Feng
Shui Demystified
by
Manu Butterworth
There
is little mystical or esoteric about classical feng shui.
In many cases it confirms our own instinctive ideas about
what makes a happy and productive environment. Feng Shui
builds on this intuition through the understanding of sound
principles, allowing us to maximize beneficial energy flow,
ideally in a way that is harmonious with our own unique
culture and beliefs.
The
Taoists' elegant yet scientific approach to looking at nature
allowed them to formulate some profoundly rational principles.
One major principle we work with in feng shui is the concept
of sheng chi and sha chi. The best way that sheng chi can
be translated is that it embodies everything that has to
do with vital life force. This concept when carried out
into modern living involves more than just rearranging our
physical space, it leads us to make choices to increase
the vitality in our lives, like using natural building materials,
and bringing in good quality water, air, and light sources
because they're more energizing to us as human beings. More
and more in this wonderful age of technology we are disconnecting
ourselves from nature; one thing we love to do in feng shui
is reconnect with what is natural to us.
The
opposite of sheng chi is called sha chi, and its qualities
are more aggressive and turbulent. I much prefer putting
this concept into Western language and use words like 'uncomfortable'
or even 'more negative physically or psychologically' to
better describe this energy-'physically negative' meaning
energy that is either moving too fast, like living next
to a highway, or moving too slowly, like an environmental
swamp, and 'psychologically negative' could refer to an
example as simple as the vibrational disturbances that we
experience by living next to a noisy neighbor. These descriptions
serve us much better than 'the secret arrows' that the Chinese
would use to describe this type of chi because it brings
these concepts into our culture and our language. It is
always very interesting to look at what Chinese people are
doing in regards to feng shui and then to look at the underlying
principle and translate it into our aesthetic and cultural
background.
One
essential job of the feng shui practitioner is to maximize
sheng chi and minimize sha chi. This does not need to involve
the use of Chinese artifacts unless of course you are Chinese
or they match the décor of your home. We work with these
principles so they can be expressed in ways that fit the
lives of people and their environments rather than asking
people to adopt concepts or superstitions that do not feel
right to them.
William
Spear exemplifies this in his best selling book Feng Shui
Made Easy,
'A
highly cultured lady lived in a beautiful Victorian home
filled with fine period furnishings. A friend informed
her that her front door was being bombarded by negative
forces known as cutting chi because she lived at the top
of a T junction. Eager to correct the problem she hung
a Chinese bagua mirror on her front door, at her friend's
instruction. A few weeks later, very perturbed and not
at all convinced that the mirror was having any effect,
she sought out the advice of an intuitive feng shui consultant.
Upon seeing the mirror, the consultant asked her why she
had placed it there. "Well, I have cutting chi coming
right in my front door," she replied. "Yes, I can see
that," he responded, "but what has happened since you
placed it there?" The woman confessed, "Well, to be perfectly
honest with you, the only thing that I 've noticed is
that everyone who comes now asks, "What is that thing
doing here?" The consultant then noted how completely
out of character this cure was for the woman. He advised
her to remove the mirror and in its place put a shiny,
brass door knocker, convex and polished, which would harmonize
with and protect her lovely home. The lady was delighted
at the elegant new fixture on her front door, a cure that
matched her lifestyle and resonated in her world.'
"All healing forces must be within, not without!
The applications from without are to create within a coordinating
mental and spiritual force."
-Edgar Cayce
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