Feng Shui

How would you define the ancient system of Feng Shui? I know Feng Shui has undergone some beating in Hong Kong recently due to the high-profile Nina Wang estate battle in the law court but that basically could be pinned down to the greed of one man. Just like one swallow does not make a summer, neither does one maverick taint the whole Feng Shui industry.

The way I look at it, Feng Shui has nothing to do with any religion or religious practice. It's just simply an ancient Chinese system of aesthetics that developed from an understanding of the harmony and balance between the laws of astronomy and geography, and the natural energy that flows and synergies the two. As an inhabitant of this earth, we are all caught up in this infinite, ever changing relationship whether we like it not.

Feng Shui was first recognised by the Emperors in China as long ago as 6,000 years. Feng Shui is not a "new age occult or religious practice" like how some persons would portray it. Basically, it just stems from a lack of understanding of how this ancient system works. It's natural for anyone who lacks understanding of any subject to feel threatened and brush it away.

Just take acupuncture as a typical example. Even as close as 40 years ago, acupuncture was treated with disdain, even suspicion, in the West. But it had been widely used by the Chinese with remarkable success for thousands of years. Time has hacked away at the shield of conservatism and acupuncture is now firmly accepted as a branch of modern Western medicine. One of my friends, a medical doctor, has been running a successful acupuncture centre in Australia for several years. Acupuncture taps on improving the flow of a body's internal Qi energy.

So does Feng Shui, except that this practice is concerned with the flow of the external Qi energy around us. There are things around us that can and cannot be controlled. As an intelligent creature, Man has that very basic instinct to be a control freak. Anything that can be controlled will be controlled. And for those things that cannot be controlled, well, Man is still stubborn enough to try. Who knows, Man may yet succeed. But in the meantime through the millenium, Man understands that even uncontrollable things have positive features that can be tapped. Of course, Man learns to avoid the negative ones too. That's how it works with Feng Shui. The practitioner tries to harness to the best of his abilities the juxtapositioning of positive Qi energy that flows within the space and time continuum, within the heavens and the earth. 

My own understanding of this ancient system is still very shallow but day by day, I learn a bit more. And I've come to accept that yes, Feng Shui can indeed be very relevant to our lives. The practice of this ancient system is here to stay. I'm a living example of the natural force of Feng Shui but it's not for me to share my experience right now. Perhaps some other time when I'm more up to it.