And they change us in return. Our love and generosity, meanness and self-centeredness, egotism and compassion, are reflected back to us and others as we shape our homes, regardless of how small or how grand our actions. The values we unavoidably impart to our surroundings affect our lives more powerfully than any other aspect of the places we inhabit. Though few architects would admit it, how we make and use our homes and other buildings is a spiritual act that reverberates throughout our lives. Such a home has fullness, and a sense of peace and rightness, that fills our hearts whenever we enter it.
Every region has a different climate, geography, and community of living things.
Out of these patterns emerge the unique spirit of each place, and, as well, a particular kind of human being and human community. Our homes connect us to or isolate us from this spirit of place. The heart of a Persian garden home is its fountain, source of the life-giving water so precious in the desert. As an example of a building's ability to draw us deeply into the forces of nature, consider the following story. A famous Japanese tea master was given a piece of land with an outstanding view of the Inland Sea.