Separation and Connection: Phenomenology of Door and Window

Abstract

Doors and windows are most common things which we encounter in everyday life. Our life is characterized by these architectural structures. We enter into and exit from buildings through doors. We go to work through the entrance door into our offices. We come back home through the doors and we feel safety and security inside. Though we are kept inside we see the outside through windows. As modern people, we live in cities. And this means that our lives are determined by urban buildings. We move in and out of houses. Indeed the “in and out” of all buildings is possible only because there are openings on the walls. Doors and windows therefore define the inside and the outside of our existential spatiality. They separate and at the same time connect our spatial lifeworld.

We chisel out doors and windows; It is precisely in these empty spaces, that we find the usefulness of the room. Therefore, we regard having something as beneficial: But having nothing as useful.¹

Lao-tzu: Tao-te-ching: chapter 11

How concrete everything becomes in the world of the spirit when an object, a mere door, can give images of hesitation, temptation, desire, security, welcome and respect. If one were to give an account of all the doors one has closed and opened, of all the doors one would like to re-open, one would have to tell the story of one’s entire life.²

Gaston Bachelard: The Poetic of Space

You stand on the bridge looking at the scenery, A person up in the building looking at the scenery looks at you; Bright moon decorates your window, You decorate other’s dream.³

PIEN Chin-lin: Cutting/breaking the phrases into pieces