Kolme Taloa Kuninkaansaareen

Moments of quiet reflection, and the experiences associated with them, are deeply personal. There are many ways and intensities of becoming still, as well as many places in which it can occur. One person finds stillness while moving in nature, another while praying in churches, and a third while cooking at home. Quieting the mind can mean the absence of thought or the contemplation of ideas; it can be a deep focus on a single matter or an observation of the whole. It is often a shared experience, yet at the same time profoundly intimate.

For me, contemplative stillness consists of three themes, which I experience as a unified and comforting whole. One’s own time as part of history: there is time before me and time after me. One’s own scale: in the universe I am almost insignificant, yet as a human being I am a home to a galaxy of cells. One’s own community: the family to which one belongs, an anchor point in an endless universe.

The elements that connect all people are time, environment, and community. These are themes to which everyone relates in their own way. They are also themes that often require deeper reflection to be clearly understood. Around these three themes, I have built my chapel design.

Published 2016