Feng Shui: Windbreak-Watercourse Earth Science
Feng shui is a highly refined and ancient art which guides individuals, families, and businesses to the optimum use and enhancement of a specific location.
While the words “feng shui” translate literally from Chinese as "wind-water", the term "windbreak-watercourse earth science" more fully expresses the idea of humans attempting to deal with the movements of important and powerful environmental elements. While feng shui deals with much more than wind and water, these terms also poetically characterize the feeling and even the way of movement of natural energy, or Chi, found in all of nature.
Early records show that feng shui was in use at least 2,400 years ago as an aspect of a highly developed ancient astrological system. The body of knowledge which the shaman of the nomadic tribes in ancient China accumulated offered insight into the amount and quality of chi affecting a given site through the seasons.
Starting with simple and seemingly obvious considerations like whether a site is open or protected, calm or windy, shady or sunny, an assessment could be made of a site’s suitability. This expanded to assessment of the effects on local "chi quality" of major physical features like mountain ranges and oceans, the movement of time through the seasons of the year, and, ultimately, even the positions of the planets. In other words, all things express chi, and feng shui can determine the quality and type inherent in a given site while offering ways to increase or modify that chi to suit the purpose at hand.
A Proper Place for Every Thing and Every Function
The feng shui system is based on the idea that humans are just one part of a supportive and harmonious system. The original state of the environment was viewed the primary guide to the proper uses of a particular site. The impact of changes to that site or to the natural energies bearing on that site were weighed very carefully, so that adjustments or corrections could be made to avoid setting up a local energetic backlash. Put another way, the feeling of human connection to the being or energy of the environment meant that harming the environment was equal to harming oneself or one’s clan.
This must be seen as different from the modern requirement of reshaping or recreating the environment to support human needs and goals. In modern times, much of the environment is forced to bear human actions or purposes regardless of that place’s natural inclinations, with the result that feng shui must be used to rebalance and revitalize such environments.
Indeed, extreme environmental alterations such as the great canals and the Great Wall in China were considered by some feng shui adepts to be assaults on the earth, certain to yield dire consequences. In modern times, examples of such assaults and consequences abound: assaults like giant strip mines and giant hydroelectric dams with their consequences of species and habitat destruction and myriad other breaks in the natural expression and movement of the earth's Chi. In fact, a growing awareness of the impact these types of changes have on the human body and on the body of the entire earth has sparked interest in feng shui. The growth of feng shui is a refinement or natural extension of the modern ecology movement.
The feng shui system assumes that all life forms, minerals, and energetic forces such as wind and sun, play a significant role in determining the quality of life. Feng shui measures and calibrates the power of the effective force of all elements involved or impacting a situation - including geographical features and buildings, colors and shapes, and even the effects that culture and symbolism have on the ultimate expression of chi in that situation.
Most anyone knows that keeping a plant beside the window instead of inside the closet would be the "right feng shui" for supporting that plant to play its part of air-cleaning and human spirit-lifting. Determining the right function of a room or the right placement of a house may be quite a bit more complicated, but it comes down to essentially the same type of practical, results-based evaluation.
Feng shui tools and the feng shui perspective and can actually simplify the analysis of the myriad elements in the environment so that healthful and supportive elements are magnified while unhealthful and counterproductive elements and energies are minimized.
The function of feng shui and the feng shui adept is to keep in mind ALL forces and to deal with the full implication or meaning of any given element within a site. The adept must then, with great sensitivity and the tools of feng shui, determine how or if the intended use of a site will be harmonious with the forces naturally at play on that site.
Clicking this link will open a larger image of the office picture.
Clicking this link will open a larger image of the office picture in a new window.
You can put text in between your graphics in the normal fashion - just don't forget to put the line breaks in where you want them using the br command.
Images can be centered in exactly the same fashion as anything else:
Feng shui is a highly refined and ancient art which guides individuals, families, and businesses to the optimum use and enhancement of a specific location.
While the words “feng shui” translate literally from Chinese as "wind-water", the term "windbreak-watercourse earth science" more fully expresses the idea of humans attempting to deal with the movements of important and powerful environmental elements. While feng shui deals with much more than wind and water, these terms also poetically characterize the feeling and even the way of movement of natural energy, or Chi, found in all of nature.
Early records show that feng shui was in use at least 2,400 years ago as an aspect of a highly developed ancient astrological system. The body of knowledge which the shaman of the nomadic tribes in ancient China accumulated offered insight into the amount and quality of chi affecting a given site through the seasons.
Starting with simple and seemingly obvious considerations like whether a site is open or protected, calm or windy, shady or sunny, an assessment could be made of a site’s suitability. This expanded to assessment of the effects on local "chi quality" of major physical features like mountain ranges and oceans, the movement of time through the seasons of the year, and, ultimately, even the positions of the planets. In other words, all things express chi, and feng shui can determine the quality and type inherent in a given site while offering ways to increase or modify that chi to suit the purpose at hand.
A Proper Place for Every Thing and Every Function
The feng shui system is based on the idea that humans are just one part of a supportive and harmonious system. The original state of the environment was viewed the primary guide to the proper uses of a particular site. The impact of changes to that site or to the natural energies bearing on that site were weighed very carefully, so that adjustments or corrections could be made to avoid setting up a local energetic backlash. Put another way, the feeling of human connection to the being or energy of the environment meant that harming the environment was equal to harming oneself or one’s clan.
This must be seen as different from the modern requirement of reshaping or recreating the environment to support human needs and goals. In modern times, much of the environment is forced to bear human actions or purposes regardless of that place’s natural inclinations, with the result that feng shui must be used to rebalance and revitalize such environments.
Indeed, extreme environmental alterations such as the great canals and the Great Wall in China were considered by some feng shui adepts to be assaults on the earth, certain to yield dire consequences. In modern times, examples of such assaults and consequences abound: assaults like giant strip mines and giant hydroelectric dams with their consequences of species and habitat destruction and myriad other breaks in the natural expression and movement of the earth's Chi. In fact, a growing awareness of the impact these types of changes have on the human body and on the body of the entire earth has sparked interest in feng shui. The growth of feng shui is a refinement or natural extension of the modern ecology movement.
The feng shui system assumes that all life forms, minerals, and energetic forces such as wind and sun, play a significant role in determining the quality of life. Feng shui measures and calibrates the power of the effective force of all elements involved or impacting a situation - including geographical features and buildings, colors and shapes, and even the effects that culture and symbolism have on the ultimate expression of chi in that situation.
Most anyone knows that keeping a plant beside the window instead of inside the closet would be the "right feng shui" for supporting that plant to play its part of air-cleaning and human spirit-lifting. Determining the right function of a room or the right placement of a house may be quite a bit more complicated, but it comes down to essentially the same type of practical, results-based evaluation.
Feng shui tools and the feng shui perspective and can actually simplify the analysis of the myriad elements in the environment so that healthful and supportive elements are magnified while unhealthful and counterproductive elements and energies are minimized.
The function of feng shui and the feng shui adept is to keep in mind ALL forces and to deal with the full implication or meaning of any given element within a site. The adept must then, with great sensitivity and the tools of feng shui, determine how or if the intended use of a site will be harmonious with the forces naturally at play on that site.
Clicking this link will open a larger image of the office picture.
Clicking this link will open a larger image of the office picture in a new window.
You can put text in between your graphics in the normal fashion - just don't forget to put the line breaks in where you want them using the br command.
Images can be centered in exactly the same fashion as anything else:
On The Road: Articles and Images for Understanding the Meaning and Development of Feng Shui
Even visually, the juxtaposition of yin and yang moves chi.
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