Christopher Alexander on Concentration (dharana)

“… thought experiments … There were serveral of us making these judgements, together. That always helped to make our judgments more reliable. With some effort, we could reach agreement of feeling on any given issue. But it is not so easy to do these experiments. Although having several people together helps, because one can then get confirmation, and unity of judgement, it is not something anyone can do.  The reason is that it takes quite a lot of concentration to keep on thinking about the real situation … one has constantly to realize that it is an experiment … and an experiment about the evolving design, which does not exist yet. That takes experience, and concentration. But it is possible, and it is tremendously useful. After doing it, one feels more certain about the design, and experience has shown often that this confidence is reliable. After such experiments, the real places which result do have – nearly always – the right feeling, a wonderful feeling. When done right, there is carry-over from the experiment to the real thing one builds.”

Christopher Alexander – The Nature of Order – Book 3: A Vision of a Living World