In 1996 I hit a wall. Having designed houses for over twenty years, and having explored the spiritual path for even longer, I found myself surrounded with success but filled with hollowness in the face of the consumerist values which were expressed in ever-bigger, more comfortable and wasteful homes. For months I struggled unsuccessfully to re-invent my career, until one day in a Holotropic Breathwork session I had the life-changing experience of seeing a series of sacred buildings appear on my inner screen - complete, radiant, and in Carl Jung's words, numinous. I soon realized that sacred architecture and geometry, far from being the property of academic study, are actually to be found directly within the psyche as archetypes - and thus began the line of inquiry which created Archetype Design. My vision expanded enormously in the course of writing the book, embracing the challenges of healing both a threatened ecosystem and a deeply wounded society. And so, Archetype Design first of all presents a vision in which sustainability is an expression of contemporary spirituality. At the same time, the book offers numerous methods for developing such a consciousness - and to do so in the context of home design and lifestyle.I have long felt that we as a culture are thirsting for truly substantial ways of aligning ourselves with the environment, with community, and with our inner nature. Yet we have a tough time escaping the materialistic shackles which constantly doom us to shallow, off-the-shelf solutions. Thus while our romance with natural building, fengshui and sustainable design may in fact express a desire for more beauty and meaning in our lives, we seldom take such methods to really deep and transformative levels, preferring to hope that smoke, mirrors and some token solar features will somehow make us wealthier, happier, and more healthy. By contrast, Archetype Design offers a demanding and in-depth program of inner work which proposes to transform ourselves first, so that home design and lifestyle can reflect a deeper, expanded and more enduring sense of self. Such work is not everyone's cup of tea - but it's what the times call f
