We Used to Build Cathedrals

On my way to work today I looked up at the ‘Redfern Suicide Towers,’ and down at Waterloo’s new Metro station. Both buildings have the same cold, de-saturated, brutalist design.

When I look at either of these buildings, I feel nothing but an empty void. The buildings do not bring me any inspiration—only the feeling of imprisonment in a colourless world.

It’s as if these buildings have been put here to crush our spirits and keep us suspended in an eternal state of dread. Now regardless of if this was done intentionally by the government, or perhaps the elites pulling the strings (for all you conspiracy theorists)—I think we can all agree that the design of the world around us matters.

We used to build cathedrals and places to glorify God, whereas now we build crypto casinos to drain the bank accounts of the vulnerable and places for kids to goon online to their favourite e-girl.

Not to mention but the quality of goods produced across the globe has also dramatically decreased as formerly well-respected companies seek the path to highest possible profit—even if that means cutting back on quality.

Now, even though the above feels frustrating, I think there’s an answer.

Divine Design

If we start looking away from the dread and start looking to the beauty of the human form, animals, plants, trees, the ocean, the mountains and everything else in nature for inspiration, we’ll be able to amplify the glory of God not debase it.

The places, objects and art that surround us should make us feel inspired to build, innovate, share and collaborate. I call this Divine Design and I think we can apply it to every single domain of life.

For example, imagine if we:

• Made natural light a priority in our buildings.
• Sent gentle reminders asking if people still needed their subscriptions.
• Created more third-spaces for people to not only work, but hangout and rest.
• Rearranged our grocery stores and moved junk-food to the back of the store.
• Removed deceptive pricing and stopped encouraging overspending.
• Treated customers as neighbours not data.
• Had more places to repair our belongings and not just buy them.
• Added friction to buying things we might not need.
• Introduced more greenery indoors.
• Redesigned classrooms to prioritise dialogue over dictation.
• Used materials that aged with grace.

As you can imagine the list above could go on forever—but you get what I’m going for. By designing pro-human spaces, experiences, products and services—we’ll be able to forge an entirely new world, and maybe wouldn’t get places nicknamed things like The Suicide Towers.

That sounds unrealistic…

Stop. I know what you’re thinking.

In theory the above sounds amazing—but aren’t we too far gone to really change our cities, corporations and governments? That sounds like a huge task to redesign our entire world.

To which I respond, think smaller.

You don’t have to do everything, you could just implement one little change, or pivot how you do business, design products, or make art.

All we need to do is play our part as creators and try our best to use Divine Design principles when we create here on Earth.

Also, when I say Divine Design I don’t mean purposefully trying to build Cathedrals for aesthetics—I mean creating from a deep place of care, intention and glory for the human spirit.

Divine Design is just The Golden Rule applied to creation.

So the next time your making something ask yourself:

Would I like this?

Does this inspire me?

Am I doing this for the right reasons?

Real change begins from the centre and radiates outwards.