Our world is divided into many parts. However every human being is living in two worlds throughout his life; inner world and outer world. Let us consider inner world as spiritual world and outer world as materialistic world because most of our internal processes of human beings are not in our control. When we say spiritual world, we will always consider India at the core of it. The Sanskrit name for India is ‘Bharatha’, which originally meant Agni or fire
Source: http://www.bharathgyan.com
We can call fire as form of light; hence light has very deep meaning in our spiritual world. In short we can say light means knowledge or wisdom. Even when we considered someone who has grown spiritually or in wisdom, we call them ‘enlightened’, which essentially means that the light of knowledge has shone upon them. We can find such examples even in our ancient spiritual texts. An example of which is shown below.
ॐ असतो मा सद्गमय ।
तमसो मा ज्योतिर्गमय ।
मृत्योर्मा अमृतं गमय ।
ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ॥
Om Asato Maa Sad-Gamaya |
Tamaso Maa Jyotir-Gamaya |
Mrtyor-Maa Amrtam Gamaya |
Om Shaantih Shaantih Shaantih ||
Meaning:
Om, (O Lord) Keep me not in the Unreality (of the bondage of the Phenomenal World), but lead me towards the Reality (of the Eternal Self),
(O Lord) Keep me not in the Darkness (of Ignorance), but lead me towards the Light (of Spiritual Knowledge),
(O Lord) Keep me not in the (Fear of) Death (due to the bondage of the Mortal World), but lead me towards the Immortality(gained by the Knowledge of the Immortal Self beyond Death),
Om, (May there be) Peace, Peace, Peace (at the the three levels – Adidaivika, Adibhautika and Adhyatmika).
Even the 7 spiritual chakras are signified by 7 colors of the sunlight, each chakra denoting different form of enlightenment.
We find light is very important source in our inner world but we don’t realize that because we are not enlightened since birth. There are certain processes to get enlightened and our spiritual scriptures can guide us for the same.
Now when it comes to outer / materialistic world, are we considering light as one of the primary source of living? The five senses are the bridge to our inner world, and sight (vision) is one of the important senses. We see outer world through our eyes and our brain interprets it with the help of nervous system.
Someone says, “Your outer world is reflection of your inner world” but we will think here in reverse way from lighting point of view. Our inner thoughts and moods are a reflection of what we see. This can be comprehended with the help of few examples.
Most of us love to see starry night sky, ocean, camp fire, sunrise and sunset but have you wondered why we love it?
A simple yet intriguing answer could be whenever we see starry night sky, we feel like we are connected to the universe and yet so miniscule and insignificant.
Whenever we visit sea shore we feel positive vibrations inside which increases our confidence.
Whenever we sit in front of camp fire we feel warm and secured in the range of light.
Whenever we see sunrise we feel hopes are alive and whenever we see sunset we get relaxed. Now these all are feeling and emotions evoked inside after seeing outside things but most of the working population doesn’t even see sun during our week days.
We read about the importance of daylight in our earlier articles, and also we understood how light affects our circadian rhythm. Basically daylight provides us the various color shades of white light and intensity of light throughout the day and human brains have engraved to this cycle from thousand years.
Here we are trying to understand what artificial lighting design is and why is it necessary. If certain views and qualities of light have certain effect on our emotions, can we replicate it in artificial lighting design, to create comfort and save energy where required. Generally we are spending our day in office and night at home and unfortunately in both places we are using white light (6500K).
This is interrupting our circadian system and causing side effects on our health. We have a disturbed sleep pattern, early diseases and easy fatigue. Have you wondered why the branded retail showrooms look more appealing than local retail stores?
We see a certain difference in lighting and color there, than what we see in normal stores.
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We find gold jewellary more beautiful in stores than when we bring it home. What could be causing this? It most certainly is the color and intensity of light in that store, or more precisely the lighting design. You find yourself more attracted towards a cozier coffee shop, even if the coffee there tastes shit (considering its price). You certainly feel more comfortable in a 5 star hotel than a cheap motel. Certainly the other aspects of interior play a bigger role in it. But those won’t matter with a faulty lighting design.
A professional lighting designer knows what color temperatures, light intensities, beam angles to use for what kind of activity. He understands the psychology and physiology of the occupant and the lighting requirement. Basically he is the right person who thinks from multiple directions to bring ultimate solution. He provides the lighting solution keeping human being in center as well as enhances the architecture or interior design of the space. So, next time you visit a place and feel it to be just right, stop and analyze why, is it just the interiors or does lighting design playing the trick for you.
Co-authored by Amit Chavan, Lighting Ergonomics, Pune
Light, life and architecture 