Feng shui, is it a curse or a blessing?

Feng shui, is it a curse or a blessing?

JAKARTA (JP): If a lifetime's saving is put into buying a home
then it better be the best. And to make sure that it really is
the best buy, more and more people consult a feng shui master
today.

Feng shui is the art of geomancy, that literally means winds
and waters and is widely practiced in many parts of the East. As
modern society rediscovers traditional medicine, scientists and
medical researchers continue to broaden their focus by
considering the effect of the environment on individual health
and well being, feng shui too thrives, just like the lively
property market itself.

Much of feng shui is the understanding of the invisible energy
chi that permeates all living things. And it is thought wise to
consider the force and nature of invisible currents in order to
harmonize and bring into balance not only all the time spent in a
home, but in life too.

The entire field of design and house building is radically
changed by studies showing that potentially toxic elements are
used in many common building materials. Background radiation
emitted by high-tension wires, radar guns, or other sources,
documented as a contributing cause of some cancers, is now a
serious concern. Investigations into the effects of color and
light on human behavior have helped many interior designers
create more harmonious environments for home and workplace.

According to feng shui masters, buying a flat, house or an
office with good feng shui has many benefits, including the
promise of perpetual peace and prosperity. In ancient times, when
people wanted to buy a piece of land to build a town or village,
learned men were consulted. It dates back to more than 4,000
years, when Kuo Po first mentioned feng shui in a book of rites
in 300 AD. In ancient times in Asia masters of the art of
placement were employed to locate the most auspicious site for
the tomb of a much-loved departed soul.

In keeping with the philosophy of integrating the outside
world and our internal environment, the feng shui master felt
responsible for locating a site perfectly situated between
mountain ranges, near the bend of a river, or in a valley where
the ancestral spirits could be in harmony with heaven and earth.
The idea was to build a tomb there and to bless it to enhance the
family's good fortune by the effect on future generations of the
properly cared for spirit.

"Indigenous people all over the world have always known that
we are not separate from our planet, our home, or one another,"
says William Spear, Asian studies teacher in north America who
has taught the principles of feng shui all over the world for
more than two decades.

Spear says in his book Feng Shui Made Easy that because we are
not separate from our environment, our face and our house are
closely related. The front door to the face is the mouth and the
face reveals as much about a person's destiny through feng shui
as a good floor plan of the house.

Based on the principles of unity and observation of the
timeless perfect order in the universe, feng shui is said to
bring together the external and internal environments by creating
balanced, peaceful dwelling places whose occupants can bask in
much health and happiness.

Modern masters have even adapted feng shui to modern times by
replacing mountains with high rise buildings and rivers with
roads as reference points. One way of finding out whether
happiness awaits one in a new home is to first take a new born
baby and if there is much crying then the feng shui of the place
is not good.

A home painted in yellow causes family members to fall sick
often and if after romance, make sure that there are always fresh
flowers in the house. Rice and sandalwood incense is said to shoo
away ghosts and bad spirits from a house and those wanting
children should hang up metal wind chimes in the bedroom to
dilute negative earth energies.

Since a swimming pool plays a big role in creating good feng
shui its location in the house is as important as its maintenance
and ask any feng shui master and you will be told that it is
never a good idea to have the wealth area in the kitchen. Good
luck. -- Mehru Jaffer