A New Era. A New Mindset to growth.
I have always been fascinated by the cosmic dimensions of the universe. Although we humans do not think much about our dimension of life on a macro-micro cosmic level, as something continuously evolving and requiring continuous care and maintenance.
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All crises we have been experiencing at the health, social, humanitarian, ecological and economic levels are not separated. Instead, it manifests how we perceive and interpret life at its core. The pandemic has given us insights into how we must behave more frugally and in tune with the natural systems around us.
Currently, the Russian invasion of Ukraine is a profound manifestation of dehumanization by the aggressor. We need to create a culture of collective empathy in times of need to restore balance, hopefully. In this example, to restore Ukraine and its own culture, freedom, dignity, multiculturalism, and of course, peace.
Consequently, that has been affecting the global economy, the food supply, local public health, and the environment. The World climate council’s warnings of irreversible impacts of climate change are becoming even more dramatic.
The multiple ongoing crises we are currently facing are an opportunity. We must abandon the paradigm that economy, society and nature are not opposites. We need to adopt a new cultural and mental approach and tools to deal with our time of complexity.
To break this dynamic, we can start to ponder a culture of conscious living. There is nothing better than to create a worldwide culture where we could distance ourselves from the noise we face daily of consumption, politics, mobility, etc, and recalibrate in places with the natural elements and old cultures that have a symbiotic relationship with the world around us.
The first-hand experience will draw horizons much more in tune with the cosmic dimensions of the universe and will increase our positive impact and contribution. Science and technology can be following layers as sources of knowledge to improve the quality of our societies, economies and the planet.
As a designer, I reflect that Life Centered Design can be a shift of mindset that does not only applies to design but can inspire and extrapolate other domains. And I am referring to the broadest sense of the word.
Below, I share a set of points I have been considering on being part of life centered design, and in tune with the mindset we need to have to change our perception of our dimension as humans on Earth:
- Converging Present and Future
Everything we add to the present will have an impact on the future. Each action has a consequence in the world we live in. This one, however, also means integrating the future into our understanding of what flourishing means. Our mindsets have been narrowed in our society, as we created a detached human from nature. We need to pull ourselves out of this loop to consider the larger picture is integral to our survival. - Focus on the Essentials
Always raise the question, what matters? Aim to focus on something core about the human experience and its positive impact on a macro-micro level. Creating societies that value trust, transparency and compassion and develop experiences and services to address economic, societal and environmental needs is a way to ground them in reality, and avoid creating excessive, low-quality, or non-functional results. - Being critical and ethical at the core
We must constantly challenge ourselves to be critical and careful not only with ourselves but also within the society we are apart from and challenge behaviours and mentalities that feel out of date in the Anthropocene. - Have a symbiotic relationship with the world around
What would it look like for humans and nature to be in complete symbiosis? We have created distinct boundaries between us and nature. We must ask how to avoid extracting from nature. It is time to intensify our innovation and look for more practical applications and answers based on the sustainable, effective and aesthetically attractive solutions that nature developed long ago. We need to learn and cooperate with nature. In doing so, we can create solutions that facilitate symbiosis between us and nature. - Urban Life and the Natural World combined
Life centered design demands us to consider the ecosystems we live in a while maintaining the capacity of humans to create. We need to regularly add more immersive experiences with nature to understand the dimension of our habitat and how we relate to one another, keeping the system thinking approach without forgetting to zoom into our daily actions. We need to feel that vibrancy to work towards societies that make fair and equitable profit from the planet, people and all living beings.
These are my takeaways that potentially change how we, as societies, governments, and citizens, approach the world and broaden the perspective beyond humans towards growth and progress. As we know, we are all related to where we live and to one another. Our actions affect ourselves and our place on Earth.
