Dear Ranjan and all on the list,
 
Thank you for bringing subjectivity, spirituality and intention to the
centre of design action.
 
In my ongoing project on "Technologies of the Self" (inspired by Foucault),
I have come across a possible contradiction in the above context, that I
would like to pose before this list. Various "spiritual technologies"
involve a calibrated withdrawal from intention and action, based on a deep
reflective process that involves "ethics" rather than "scientific truths".
Victor Margolin has provided us with a wonderful overview of the state of
art in his Design Issues piece (Vol 23, No 3, Summer 2007).
 
The crisis of sustainability that you refer to (and that we must bring to
the centre of design) also has various approaches proposed by various
groups, and quite a few groups (such as Vicki Robin of the New Road Map
Foundation) advocate cutting down consumption as the most effective course
of "inaction" to restore our planet's health. This approach resonates
strongly with a substantial branch of spiritual technology, one that
advocates shifting the focus of our action inward rather than outwards.
Another approach is "localisation", which resonates with Mahatma Gandhi's
famous "rejection" of western industrial culture in his landmark 1908
article, "Hind Swaraj".
 
It appears that our indices of human development, progress and well-being
must shift from economic progress to spiritual well-being, as society
progresses from poverty & scarcity to prosperity - a la Maslow. However,
the same critique that has been applied to Maslow may well apply to such a
notion, and countries like Bhutan (GNH) and Thailand (sufficiency) are
attempting to short-circuit this seemingly linear growth trajectory by
privileging subjective (and spiritual) well-being more and more in
proportion to economic & material growth.
 
For design, which has historically been an outward-oriented action
discipline, this poses a profound challenge -- and a huge opportunity. In
fact, it is serendipitious that 2007 marks the 50th anniversary of the
India Report that was instrumental in establishing the foundation of design
education in India, where the Eameses recommended a "sober investigation
into the values and qualities that Indians hold important to a good life".
Bhutan and Thailand actually ran surveys on what their people wanted as a
good life, and found that spirituality was high on the list, along with
basic security and comforts. The famous "Voices of the Poor: From Many
Lands" report of the World Bank (Narayan, Petsch) also asked the poor to
define poverty and found that qualities such as (lack of) emotional
integrity, respect and dignity, social belonging and cultural identity
featured in their list.
 
The start of the 21st century and the increased multiculturalism in
knowledge and theory provides us with a unique opportunity to re-envision
design away from its European wartime industrial-modernist/positivist
origins to something more appropriate, more valuable and more responsive to
people and the planet. Modernism was founded on a rejection of the past, we
can recover it and make it work for us.
 
Arvind Lodaya
Srishti School of Art, Design & Technology
Bangalore
www.srishti.ac.in 

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