‘PROCESS THROUGH UNCERTAINTY’ by Swamani Raut

Thesis Abstract:

It’s key to attain meaningful uncertainty. The design process consists of uncontrollable stages and it’s proposed models lack this unknown factor. The feeling of completion, the Aha! moment, occurs unintentionally. Designers face this in their process irrespective of their awareness of it. I’ve mapped out where it’s more likely to occur in process, the experimental, iterative and perfecting spectrums. And understanding the process of creating, for in that act lie the mysteries of the unknown.

We are all a part of a world full of uncertainties down to the very root of our existence. “If human beings must construct the world and the human design within that world, then what enduring meaning can there be in life? … We are meaning- seeking creatures. Biologically, our nervous systems are organized in such a way that the brain automatically clusters incoming stimuli into configurations. Meaning also provides a sense of mastery: feeling helpless and confused in the face of random, unpatterned events, we seek to order them and, in so doing, gain a sense of control over them. Even more important, meaning gives birth to values and, hence, to code of behavior: thus the answer to why questions (Why do I live?) supplies an answer to how questions (How do I live?). The capacity to tolerate uncertainty is a prerequisite. The powerful temptation to achieve certainty through embracing an ideological school and a tight therapeutic system is treacherous: such belief may block the uncertain and spontaneous encounter necessary for effective therapy. I must assume that knowing is better than not knowing, venturing than not venturing; and that magic and illusion, however rich, however alluring, ultimately weaken the human spirit.” Psychiatrist Irvin D. Yalom.