Narratives and Sustainability

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"I cannot live without books." - Thomas Jefferson

Art is created into all different forms: stories, music, rhythm, and paintings - to name a few. Art can also be the simplest acts, such as choosing a certain outfit in the morning. All that matters is that your simplest act is immersible and self-satisfying. The best art in the world is sustainable, such as the most famous pieces: The Mona Lisa, The Last Supper, Starry Night, and American Gothic. They are still appreciated to this time. American Gothic is not old at all, however it depicts the common man in such a way that it will be appreciated for years to come as a way of remembering what once was.

American Gothic - Grant Wood

Art has taught and inspired the world for thousands of years. Stories have taught us how to reach for our dreams. Paintings and other forms of visual art have showed a refreshing side of society. Raphael painted Beauty of religion whereas Norman Rockwell painted Beauty of the Nation. To the casual audience the most immersing forms of art are stories and music. By reading a book the reader can literally become the main character, or the narrator. Some may connect themselves with a particular character. Some may see a situation in the book that reminds them of an event in their past. A satisfying story gives something back to the audience, leaving them with a spark of wisdom. This can range from a realization, to an entire epiphany, or even to a grim view of the future. All knowledge has the potential to help one reach sustainability. In the three narratives presented, each of them depicts a different journey to reaching sustainability. Just as sustainability is reached in these stories, a means of achieving sustainability can be realized within the reader. The question follows that - will following one's deepest desires, striving to attain that which one has lost, or staying where one is content and comfortable - ascertain sustainability.

Left chair (wood, pins, and glue) Right chair (wood, yarn, and glue) - Lucas Samaras Untitled

It takes more than a laden path to reach sustainability - or really any goal. One must walk the path. The following narratives are not the answer, but are instead a guideline to follow. In some cases it is folly to become the protagonist and assume that if the same measures are taken, one will reach their goal. It is impossible for an author to interpret every probable event as one necessary to include in the narrative. However certain generalizations can be made when the reader is without proof. "And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you achieve it." (Paulo Coelho - The Alchemist) This reminiscent of David Hume's Problem of Induction. The Problem of Induction states that even when the effect is measured, the cause cannot be determined. For example common sense dictates that putting a flame over a pot of water increases it's temperature. This is also "proven" from many, many, many observations. But in truth there are innumerable factors that are not taken into account. For example a drummer hitting a cymbal in China could have caused that pot of water to boil. That cause has not been measured. It would be nearly impossible, and most definitely unnecessary, to measure all possible causes to determine which cause caused the effect. This can comply with the entire universe helping a child achieve sustainability. It would be impossible to determine what inactions would lead to certain consequences, because he has not measured all the possible causes of that particular consequence. In short it is impossible to determine if sustainability can be reached any further than it already has - from the sustainability of a single person to the sustainability of the entire universe. The only way of knowing is to pursue one's own sustainability

because perception is relative.

“Actions are the seed of fate deeds grow into destiny.” - Harry S. Truman

""I'm the king of Salem," the old man had said.

"Why would a king be talking with a shepherd?" the boy asked, awed and embarrassed.

"For several reasons. but let's say that the most important is that you have succeeded in discovering your Personal Legend."

The boy didn't know what a person's "Personal Legend" was.

"It's what you have always wanted to accomplish. Everyone, when they are young, knows what their Personal Legend is."

"At that point in their lives, everything is clear and everything is possible. They are not afraid to dream, and to yearn for everything they would like to see happen to them in their lives. But, as time passes, a mysterious force begins to convince them that it will be impossible for them to realize their Personal Legend."

None of what the old man was saying made much sense to the boy. But he wanted to know what the "mysterious force" was; the merchant's daughter would be impressed when he told her about that!

"It's a force that appears to be negative, but actually shows you how to realize your Personal Legend. It prepares your spirit and your will, because there is one great truth on this planet: whoever you are, or whatever it is that you do, when you really want something, it's because that desire originated in the soul of the universe. It's your mission on earth."

"Even when all you want to do is travel? Or marry the daughter of a textile merchant?"

"Yes, or even search for treasure. The Soul of the World is nourished by people's happiness. And also by the unhappiness, envy, and jealousy. To realize one's Personal legend is a person's only real obligation. All things are one."

