for you relaxation and play? You see this is a field building exercise not just a decorating job. Often the music you have bundled can have more effect than anything else and all you need is a candle to see each others eyes.

This is how we can make earth the paradise she is geared up to support. It’s a design opportunity based on energy field creation. Aloha!