feng shui

[solidred]

Well, I daresay the Chinese physician I see every few weeks isn't licensed with a western medical qualification. His pills cost me a small fortune. The prescriptions are written out in Mandarin (I guess). The whole conception of Chinese medicine's gobbledegook to me.
But y'know what? His mysterious pills completely eradicate my rosacea - a skin condition - which I was horribly self-conscious about for years, whereas the well-tested, scientifically 'proven' antibiotics prescribed by my local free health service consistently failed to work.

[Smitharc]

I find it unfortunate that there seems to have been a surrender on the part of the Feng Shui architect. If he/she is reading this I think he/she should be reminded that there will always be negativity towards the unknown, especially when it has inextricable links to mysticism. Nevertheless if someone, such as yourself, can teach or shed light on some aspect of such an unknown subject I believe it is their responsibilty to do so regardless of the negativity that will amount. Afterall, you did in your first post offer to shed light on the matter, which suggests that you believe it is possible to do so. So do it.

[liljana]

Well, I don't have any experience with houses designed according feng shui, but some ten - twelve years ago I had a friend who's parents were elated by the Falling water house and when decided to build a house they bought an allotment with a two little intersecting streams. A radiestesist who was checking the place told them strictly they must not build and live there. Nevertheless the house above the streams was constructed, since, as the most of us, they didn't give much credit on the althernative (yet speculative) scientist who was ruining their plan, dream. After two years living in the house both parents and the grandmother went sick and died in a same year. ... Excuse me for this too drastic example... I just want to say not to discard easilly cognizances that a maybe more empiric than scientific. Only few months ago a client of mine was consulting a radiestesist too and when I protest about the position of the bed in one of the rooms, he said, "you know it's better to live unaesthetic than to die aesthetic"..., that actually reminded me on the tragedy..., I don't know maybe consulting this kind of scientist should become a practise and induct their opinion as an additional criterion.

[solidred]

And empirical technique shouldn't be hastily ignored when it comes from thousands' of years'-worth of high civilization.

[ArchiMotion]

Frequently designers elaborate architectural designs with no concern for the natural human environment relationships that exist at this more organic level that Wright sought to express and may be difficult to place into words into a FFF relationship, but nonetheless exists. We are connected to our environment in ways we do not understand. Now, by placing objects in relation to each other, to us, to the environment and to the principles of nature, we certainly will have a more balanced, harmonious design in which there are no conflicting forces. Thus, points of references have symbolic and metabolic meaning and significance, with respect to the human organisms inhabiting them. There are the metaphysical aspects of course, but these are difficult to measure by the empirical western world view methods. Thus, ideas as this have a more difficult time to gain acceptance. Particularly when they are based on mysticism or ideas difficult to prove. Simply to say, "those ladies died because they did not follow the advice", or, "the relationship was healed by creating harmony in the environment" is simply too drastic. This is delving into the realm of superstition.

Now, if we order our space according to the elements of earth, water, wind, fire, we have in essence more harmony and balance in our design, thus restoring peace and tranquility, essential for mental well being. If we simply design a modern box with no consideration for these elements, we end up with a steryl space prone to drive one to boredom and a mechanized typed of living attitude, in which man becomes nothing more then a machine occupying physical space. Rather, if we see man and nature as one, we think of ways to design balance, and a sense of connectivity with nature in the same. Thus, by seeking out the positive and negative points of our space, we can find optimal locations for pieces of furniture, for our bed, our living room......the only problem becomes how to measure the positive and negative energy flows in the space. This requires a heightened sense of perception certainly and one that delves into the mystic. If we could have such an instrument to measure the vibrations of the space, I think the job would be much easier. But as far as I know no such instrument exists, and this is mystical thinking at best.

[csintexas]

Well medicine is not exactly the same thing, There are many compounds produced by nature, most are unknown by western medicine. That doesn't mean they are all invalid but there has to be clear evidence and not anecdotal connections.

Now it could be Feng Shui is based on many practical observations, I just haven't seen any evidence of that here so far.

[djswan]

The practice of good old fashioned practical observations. Is that the secret?

Is there belts or something to be awarded if you get better at this stuff?

[birgco]

Practical observation eh??
Oh boy ...........that reminds me of another story.........

The Seed

An emperor in the Far East was growing old and knew it was time to choose his successor. Instead of choosing one of his assistants or his children, he decided to do something different. He called the young people of the kingdom together one day.

He said, "It is time for me to step down and choose the next emperor. I have decided to choose one of you." The children were shocked, but the emperor continued. "I am going to give each one of you a seed today - one very special seed. I want you to plant the seed, water it, and come back here one year from today with what you have grown from this one seed. I will then judge the plants that you bring, and the one I choose will be the next emperor."

One boy, named Ling, was there that day and he, like the others, received a seed. He went home and excitedly, told his mother the story. She helped him get a pot and planting soil, and he planted the seed and watered it, carefully. Everyday, he would water it and watch to see if it had grown.

After about three weeks, some of the other youths began to talk about their seeds and the plants that were beginning to grow. Ling kept checking his seed, but nothing ever grew. Three weeks, four weeks, five weeks went by, still nothing. By now, others were talking about their plants, but Ling didn't have a plant and he felt like a failure.

Six months went by--still nothing in Ling's pot. He just knew he had killed his seed. Everyone else had trees and tall plants, but he had nothing. Ling didn't say anything to his friends, however. He just kept waiting for his seed to grow.

