Have you ever had a mysterious attraction to a particular historical figure without really knowing why. . . until one day you find out something about their life and “bam!” it all makes sense? I recently had this experience with the twentieth century design pioneer Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983) .
I always knew “Bucky” was amazing. I learned about him as one of the early pioneers of the green design movement. He coined the term “spaceship earth.” His geodesic dome has been used in everything from hippie 
communes to the pavilion at the 1967 World’s Fair. And just about everyone I’ve ever met who considers him or herself a student of his work has been extremely creative, a bit quirky, and very unique in their perception of the world.
A couple of years ago, I even visited the tiny NYC apartment of a carpenter who has dedicated his life to applying Fuller’s design concept to his own work. Using various angles, mirrors, and colors, he had transformed this dinky, glorified-version-of-a-walk-in-closet into a spacious living space that activated a kind of creative clarity in all who entered.
It wasn’t until last week, however, when I saw a video from a series of lectures he gave in 1975 called “Everything I know,” that I really grokked why he’s had such an impact on so many people and why I’ve always been so compelled by him. In the lecture series, Bucky speaks very openly about his spiritual beliefs–God, life after death, love, and even The Lord’s Prayer. I knew that Bucky had some kind of spiritual life and had heard about his life-changing experience on the banks of Lake Michigan, when after contemplating suicide, he heard a voice saying “You do not belong to you. You belong to Universe.” But the true depth of his awakening and the powerfully committed and selfless pursuit of the truth that it engendered were not apparent to me until I saw him live.
To see him in action for yourself, check out this clip (6:21 minutes):
If you liked that and want to see more of his lectures from “Everything I Know” click here.
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In the seventh grade it dawned on me to ask “How does the universe work?” That question finely met Buckminster Fuller my junior year at college and it was then my aspiration to understand how the cosmos worked took off. Fuller offered not an answer but a way of knowing, an attitude of inquiry, and most importantly how it works may be best understood by building three-dimensional models. He was a structuralist and all structuralist are grounded in reality. We need to reground ourselves in reality before drawing conclusions. That was his genius and why he is still relevant today.
Hey Joel
I’d been feeling a mysterious ‘pull’ to learn more about Buckminster Fuller lately as well. I even met a gentleman at a conference recently who had translated every single of Bucky’s books into German in the 70’s.
You should also check out The forgotten Interviews. He talks abut how he gave up talking for a few years in order to find his own authentic language. He was also broke, so he pushed himself to design something that the world really needed. This strive for authenticity, as well as a creative tension, produced some miraculous ‘bright green’ designs.
An excerpt from “Fuller’s Earth” a sharing of his perspective with three children. Rachel is ten years old at the the time;
RACHEL: How do you think people will look back on your ideas and inspirations twenty years from now?
FULLER: I hope that they will find them useful. That’s all I ask. Because I’ve really been trying to find out how the universe is working, and how to help people to see things. I have an assumption that if we survive this great crisis we’re going through right now – the atomic war is a great threat – then people will be pleased that I did what I did.
When I started fifty-two years ago, I tried to depersonalize what I did. I tried to operate anonymously. But by doing that attracted even more attention to myself, because people were trying to find out who was doing those things. So I let myself be visible. But I don’t do anything for me. I don’t do anything because I want to be important or known. Everything is done because it needs to be done for humanity.
As far as I’m concerned, I didn’t invent my mind. I didn’t invent me. And I’m absolutely overwhelmed by God. I have absolute faith in the Greater Intellect operating. I’m just trying to be a medium for that Intellect. I don’t care if after twenty years people discover God and not me. In fact, that would really be something.
You see, we are here in Universe for our minds, not our muscle. Just look at the eruption of Mount Saint Helens. There was more physical power expressed there in one second than has been expressed than by all the human muscles throughout all humanity’s existence. But man can invent a camera and capture the whole thing.
Mind discovers relationships. That’s why we are here in Universe. To discover relationships. To solve problems. And the answers are already here if we can just get ourselves out of the way.
I hope that I have discovered a few relationships that will help humanity.
Wow, Kim–that’s amazingly profound. Thanks for posting this!