Discuss: The Nature of Walls

Anthony et al,

You said: “Walls often act as partitions to prevent mixing, the same way cell walls and organelles prevent mixing.  The separation of parts allows the functioning of the whole.”

But this is the analytic error of most of science and the culture that gave rise to it. It is, in truth, the interaction and integration of parts that creates the whole and allows the flow of life to continue.

The photosynthetic chloroplasts of plant cells and the energy-producing mitochondria of animal cells were once independent bacteria that formed a synergetic relationship with their hosts to allow the flowering of higher life.

All natural “walls” are permeable. It is only our walls which, intended to keep the “other” out, have instead imprisoned our souls.

Hi Terrie

Thanks for the note. The sense of accomplishment when you finish a wall is quite something isn’t it?

Jon

Dear Robert

I do not know much about the Judeo/Christian concept of the soul that is pervasive now, but I have the impression that it falls into the wall/nature dichotomy my article was about.  It seems there is something pure “soul” held in something foul “body”.  I am skeptical of this.

I know a bit about the Roman concept of soul.  They were of fond of beans and super important.

I know a good deal more about masonry and I am going to tell you a secret and give you a quote.

The secret is that a good masons craft is held in the shadow between the stones.  This joint is the primary surface we shape.

The quote is from George Hersey who was an art historian at Yale and a friend. It is from page 21 of his book “The Lost Meaning of Classical Architecture” where he presents a fairly radical interpretation of architectural meaning.

“Another aspect of the column base is its rich endowment of horizontal shadows.  The moulding that achieves them is called the scotia.
This is a fairly significant word in Greek, as Scotia is the goddess of darkness and underworld things.  Darkness or shadow was perceived by the ancients not as the mere absence of light but as a palpable substance, a vapor that was dark because it was dense with the tiny mote-like souls of the dead. So if we look again at the shadows cast by the scotia moulding, we are to see them as thick with souls.”

Regards

Jon

Aha - you just gave me an amazing insight with your description of scotia about a problem I have been working on for years - what is the purpose of darkness? what is the attraction to dark places? what is in there that makes me want to go there, know more?

I always come up with the answer of contrast - absence of light - but there is something more, something inside the darkness itself that beckons . . . wow, thick with souls. Now there’s something to think about!

Jon,

The soul I was referring to is the universal soul that all ancient traditions understood.

In Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and Sanskrit the word for soul was also the word for breath. Native Americans called it the Four Winds which infused our physical bodies and through which we became as one with the landscape.

It was only as we built our metaphorical and physical walls higher and deepened the gulf between us and our landscape that we began to embody this separation. And, it’s quite true, that this separation sanctified the light and banished the shadow to the detriment of our wholeness.

To the Kogi, the only intact pre-conquest culture of the Americas, the great mother Aluna is the primordial darkness from which all things grew, as a seed would only in black earth, as we do only in the dark of the womb. The shadow is fertility.

Here at our 1400-acre wilderness preserve and retreat center we ponder what to do with the foundation walls that have fallen down from logging community houses and barns dating back to the latter 1800’s. We saved one 35’ chimney. There can be something beautiful about a wall. In spring we’ll have a celebration of the vision and approach of Andy Goldsworthy in creating at-hand and natural works, only to see them return, sooner, to the soil. It’s a journey. Friends Wilderness Center, Harpers Ferry, WV.

Dear Tim S.

Thanks for your comment.  I love those ruins in the woods.

Good luck to you.

Jon

Jon,

Great article, very thoughtful and provocative.  It brought to mind several references which I think you may find of interest.  I recently finished up the book “Stone Work” by John Jerome which deals heavily in the psychological, physiological, and and philosophical aspects of wall building; I think you would find some great parallels to your work in this book.  Regarding the false dichotomy between nature and culture Michael Pollan has some great thoughts in his book “Second Nature,” wherein he urges a more subtle collaborative relationship between human culture and the natural systems that support us.  Again great work and have fun with those books if you so choose.

Best,
Nic