A year finally went by and all the youths of the kingdom brought their plants to the emperor for inspection. Ling told his mother that he wasn't going to take an empty pot. But his mother asked him to be honest about what happened. Ling felt sick to his stomach, but he knew his mother was right. He took his empty pot to the palace. When Ling arrived, he was amazed at the variety of plants grown by the other youths. They were beautiful--in all shapes and sizes. Ling put his empty pot on the floor and many of the other children laughed at him. A few felt sorry for him and just said, "Hey, nice try."

When the emperor arrived, he surveyed the room and greeted the young people. Ling just tried to hide in the back. "My, what great plants, trees, and flowers you have grown," said the emperor. "Today one of you will be appointed the next emperor!"


All of a sudden, the emperor spotted Ling at the back of the room with his empty pot. He ordered his guards to bring him to the front. Ling was terrified. He thought, "The emperor knows I'm a failure! Maybe he will have me killed!" When Ling got to the front, the Emperor asked his name. "My name is Ling," he replied. All the kids were laughing and making fun of him.

The emperor asked everyone to quiet down. He looked at Ling, and then announced to the crowd, "Behold your new emperor! His name is Ling!" Ling couldn't believe it. Ling couldn't even grow his seed. How could he be the new emperor?

Then the emperor said, "One year ago today, I gave everyone here a seed.
I told you to take the seed, plant it, water it, and bring it back to me today. But I gave you all boiled seeds that would not grow. All of you, except Ling, have brought me trees and plants and flowers.

When you found that the seed would not grow, you substituted another seed for the one I gave you. Ling was the only one with the courage and honesty to bring me a pot with my seed in it. Therefore, he is the one who will be the new emperor!"

If you plant honesty, you will reap trust.

If you plant goodness, you will reap friends.

If you plant humility, you will reap greatness.

If you plant perseverance, you will reap victory.

If you plant consideration, you will reap harmony.

If you plant hard work, you will reap success.

If you plant forgiveness, you will reap reconciliation.

If you plant faith, you will reap miracles.

Two thousand years ago someone else told the same story with fewer words, "What you sow, so shall you reap". If you know who said this, nothing else needs to be said.

[djswan]

The emperor lied and Ling is a big ZERO.

Practical observation.

[ArchiMotion]

Way to go, direct and to the point. Hit 'em where it hurts.

No use in having sophisticated design theories and ideas based on mystic ideas that are so complex that nobody can understand them, much less prove them empirically. Such ideas are prone to failure when analyzed under the eyes of objectivity. This is why we have ideas such as Feng Shui being more in the realm of metaphysical, abstract, with superstitious applications such as a tree being able to regenerate in two days. But really, maybe someone got that wrong. The tree was only watered. Nobody said it regenerated in two days. Only the person watering it did. But, just like alternative medicine, it is the "placebo effect". If you do something which you believe will help you feel better, 90% of the time you will feel better. No medicine, no genuine cure needed. Our minds are powerful forces, and no use aligning the environment if our minds simply do not "connect". Now, if we re-align our environment in such as way that the positive and negative perceived forces within us are stabilized by our interaction with our perceived environment, then our internal governing forces will create also stability. So it is not the environment itself that must be stabilized and aligned, but it is the effect that the environment is having on aligning our internal forces. This is where the error stems with Feng Shui. Every attempt is made to align the environment with itself, and thus enable human alignment with the same. So the physical becomes the key environmental ingredient needed to align the metaphysical part of the mind. This makes sense to the degree that we are environmentally conditioned and dependent. But we are not really re-aligning the environment itself. We are only applying principals of environmental alignment which help our internal metaphysical mind to re-align. So it is a matter of perception, not of actual environmentally correct decisions. There is thus no perfect alignment in the material world. This is the problem with Feng Shui. It is rather the "perceived alignment" of the environment, as absorbed by our senses, that gives us also a feeling of internal alignment, thus bringing the benefits. Thus, nice music, waterfalls, avoiding dark places, nice trees, environmental balance, properly placing objects to avoid situations of mental tension...it boils down more to common sense then to some mystic value of "re-aligning the environment around us to the positive and negative forces of nature."

[SDR]

There is much sense in what you say. I certainly agree that there is a placebo effect (ironically, proven many times by scientific means !) and that state of mind is far more important in our dealings than is generally acknowledged.

On the other hand, there are factual problems and mechanical solutions to those problems. Acid raid was real, and (in a program begun during the prior Bush administration) was reduced by 50% through a variety of means (at 10% of the cost, forecast by some). Health matters seem to be a blend of both mechanics and spirit.

I believe in a both/and rather than an either/or description of the universe. There is the mechanism, described and predicted by physics, and there is the unseen and (probably) unknowable realm of the heart and the spirit -- often a matter of our own psychology, perhaps. . .


SDR

[Madimel]

Ironically, my thesis topic in Graduate School was on superstitions and rituals in architecture. During my research with a Feng shui consultant, I witnessed many compelling cases. But of which none could be scientificaly proven. As it was explained to me, Feng Shui is a philosophy of aligning the individual to the environment to reach balance. Just as it is with Eastern Medicine, the goal is to make the body stronger to fight the ailment and not to introduce medicine to fight it. Feng Shui was never intended to make any individual weathly, find love or any other personal gain.

[arc3d]

Well, it's hard to belive that Fengshui get so many's attention and interests. Fengshui is one kinds of china culture which can not explain with science, it is developed from human's practice. Actually, there are 2 parts about fengshui, in chinese we call it: Yangzhai and Yinzhai. Yang is the alive people's houses, Yin is the dead people's grave, they can not be departed... But i don't trust it fully, just a dubitant. For there are many mysterious things happened about it. Maybe we can not think it as fetish, it is just one interested culture.

[fengshuiarch]

Dear Madimel,

[csintexas]

No doubt you can tell when a tree needs water and then see the difference after it gets that water.