"And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it."

They were both silent for a time, observing the plaza and the townspeople. It was the old man who spoke first.

"Why do you tend a flock of sheep?"

"Because I like to travel."

The old man pointed to a baker standing in his shop window at one corner of the plaza. "When he was a child, that man wanted to travel, too. but he decided first to buy his bakery and put some money aside. When he's an old man, he's going to spend a month in Africa. He never realized that people are capable, at any time in their lives, of doing what they dream of."

"He should have decided to become a shepherd," the boy said.

"Well, he thought about that," the old man said. "But bakers are more important people than shepherds. Bakers have homes, while shepherds sleep out in the open. Parents would rather see their children marry bakers than shepherds."

The boy felt a pang in his heart, thinking about the merchant's daughter. There was surely a baker in her town.

The old man continued, "In the long run, what people think about shepherds and bakers becomes more important for them than their own Personal Legends."

The old man leafed through the book, and fell to reading a page he came to. the boy waited, and then interrupted the old man just as he himself had been interrupted. "Why are you telling me all this?"

"Because you are trying to realize your Personal Legend. And you are at the point where you're about to give it all up.""

In the story, the boy did not realize it, but his Personal Legend was also his means of achieving sustainability. In the story he endured many obstacles, overcoming counless odds, all to achieve sustainability. He even turned himself into the wind. Whether he reached sustainability is only determined by him, because, again, perception is relative. But the evidence can be analyzed to see whether he believes he reached sustainability. In the end, he found love with a girl named Fatima, he became rich, and he found that he had supernatural powers. It does not get much better than that. I think that it is safe to say that in this case, the boy reached sustainability.

But now the question that rises is: would the boy have eventually reached sustainability by staying as a shepherd? It is easily believed that without any kind of goals or direction, one who follows the same path for the rest of his life will feel the same contentment for the rest of his life. For the boy to sell his sheep to make the money to search for his treasure, he had to truly believe in what he was doing.

Happy Home by Garbage is a song written by Shirley Manson. She writes on a desire to leave what she has and go running to where she feels comfortable.

Happy Home (Live) Garbage

In my happy home I barely breathe

In my lovers arms I find relief

And there's a sky that's changing and a bird that sings

I never once in my wayward life was heading to run out

In my lovers arms I wait for morning

I beg my god to speak and tear me apart

I'd lay down my body I'd lay down my arms

I never once in my sweet short life meant anybody harm

In my happy home I read the signs

In my lovers arms I move in time

There's no more crying and there's no more lies

I never once in my sweet short life was waiting for desire

And there's no more crying

And there's no more pain

I never thought for one second I'd have nothing left but shame

In my happy home I barely breathe

I never once in my wayward life was heading to run out

There is one line that particularly stands out as a sum of inaction towards achieving sustainability. "I never once in my wayward life was heading to run out" Unfortunately Manson does not state from what she is running. Regardless of what it is, one may assume that from her inaction, her "wayward life" will not change, for the better or for the worse. The only way she changes what she has is by running into her "lover's arms." But she is not achieving sustainability in that she will eventually have to leave. All that she really finds is a temporary reprieve. In the end she will have to leave in the morning. When she sings that there is "a sky that's changing and a bird that sings" she brings to the attention of the reader the fact that the entire world is moving around her - most likely toward sustainability - as the bird sings. In a way, as the world changes she may be brought to sustainability by the world. However it is ignorant to believe that just by staying idly by your life will become perfect. To think of this from a scientific perspective, think of the life of Manson as the system, and the entire universe that is not directly affected by her actions as the surroundings. This way we can conclude that through inaction she will not achieve sustainability.

There is one more alternative to achieving sustainability, that does not include staying staying in a cage when it is opened, or from throwing caution to the wind and achieving your destiny. The novel Neuromancer by William Gibson shows the other alternative.

"A year here and he still dreamed of cyberspace, hope fading nightly. All the speed he took, all the turns he'd taken and the corners he'd cut in Night City, and still he'd see the matrix in his sleep, bright lattices of logic unfolding across that colorless void.... The Sprawl was a long strange way home over the Pacific now, and he was no console man, no cyberspace cowboy. Just another hustler, trying to make it through. But the dreams came on in the Japanese night like livewire voodoo, and he'd cry for it, cry in his sleep, and wake alone in the dark, curled in his capsule in some coffin hotel, his hands clawed into the bedslab, temperfoam bunched between his fingers, trying to reach the console that wasn't there."

