PHILOSOPHY AND PRIMARY GOALS
Why Feng Shui is Important
Have you ever wondered why Feng Shui is important?
For thousands of years, the importance of Feng Shui (FS) has been assiduously studied, nurtured and handed down for the benefit of all mankind.
I believe it is my mission in life to help educate those interested in FS as a precious and ancient natural science. The better-informed Filipinos are, the more easily they can assimilate all the good that Feng Shui does into their lives.
It is my heartfelt desire to help our people evaluate the FS knowledge and competence of professional Feng Shui practitioners versus unscrupulous impostors who purvey plain superstition, mysticism or false religion. By spotting such charlatans, Filipinos can avoid being duped.
The Building Blocks of Classical Feng Shui
Qi
Qi: the life energy, the invisible but powerful magnetic current that flows through all things in nature. It is the cosmic breath, the life force in the living and inanimate objects as well.
Qi is the vibrant energy endowing all life on Earth. This is why Wind and Water are the important building blocks of Classical Feng Shui because the ancient Chinese believed that wind disperses Qi and water holds Qi.
Wind and water are therefore the inescapable transports for all Qi. When you think about all Earth as blanketed by both air and water, then you realize how all-pervasive Qi is.
In the last half-century, Man has leaped to the moon. Doubtless, mankind will travel to Mars and beyond in the 21st century. Wherever astronauts go, however, they bring stores of light, heat, artificial gravity and other energies to maintain life. Qi is the summation of those energies that sustain life.
Just as Qi blankets the earth, circulates throughout the atmosphere, and flows within and around your body, this vibrant force connects all people with their surroundings.
Qi is dynamic, changing continually just as you yourself are in a perpetual state of change. Whether you are aware of it or not, Qi is vital to your physical, emotional, mental and spiritual well-being.
Intangible and elusive, Qi is activated and altered by everything we do, and surround ourselves with.
Each of us possesses a certain quality of Qi. It courses through our bodies. Yet its characteristics and the ways in which it moves are different within each of us. It is the breath essential to maintaining physical, environmental, and emotional balance.
When the Qi in your body is blocked or out of balance, you may experience illness, depression or vague aches and pains. When the Qi in your environment is out of balance, it will reflect in your life. You may experience relationship difficulties, problems in business or general “bad luck”.
There is Qi in buildings or homes. This abundance of Qi can be supportive or inauspicious. We employ Feng Shui to enhance the good and reduce that which is threatening. This is one importance of Feng Shui.
Yin and Yang
Yin and Yang are the two complementary facets of Qi. Like the opposing poles of magnetism or the positive and negative charges of electricity, Yin and Yang explain the contrary but interdependent nature of Qi. Whenever the night is darkest, a new day is about to dawn. For every turbulent ocean, there is a placid pond.
This symbol you see here is the Taiji, representing the dynamic balance of Yin and Yang. Harmony and balance are embodied by Yang ascendant and the simultaneous decline of the Yin. Since each is part of the other, the mutual rise and fall forms a complete cycle.
A Feng Shui consultant therefore helps you find the keys to balancing Yin and Yang. The right balance is crucial to peace of mind and prosperity. Excessive Yin is too dark and depressing. In turn, an overabundance of Yang is over-bright, disturbing and distracting.
Yin and Yang show vividly how all of Feng Shui attends to the ceaseless cycle of Qi. Propitious or not, Qi is never rooted in just one spot through time. All life undergoes change. This is basis for the “Yi Jing”, the Chinese Oracle (book) of Change.
The Five Elements
All of Classical Chinese Feng Shui employs the five natural elements of Wood, Fire, Earth Metal, and Water to solve problems of balancing Qi. A good Feng Shui Practitioner is adept at adding the elements in and around the living space that enhance desirable Qi and counterbalance or dominate unpropitious Qi.
Around the workplace or residence, the Five Elements can take a variety of forms, e.g. a bronze bust, a gushing fountain, plants, a candle, or a terra cotta statue. Design, color or form may be important but solely for aesthetics. Otherwise, it is the intrinsic element that counts.
The Productive Cycles of the Elements
All of Classical Chinese Feng Shui employs the five natural elements of Wood, Fire, Earth Metal, and Water Classical Feng Shui teaches that one key to balancing Qi and remedying a work area or living space is deep insight into how the elements relate to each other. This is depicted in the graphic to the left.
The Eight Trigrams (also “Bagua “)
The graphic depicts the Yin and Yang nature of the eight compass directions and the Feng Shui elements they are aligned with.
Eugene employs the underlying theories of the Classical/Compass School, proven in practice over the centuries, to find both your personal trigram and the trigram of the house. Both are important for insight into how your house interacts with you and to determine where the positive and negative influences emanate from.
The Eight Trigrams also apply to parts of your body and how each family member relates to you. So when a Feng Shui Practitioner like Eugene Tan suggests that staying in a particular room might give you headaches, that is an insight gained from reading the Qi of the trigram he has calculated specifically for you and your house.
