"Warum die Bäume nicht in den Himmel wachsen:
Abstract
Gilbert Keith Chesterton and Hugo Kükelhaus Two thinkers very different in terms of background and areas of activity are compared in this essay: on the one hand, the English poet, journalist, theologian, essayist, novelist and writer of detective stories, Gilbert Keith Chesterton, on the other hand Hugo Kükelhaus (1900-1984), the German architect, artist, environmental philosopher and biologist. And yet, as far as their thought and methods are concerned, there are certain conspicuous parallels. The central concern of both has been to make something visible and tangible that nobody seems to notice because of its universal presence, in everyday life, under our very noses. While Chesterton again and again tried to teach the greenness of grass, Kükelhaus has drawn our attention to the life of the senses, to our breathing, smelling, hearing, seeing and touching. Both authors try to wake us up to what is there, in us and the world of phenomena. Interestingly, both suggest similar techniques and activities. In order to produce freshness and strangeness that may shed new light on the world of routine they both give the advice to invert ones head, to look through one's legs. While Chesterton's thought and imagery have a theological source, Kükelhaus, at least in his later works, resorts to physiological explanations in order to reappraise sensory experience in architecture, education and everyday life. Both Chesterton and Kükelhaus return to childhood experience, where they find the magical and secret qualities that underly all existence. Chesterton's view of true religion sums up their attitudes: true religion tries to make people not merely “admit the truth, but see, smell, handle, hear, and devour the truth.”