Indonesia's crisis in 'feng shui' vision
By Mauro Rahardjo
BANDUNG (JP): What is the relationship between the recent Indonesian economic crisis and Feng Shui?
Feng Shui, is not associated with the superstitious or mystical belief, but rather a classical Chinese science, which has developed and spread in many countries, including Indonesia. Many predictions from various points of view have been posed, and Feng Shui is just another way of contributing to our understanding of what is happening.
Fifty three years ago, at 10:10 am, Aug. 17, 1945, the independence of Indonesia was proclaimed by duo Soekarno-Hatta. This auspicious date is considered the birth date of a country, the Republic of Indonesia. The country is now again in a state of crisis following similar events to those that hit the state in 1965. How would Feng Shui interpret this? What efforts are to be made in order to survive maximally the worst possible scenario.
The theory hinges on five elements: metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. Although named after very common tangible substances; these elements should not be interpreted in the narrow sense of their physical characteristics. Rather, they should be regarded as symbols of five fundamental forces or types of energy which are in turn governed by the cycles of "birth" and "destruction".
The cycle of birth: metal generates water; water nourishes wood; wood generates fire; fire produces earth and earth completes the cycle by generating metal. This is the cycle of harmony, the cycle of the mother and child relationship.
The cycle of destruction: metal suppresses and cuts wood; wood conquers earth; earth stops the flow of water; water puts out fire; and fire melts metal. The five elements are capable of dynamic interactions which are the force of life, activity and change in the universe. By thoroughly understanding the rules governing the relationship between the five elements, we get the Tao, of the universe. All matters, material or abstract, can be explained in this manner.
When one element is not sufficiently nourished, then disharmony and imbalance occur. For example if wood lacks water, it will die. Similarly in Indonesia these basic elements are not in balance and hence things are getting worse. Understanding and interpreting what is going on, we have first to associate each element with factors which have affected or are affecting the crisis.
Each element brings its own characteristics and has associations with certain factors or phenomena. For example fire is associated with politics, because it fluctuates, it must burn and should be maintained. Earth is associated to the country, the fatherland, where people live and resources are found. Metal can be strong or subtle, it can be rigid or flexible; this element can be associated to government and government-actions; trust and peoples belief in the government is the top priority.
Water is a flowing substance, this is associated to the monetary condition; it is money which flows from one to another point. And at the end, wood is something that grows and is therefore closely related to the economy. The economy of a country needs to grow and be nourished in order to be strong.
Based on the above interpretation therefore, we can identify that if water (money) is lacking and not flowing, then the wood (economy) will suffer. Insufficient wood may cause the fire (politics) to die down or explode. If the fire is not healthy it will effect the earth (country) element and in turn will cause the metal (government actions) to become imbalanced and disproportionally placed.
Many incidents and events can be explained in this cycle of birth (principle of harmony). We possibly "first" realized that there was a monetary crisis; but then in turn the monetary crisis started to effect the economy, and political turmoil resulted. This later affected actions by government which caused uncertainty and a decline in the people's belief in the government. The problem is that we may never know which element suffers first.
The method of Eight-Characters, known as the Pillar of Destiny is regarded as a Feng Shui method for predicting accurately. The uniqueness of this fascinating system is in its presentation, where it requires the four components of a person's birth data; that is year, month, day and hour, and then translates the basic elements associated to the birth data. The following is an attempt to interpret the relationship between these elements and the R.I. birth-date in relation to why the crisis occurred.
Table A: RI's birth-date on Aug. 17, 1945 at 10:00 am
YEAR MONTH DAY HOUR
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Heavenly stem -wood +wood +earth -fire
Earthly branch -metal +metal -fire +fire
In the above table-A, the self-element of R.I is earth. Since the country was born in summer where the Fire element is at its full strength, hence the earth is produced. The self-element is then Strong fire. By indicating "strong" it means that it was excessive. The earth element is supported by fire in the day and hour columns, these fire elements strengthen earth. The excessive energy of earth needs to be released. Therefore it is important to note that when there are elements which appear to make the earth energy excessive, it will not be good for Indonesia. Feng Shui's role is to correct the imbalance. Now take a look at Table-B.
Table B: Pillars of Destiny of RI's birthrate
9-18 19-28 20-38 39-48 49-58
years years years years years
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Heavenly stem -wood +fire -fire -earth -earth
Earthly branch -metal +earth +earth +water -earth
The 1965 and 1998 fall occurred in the period 19-28 years and 49-58 years. In 1965 a large fire produced a large amount of earth, and hence there was excessive earth energy. Whereas in 1998 there is small earth and another small earth, which again causes earth energy, the self element of the country, is excessively strong. The country falls into imbalance and disharmony again.
The water element is an element destroyed by the country self- element, strong Earth. In Feng Shui, the element which is controlled by the self elements is the symbol of wealth. This water element appears in period 39-48 years; however it must be noted that during that period, the big water is in the same column. This is an indication that the wealth is not pure in reality. Only small numbers of people have had the luck. All of that wealth was (only) absorbed by a minority of people.
Dr. Mauro Rahardjo Feng Shui consultant, currently, Director of the Research Institute at Parahyangan Catholic University.