Luminous clarity...deep knowing...intrinsic awareness...flow-state performance...primordial presence...gemutlichkeit ...spontaneous self-perfection...no judgement...pure innocence...natural genius...and being "in the zone."

These are some candidates for states of grace.  We acknowledge that they occasionally happen, but up till now haven't really decided to deliberately support their reoccurance on a regular basis.  Except for some spiritual orders and very highly paid athletes, we have focused on more primary states of comfort that seemed fundamental to survival needs.
Organized society must have basic services in place.  Things must work.  Maslows hierarchy of needs is very useful way to understand that in order to aim for self-actualization we must have those basics in place.  Architects and engineers must still deliver on function as well as form.

Some of the very best architects imagined they were creating an environment that would engage the consciouness of the inhabitants, but in most cases they were concerned with protecting them from rain, wind, and sun.   They predominately build homes with generic rooms to support functions like dining, bathing and sleeping.

Civic structures have permanence but rarely deliver on expanded states of being.  Occasionally, with enough resources temples and theaters can achieve some success.  But, if we are to create a new civilization it seems time to place our focus on more profound results even in our everyday living and working situations.

In the east, the masters of feng shui made an attempt to balance the chi vitality and energy in any space in order to provide harmony and eliminate distractions.  They were advocates of peace and harmony.  They  chose an objective with social consequence.   That art is making an impact again and it now seems possible to focus what we know to  reach and even exceed the criteria of peace and harmony.   We must build up using the hierarchy.

  Social architecture begins the design process by asking what the optimal and most expanded state of being could be in any thoughtful arrangement of space and time.

We arrange the quality of our lives by organizing our time and our spaces. We also have the chance to establish some effect in the corridors that connect our spaces.  Virtually our entire metropolitan, urban, and rural worlds could be subtly transformed by this focus on optimal states of being.  Currently we are deadened by many influences like concrete, steel, drywall and flourescents.

Let us now examine some of the classes of being available to us as social designers:
 

SANCTUARY STATES

Meditation, contemplation and "quiet time" are becoming more and more apart of the private regimen being adopted by people around the world.  The states of grace associated with these practices are achieved without contact with others.  The space itself does much of the work.  Real privacy can require more design than imagined.   Many of the more advanced states of being can be groomed in these more isolated settings.  Original contact with the self and the interior feeling referents are built in these situations.  Therefore having access to a sanctuary space wherever people go is ideal.
 

HIGH PERFORMANCE STATES

Athletes, public performers, jazz musicians, and those caught in severe conditions muster a surprising natural genius on occasion.  These are creative juices that flow on the physical level.   In some cases the audience makes a difference. Levity works better than gravity.  The senses are fooded without being over-loaded.  The circumstances often leave the performers absolutely no time to "think".  So the intrinsic awareness and natural competence is within..  The circumstances bring these states to life.
 

TRANSCENDENT STATES

Here we seem to enter cosmic territory.  The location of the genius is hard to determine or so it seems to the participant.   Like the dreams that give you a set of instructions for your future...like the strange entity that occasionally pops up to leave haunting but primary trailmarking clues...like the moments of rapture that often come when contemplating spiritual matters.  Ken Wilber, one of the most prolific writers in this century, says he had a lucid dream of the universe marching visually through time and space and now he has written twelve books describing that possibility from all the viewpoints he can assemble.
 

LUCID STATES

Writers, composers, poets, evangelists and patriots have all been in lucid states.  The material comes to them in a burst that is clear, well organized and appropriate to the audience.  Often this pure down-loading occurs in the morning hours for writers and composers.  Those who speak from the pulpit often marvel at videotapes of themselves and claim that they never intended to say such things nor do they remember doing so.  Channels and mediums express similar observations about remembering nothing of their transmissions to others.   Practically speaking these lucid states can save hours and hours of thinking, writing, and editing.
 

STATES OF EROS

The view is somewhat more difficult to research here but there are many accounts wherein lovers achieve rarified states of grace.  These may or may not be while copulating.  The essence of the connection in these situations seems to be one whereby each player merges into a common energy field with the other.   From there the ride may include cosmic scenery, full-bodied energy rushes, and a cascade of faces appearing on your partners head.   The sense of time disappearing and having landed in the center of time and space have also been reported.  The after effects can be very integrating and calming.

  Yes, there would be an entirely different take on these states by a Buddhist scholar and a farmer from Iowa.  Yes, we could argue about whether a state of grace can be induced by earthly hands or by definition must come totally from a place beyond our knowing.   And it is highly likely that our situation  and how it is arranged and our state of mind  and how it is predisposed and our physical comfort  and how it is established are highly instrumental in how available we could be for any of the more expanded states.  So don't dote on the terminology.  The need here is to get as many states of grace as we can lodged in our consciousness so that we can arrange to enjoy them as often as desired.