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Feng Shui (pronounced "phung schwee" and meaning
literally "wind water") is part of an
ancient Chinese philosophy of nature. Feng shui
is often identified as a form of geomancy,
divination by geographic features, but it is
mainly concerned with understanding the
relationships between nature and ourselves so
that we might live in harmony within our
environment.
Feng shui is related to
the very sensible notion that living with
rather than against nature benefits both
humans and our environment. It is also
related to the equally sensible notion that our
lives are deeply affected by our physical and
emotional environs. If we surround ourselves
with symbols of death, contempt and indifference
toward life and nature, with noise and various
forms of ugliness, we will corrupt ourselves in
the process. If we surround ourselves with
beauty, gentleness, kindness, sympathy, music
and various expressions of the sweetness of
life, we ennoble ourselves as well as our
environment.
Alleged masters of feng
shui, those who understand the five elements and
the two energies such as chi and sha (hard
energy, the opposite of chi), are supposed to be
able to detect metaphysical energies and give
directions for their optimal flow. Feng shui has
become a kind of architectural acupuncture:
wizards and magi insert themselves into
buildings or landscapes and use their
metaphysical sensors to detect the flow of good
and bad "energy." These masters for hire declare
where bathrooms should go, which way doorways
should face, where mirrors should hang, which
room needs green plants and which one needs red
flowers, which direction the head of the bed
should face, etc. They decide these things on
the basis of their feel for the flow of chi,
electromagnetic fields or whatever other form of
energy the client will worry about. (If you and
your lover are having trouble in the bedroom,
call a feng shui master. You probably need to
move a few things around to get the bedroom chi
flowing properly. Only a person with special
metaphysical sensors, however, can tell what
really needs to be done.) |
