In my architectural studies, we, as students/trainees, are always
encouraged to design, and by that notion of design, it means to create
our own (roughly stamping our authority and signature on our
design). Surely an artist in everyone would love to express
ourselves.
But then, there comes a question of ego in art, especially when it
comes to a profession where you have to use your art provide service to
other people. In any design profession, the client usually is THE
designer. And most designers already know this, that to get their
money, they have to succumb to the client's visions. That's an issue I
won't talk so much about.
Instead, let's all look at the design concept of...
Addition vs Destroy&Create
This issue has a lot to deal with cause and effect theory. And it also
involves metaphysical energies. For example, lets say you are asked to
design a house on a certain hill. The first thing you will do is to
have a site visit. And then you saw that hill, some vision and
idea starts to spring in your mind. You saw that opportunity of the
hill, having a fantastic view of a city,
therefore you designed the house in such a way that it orientates
towards that scenic view. And so, you jot and sketch them down. Then
you present your design proposal to your client.
What happened was that, the object of that hill has led to the creation
of your design. And you would assume that that hill was 'created' by
nature. So what you had basically done was that you "created upon a
created". All that strange cosmic energies that the hill
provides, you had actually sensed it and managed to make use of them
for your design. For example, the beautiful scenic views would have
given an immense sense of joy and happiness to the house owner, and
therefore he would feel extremely satisfied and comfortable with his
new house.
There are some other designers who think differently. They don't "see"
all those strange energies and opportunities on site. Instead, they
decided to destroy that hill and build a nice house on it. This
isn't necessarily wrong approach, as the designer has still created an
object anyway. And therefore, this new object creates a new energy of
its own in that place. For example, its energy maybe an extremely
radical visual aesthetic, like the house stands out a lot on that hill
and catches your eye frequently. Passers-by will often be drawn by it,
and these are already the effects the designer had caused.
And who knows that new house might be 'created upon created' again by
another designer whos hired to do renovation on it. But of course,
before that can happen, it means the radical house idea has probably
dissatisfied the client after living there for several years. The
negative energies has led to that.
With many different types of architects and designers we have in this
world, the environmental world really goes round and round.
Flying back and forth between KL and Melbourne often gives me
melancholic emotions, where I can often feel the transition of one
'comfort' zones changing to the next. I really hate it. Whenever I feel
adapted to one place, I often do not feel like I wanna leave that
place. Coz of the fear of missing that place and all its experiences.
And I don't mean just that. There are also missed
'opportunities', like building/strengthening relationships with
your loved ones.
Now that I am still in Melbourne, there is still a long time more
before I go back to Malaysia end of this year. I've already made quite
a number of friends, and I'm so used to the lifestyle here. All these
contributes to the experience and atmosphere I get in Melbourne. And I
live in the city, it's probably the greyest and gloomiest city
I've ever lived in (You can try checking it out in Google Earth). I'm
really living a new life that I'm doing for myself.
I still remember those days of touching down at Melbourne Airport. The
moment when winds rushes through me, all the nostalgia came back.
Melbourne, to me, 'tastes' like a grey-looking minty sweet. The people
I meet here, the shit I get from uni, they all taste like that minty
sweet, like, sweet but slightly polluted if you know what I mean.
Then, there are those days of touching down at KLIA. The hot oven-like
humid air brings back 20 years of memories. But the experience felt
like a complex one. They're like a yellowish-orange blob of hot air
that contains the
smell of grass of new house,
the smell of carpets & beds of my old house,
driving the sunny modern-looking highways in KL,
and the spicy/curry smells of Asian cuisine complimented by Asian environmental scents.
Whereas, emotionally, usually makes me feel rather sad. I was coming
back to where I came from. All my closest friends and people who meant
the most to me are all here. Thats when the danger of getting
emotionally attached comes in..
then I don't feel like going back to Melbourne anymore.
Sorry for the slow update of this blog. Not that anyone comes here
often anyway. I like blogging whenever I feel like it. You know, it
makes the blog more substantial that way, filled with genuine and
purposeful contents and without constant everyday rubbish. Ok, I know
I'm self-praising so I should stop here.
-----
Anyway, recently I've been realising a small pattern into how karmas
work around people's lives. The common scenario is when someone's
'karma' is passed onto another person. Don't understand? Well
heres a direct & simple example:
Lets say, your
grandfather taught your father a huge lesson when he was young. It was
a harsh lesson on your father that he remembered till this day. Of
course your father was very revengeful on your grandfather and he
couldn't believed he has been treated unfairly. The natural reaction of
that was to get it back at the offender. But no, the dad took it out on
his son and use that to teach his son as a lesson. Thus, the 'karma'
was passed onto the son.
This is when an action/knowledge
is passed on to someone else (regardless of age/time). Here is another
common example that happens quite often in relationships:
A loves B, but B rejects A. B loves C instead, but C doesn't love B. The 'karma' was passed from A to C. B now felt rejection like how A had felt.
Now, you would ask yourself this question, "What happens if the person
did not offend the other person in the first place, would that
stop 'karma' from passing to another?"
I'm not sure the
answer myself, but I'd say there might be a BIG chance of it to stop
that karma. But you can never guarantee because if you try to look at a
bigger picture, like a whole society, so much 'karmas' are being
passed on to each other at every second. Well, maybe 'karma' isnt the
right word, lemme rephrase that.
"So much of people's PROBLEMS are passed onto another person everyday."
That sounds more tangible. You may already think about how
bosses/lecturers give you work and assignments, like how the bosses
need you to work for them to survive. Of course, we always have
problems everyday. Question is, "Do we keep it and dissolve that
problem ourselves or do we pass it on to another?"
Of course everyone chooses the easier way. I do too, sometimes..
*Disclaimer: 'Karma' term in this blogpost, is more accurately defined
as instant karma, but not karma that affects past/future life.