posted on Aug, 14 2010 @ 03:24 PM
Psychogeography
Psychogeography was defined in 1955 by Guy Debord as "the study of the precise laws and specific effects of the geographical environment, consciously
organized or not, on the emotions and behaviour of individuals."[
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychogeography
(The wiki article details many of the disparate characters, groups, movements and ideologies in the world of psychogeography, but I won’t detail any
of that here).
Also worth a quick look is…
www.mookychick.co.uk/spirit/psychogeography.php
(A more concise and quite irreverent article…)
Firstly I want to say that I am no expert or authority in this subject. I merely find it fascinating from a lay perspective. But I do think it is a
very much overlooked area of study for anyone interested in the effects of our physical environment on the mind and more generally the nature of our
experience of our immediate physical reality .
I think most of you would agree (to varying degrees) that we create and influence our physical reality with the power of our minds and thoughts, and
our actions of merely existing and functioning within a certain physical space - but do we give as much attention to the reverse of that system, I.e.
the effects (of any kind) of our immediate environment on our minds, thoughts, choices, actions, habits? It is a reciprocal relationship.
Cities such as Washington DC, Paris, London (bits of..), The Vatican, Salt Lake City, Astana and many, many more have been carefully and deliberately
designed, planned and laid out in very specific ways, in order to create an image, a pattern, an atmosphere, an effect in the human mind, and thus to
influence our thoughts, feelings and behaviour - individually and collectively. (Research shows obvious Masonic and occult principles and concepts in
many of these designs!) ANY kind of contstruction will be designed with some consideration as to the look / style / image / vibe etc on the human mind
of the finished object.
I think psychogeography encompasses ideas and theories with which most of us will already be aware of, the purpose of this post is not so much to
write “psy-geo 101” rather than to just flag up the subject and hopefully prompt further thought, research, study, enquiry etc in the sharp minds
of ATS’ members.. And hopefully prompt a few responses. If anyone has any links to research and info, I’d be most grateful…
For me, the more I think about it, the more interested I get. We all live day-to-day in a physical environment which dictates and determines much of
our actions and behaviour.
I have hardly even begun to scratch the surface of this fascinating subject - if just one person who reads this is inspired to look further into the
matter, then I will consider this thread a success!
Next time you go somewhere, just have a good look around - eyes and mind open at all times!!
(And thanks to the London Psychogeographical Association for inspiration).
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