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Has anyone anything to say about Feng Shui (pronounced fUng shway)?
Sorry, even on House and Garden channel people are mispronouncing this. I think I've got the right pronunciation above.
I have heard in China that even some skyscrapers have odd angled doors for feng shui reasons. I like round mirrors. I notice that more seem to be selling these days.
Some feng shui books seem more informative and authentic than others. Can anyone recommend a good authoritative book? In other books there are statements like - good feng shui is just following good interior design principles. I'm not sure that's right.
Also, people have lucky figurines like the beckoning Japanese cat or Ganesha. The thing about Ganesha is, I believe, that a priest must bless it and so cause the spirit of Ganesha to dwell within the statue. I once visited a museum and saw a statue of Buddha. The Dali Lama had blessed the statue and it was thought that the spirit of Buddha lived within the statue. This kind of thing could send the fundamentalists berserk, but good energy is good energy.
I wonder if interior design companies keep a feng shui person on hand, or send someone to a course?
I know someone who has a fairly good understanding of feng shui, but even he will admit that there is much, much more to it than interior design. What he implies is that feng shui is more effective when personal characteristics are also incorporated -- such as information about your own birth, your family, your lineage, family burial grounds, etc. A specific arrangement would work for one but not the other.
Some basic feng shui principles do pertain to sensible interior design. For example, it is not "healthy" to sleep right under a beam; that a house should not have angular interior or have too little or too much sunshine. Another example, sometimes when tenants report certain "unpleasantness" in their residence, a special mirror might be hung over their doorway to fend off the bad juju.
Just using the basics of Feng Shui, it's excellent. Some of the stuff they do is pure superstition. I can walk into a room and recognize good Feng Shui blindfolded. I have one book on the subject. Asians specialty is moving energy and creating a balanced energy environment. It is the feminine side of Asian culture. You could say if Buddhism is the yang than Feng Shui is the yin in a balanced and harmonious yin-yang natural flow of energy between men and women.
Their use of flowing water is one of my favorite features of Feng Shui.
I've read a couple of Feng Shui books and think it's true because of psychological reasons, not supernatural.
Good Feng Shui appeals to our subconscious wants/needs and has a direct effect on our personal well being because of it. Even the more superstitious aspects work much like the placebo effect works... in the human mind, what we believe is truly just as important as what really is.
There are lots of pretenders out there however... I think it's worth learning the basics but I don't think I would pay somebody money to do Feng Shui for me.
My Wife and I own a real estate company and I believe in Feng Shui and she has a backgrond in interior design. We have helped our clients to stage their homes for sale and I believe it works to follow the feng shui principles. Even if a person cannot point out the difference in Feng shui or non feng shui they can certainly feel it.
It is all about a positive flow of the chi ,be it your physical self around furniture through doros etc.. or your astral self responding to the presence of positive things or negative things intruding into your area.
I'm not an expert but it is something that can be felt from within.
Many years ago a Chinese friend walked into our house for the first time and said, "Good feng shui!" I had no idea what she was talking about. (This was long before it became common in the West.)
She explained it to us and walked around pointing out all the things that were right. None of which we'd done thinking "we need good feng shui." We just did what we liked and good feng shui was the result.
The only conscious decision we'd made was to pick a house with the front door facing East which is a Navajo thing. We'd even put in a pond near the door so that covered the water feature. It still makes me smile to think we'd done everything "right" without having any idea what feng shui was. I don't think of feng shui as being paranormal. Just pleasant surroundings with good energy that reflect the people who live there.
Not that I'm a fan of his, but I've heard that Donald Trump builds his buildings on Feng Shui principles.
Not a fan either, but I've read the same thing about Trump in "Forbes" magazine. Also, plenty of Japanese businesses Sony, Nissan, Toyota etc have flagship buildings that are designed using Feng Shui principals.
I don't know but they all seem to be doing well.
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