Christopher Alexander postulated that centers and the field of centers they create are the building blocks from which wholeness is made. However, he further argued that geometry alone is not sufficient, and that color is the way wholeness comes to life. Inner light is the color quality which arises as something comes to life, and occurs almost everywhere in nature. .

Christopher Alexander recognized the importance of the geometry of centers and for years he was looking for the common structural features among buildings, paintings, streets, carpets, doors, windows, etc. which have "life" and "wholeness". He identified fifteen structural features which appear again and again in things which have life, and concluded that these are the ways in which centers can help each other in space. The fifteen fundamental properties act as a glue in creating a unified and connected whole.

Christoper Alexander defined and described wholeness as an idea to view and shape space, and searched for ways to formulate and represent wholeness in precise terms, as a structure. He idenfied the entities with 'strength' give structure to what is defined as wholeness. These entites, the building blocks of wholeness, are the Centers; each center exists because it gets its life form other centers. He explored and proposed ways in which centers become living and can be built from other centers; a step by step process, by resursively and gradually introducing other centers to intensify the field effect and create the center's life.