Designer Religion?

Have been recently reading a book called ‘The God Delusion’ by Richard Dawkins.

Must say it is one of the most insanely rational and gripping books I have read in a long time… As the title suggests, the basic premise of the book is that the existence of God is highly improbable, and Religion is a just a convenient by-product of our psychological needs. Also, religion has evolved over the centuries (with healthy amounts of designing by some powerful people across different eras) to become what it is today.. Of course, the backbone of this entire theory is that there is no scientific proof of God’s existence, and most scriptures have been distorted over the centuries by the Chinese Whispers phenomenon, into what they are today…

The author mainly looks at Christianity, Judaism (& Islam) as the main monotheistic religions of our times, and how they foster in group kinship and out-group hostility. The ideology that My God is the only God, or my faith is the true faith gives these religions a coating of violent intolerance towards anyone not belonging to their creed. Makes me wonder as a Hindu, whether a polytheistic religion like Hinduism makes one more tolerant? With its selection of thousands of Deities to choose from, you can decide whom to worship. It offers you much more flexibility to choose, and fosters tolerance for coexistence of many other deities in the name of faith…. probably it is a gentler religion…

But even if we do consider the radical idea that Religion is ‘designed’, the fact that the Design has evolved over centuries has given it its robustness and power…something similar to the way the Indian Lota was designed, and its resulting ubiquitous popularity in India. In any case, it has a huge fan-following, because it carries all the hallmarks of a good design:

• It satisfies the needs and desires of the ‘User’
• It arouses powerful emotions within the ‘User’
• It is intuitive, user-friendly and an effective tool to use in day to day living
  

No wonder it has such huge Brand Equity, and irrespective of whether Dawkins is right or not (there is a strong probability he might be), it isn’t going to go out of vogue anytime soon!

Beautifully Designed Spaces…

I have been working for about 1.5 years in SAP, and one thing that never ceases to give me pleasure is my Workspace in office.

The main Development Block at SAP has 3 wings, and each wing has an Open Courtyard at the center. Now this courtyard, I suspect has been designed according to Feng Shui Principles(the literal translation of Feng Shui is ‘wind-water’) . it is very green, and has an artificial waterfall in the center. Flowing water increases the positive energy in a space known as ‘chi’. Huge caldrons filled with water are kept at strategic locations, and there are always flowers or rose petals floating in them.

The sound of flowing water from the waterfall gives a very soothing feel; and the open courtyard keeps you connected to the outside world in a way that such artificially designed enclosed spaces seldom do.

This is in sharp contrast to the other office spaces I have worked in; where the raindrops falling on your face always surprise you as you step out, because you were not aware it was raining outside as you worked under artificial lighting within.

Another way in which this open courtyard makes a difference is the lighting…the changing lighting from noon to evening, or as the sky gets covered with clouds, makes one aware of the changing weather and the passage of time in a very subtle and natural way.

I remember a friend of mine at NID made a set of Desktop widgets representing nature, and tried to connect them to the outside weather, so that one can be aware of the weather outside in the enclosed office space. I think technology is not the answer to every problem around us, sometimes it may just complicate a problem even more.

Probably what we need are better designed spaces…spaces which make the transition from the outdoors to the indoors more seamless, less drastic. That is why I am a great fan of Skylights. Skylights are one way which can lessen the disconnect between the outside and the inside world, and do not even require extra space, as for example, a courtyard might.

My favorite time of the day is late evenings, when most of the people in the office have left, and all I can hear is the sound of flowing water; uninterrupted by the sounds of keyboards, printers and people as it is during the day….aaah…what bliss!