The character Case lost a certain "power," that did not necessarily bring him joy, but instead made him unique. In the grim future that William Gibson tells, to be unique is to stay alive. In this future, staying alive is as close to sustainability as one can reach. All that Case can hope for now is a way to reach the same sustainability as he had before.

"I was there, Case; I was there when they invented your kind."

"You got zip to do with me and my kind, buddy. You're rich enough to hire expensive razorgirls to haul my ass up here, is all. I'm never gonna punch any deck again, not for you or anybody else." He crossed to the window and looked down. "That's where I live now."

"Our profile says you're trying to con the street into killing you when you're not looking."

"Profile?"

"We've built up a detailed model. Bought a go-to for each of your aliases and ran the skim through some military software. You're suicidal, Case. The model gives you a month on the outside. And your medical projection says you'll need a new pancreas inside a year."

"'We.'" He met the faded blue eyes. "'We' who?"

"What would you say if I told you we could correct your neural damange, Case?" Armitage suddenly looked to Case as if he were carved from a block of metal; inert, enormously heavy. A statue. He knew now that this was a dream, and that soon he'd wake. Armitage wouldn't speak again. Case's dreams ended in these freezeframes, and now this one was over.

"What would you say, Case?"

Case looked out over the Bay and shivered.

"I'd say you were full of shit."

Armitage nodded.

"Then I'd ask what your terms were."

Case found the same means of sustainability, or at least what he thought to be sustainability, at last. He became what he was before, a "console cowboy" risking his life for the thrill of rebellion. Ironically this same pattern ended with him crippled in the first place. It is a vicious cycle, and thus not sustainability.

All three of the above examples found what they believed to be sustainability. But the casual observer can see that the case of the boy shepherd to be much more satisfying and safe. But that is beside the point. Sustainabilty only matters to he who is experiencing it. In a way regardless of if you reach for sustainability, stay in a falsely content world, or if you believe sustainability has reached you - if you believe you are sustained, you simply are.

The ultimate sustainability is perfection.

Perfection is a tricky word. Dictionary.com describes perfection as the highest degree of proficiency, skill, or excellence, as in some art. How is it that perfection only applies to qualities, and not to someone's situation? That is unless the art to which the definition refers can also be a state of being. From the way perfection is defined, it would seem perfection is relative. The highest degree is only that which is experienced. For example, I could be amazing at catching butterflies. In fact, I am the best butterfly-catcher in the world. But I believe that I could be a better butterfly-catcher. Thus I am not perfect; according to the conventional definition I am. Does that make sense? The highest degree of anything can only be found by comparing it to something lesser, just as an organized room is only organized when comparing it to a disorganized room. Perfection cannot be measured, except for when combining the idea of "skill" or "being" with the idea of infinity. If perfection cannot be reached, then neither can sustainability.

"The essence of being human is that one does not seek perfection." - George Orwell

Bibliography

-Chris Hastings

Sustainable Design

"Sustainable design is the art of designing physical objects and the built environment to comply with the principles of economic, social, and ecological sustainability." These designs can range from small objects to the creation of buildings, cities and earth's physical surface. Reducing the amount of non-renewable resources is the main goal of sustainable design. "Proponents of sustainable design generally believe the crisis may be resolved by using innovative design and industrial practices which reduce the environmental impacts associated with goods and services. Green design is considered a means of doing that while maintaining quality of life by using clever design to substitute less harmful products and processes for conventional ones." Many sustainable planners use techniques such as the Smart Growth Theory, Transit-oriented development, sustainable urban infrastructure and New Urbanism to design cities that are sustainable. Smart Growth focuses on the center of the city to avoid urban sprawl and bicycle-friendly land use. Transit-oriented development stresses for public transportation so that less private vehicles are used. By using public transportation, a city will gain a safer neighborhood, energy-efficient buildings and a distributed power generation and wastewater treatment. New Urbanism is more socially constructed and emphasizes on walking communities, diversity of land use and population.

Sara Jane