ABSTRACT

This chapter considers this notion of personal meaning in greater depth. It shows how the major worldviews through human history have respectively emphasized personal meaning, practical meaning and, latterly, social meaning. The chapter demonstrates that, despite varieties of expression, the essential features of personal meaning are universal. They are also critical for developing a more encompassing interpretation of design for sustainability, one that reorients how people conceive of and produce their material culture. It shows the relationship between the human spirit and the character and tenor of design. The chapter discusses the analysis and conventional notions of research tend to be less important than direct engagement in the process itself; a process that is pursued through practice, reading, thinking and contemplation. The design and production of consumer products has been on a steeply rising trajectory of innovation and growth for decades. In northern Europe the idea of spirituality became severely demoted as a consequence of the Protestant Reformation.