Sunday, December 21, 2003

Cleveland: Finding the Spirit of Place

Rene Dubos wrote in A God Within that "cities, landscapes, regions and places in general derive their uniqueness from hidden forces. Places and persons acquire their distinctiveness from the interplay between their inherent characteristics and the external forces that act upon them. Since places and persons continuously evolve as they age and as conditions change, one might expect that, with time, they would be transformed beyond recognition, but this is not the case." Dubos goes on to describe how the ancient Greeks described the hidden aspect of both people and place as "entheos," or a god within.

Perhaps we would know better what to do to help Cleveland develop at this juncture in its history if we re-discovered the godlike quality within the city and its surrounding region that gives it a unique essence that we call Cleveland. I would suggest that a part of that re-discovery process would involve designing our city and region more in line with Nature in the future. We are more likely to intersect God there than in more high rises, shopping centers and housing developments.

What do you think? Does this prompt any ideas in your head that you would like to share?

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