Fung Shui originates from the ancient China and is a philosophy of a harmonious coexistence of humans and the Mother Nature. Feng is the Chinese word for wind while Shui is the Chinese word for water (Montenegro). The Chinese believe that these two components of nature are instrumental in the establishment of good health (Montenegro). Consequently, good health and affluence are because of good Feng Shui while bad health and misfortunes denotes bad Feng Shui (Montenegro).
The idea is concerned with the surroundings as well as the constitution and interiors of buildings (Montenegro). They say, building constructed in a good landscape bring good fortunes while the opposite is true. The ancient Chinese believed that the effects of Feng Shui influence the location of one’s home and they may experience good or bad fortunes.
Good fortune included things like good health, joyful relationships, and abundance of food and economic muscles (Montenegro). On the other hand, bad fortunes included things like sickness, death, scarcity, and distress among other things. They believed that, by occupying a home that is located in a landscape that has a bad Feng Shui, it would attract bad fortune and vice versa.
It was an ancient Chinese belief that the study of water and wind can help the human race to create and achieve health, wealth, fame and fortune (Montenegro). This ancient philosophy concentrates on the balancing of the environment and Chi is a vital component of this study (Montenegro). Chi means the vital life force of energy.
On that note, it is important to note that Feng Shui is a process of maintaining a good environment for Chi to function properly. In traditional explanation of Feng Shui, Chi is protected from being dispersed by the wind as well as retaining it with water (Emmons). This is how the philosophy balances the environment creating better conditions for human existence.
The concept of this balance is as follows: Chi is an energy flow and needs to be in circulation for the society to benefit from it. Consequently, its protection from dispersion by wind comes from barriers such as trees and mountains are vital to keep Chi contained. Having a good Chi in one’s location signified well-being (Emmons). Water, on the other hand, holds Chi together but, again, to avoid stagnation, the water must be flowing to achieve favorable Chi (Emmons).
The best description of Chi is as the soul or better still or as one’s destiny as the Chinese saw it (Emmons). It can have mass and sometimes can lack mass hence the complexity of describing the exact form of Chi. In today’s environment, people may discredit the existence of Chi but looking at the current philosophical world, it exists even in the 21st century. The three types of Chi, which included the heavenly luck, the earth luck, and the man luck, are true to date (Emmons).
In a modern setting, the heavenly luck is what they call birth luck in China. This includes the things one is born with, that give him or her advantage over other people. The second Chi, which is the Earth’s luck, in the modern setting, is the advantages the environment you are in. In addition, the third chi, which is the man luck, is the luck you create for yourself through your personal efforts.
This describes the three Chi in a modern context thus proving that the philosophy still works and has passed the test time to be true. The human Chi or man Chi is however the most important. The human luck greatly depends on the choices one makes and the actions he takes in his or her life. This shows that Feng Shui actually works but there has not been a scientist proves to substantiate the philosophy.
However, Feng Shui is an act of faith and only through faith; we can realize its full potential and experience it as well. There are practitioners in the 21st century that specialize in professional consultation on one’s Chi. These professionals offer services such as mapping out Chi flows of a person’s environment (Montenegro). Feng Shui is all about the surroundings and, to start the process of achieving a positive environment, “Sheng Chi”, one must start by tidying their environment.
The principle of Sheng Chi finds its influence mainly through beauty. The opposite of having an excellent setting is the Sha Chi, which means repulsive smell (Montenegro). Sha Chi promotes a negative energy and is a component of bad Sheng Chi as taught by the Chinese philosophers. The principle of Feng Shui teaches that small things or events around us influence our lives greatly more than we think. That is why, the philosophy deals with the environment and surrounding.
The principle of the effect of small things in our lives as the Feng Shui teachings are comparable to the principle of water drops on a rock. Drops of water may not have a great impact on a hard rock but with time, they build a hole in the same rock. This is the basic principle of the Feng Shui and it works even in the 21st century (Montenegro). This is reality.
Feng Shui teaches that disorganization drags energy and through the negative influence of objects around us, and things that invoke a negative thought in our brains (Montenegro). Feng Shui teaches that things and objects surrounding us possess a form of energy and that they influence us either negatively or positively (March). Today’s philosophers are teaching the same although in a modernized language.
The modern psychologist is encouraging people to cheer up and surround themselves with positive materials, which is Feng Shui the 21st century version. Bottom line, although it may seem like it is superstitious to practice Feng Shui, its philosophies are purely logic and nothing magical (Montenegro).
In the body of this research work, we can see that the existence of the Chinese work of philosophy is still alive and in motion even in this advanced generation. Feng Shui used in the ancient China and is still used in modern China as well as in other countries around the globe (Montenegro). Therefore, to answer the question whether Feng Shui works in modern day, yes it does work in the modern days and is still in use.
Feng Shui relates greatly with the Japanese Yin and Yang. Feng Shui shares the same fundamental principles of Yin ‘negative, dark, wet, and feminine’ and Yang ‘Positive, bright, active hot and masculine’ (Li). Both relate philosophically as they share similar ideology of having a harmonious balance between humans and their environment.
Works Cited
Emmons, Charles. “Hong Kong’s Feng Shui: Popular Magic in a Modern Urban Setting.” Journal of Popular Culture, 26.1 (1992): 47-48. Print.
Li, Liu. The Chinese Neolithic: Trajectories to Early States. London, UK: Cambridge University Press (2004). Print.
March, Andrew. An Appreciation of Chinese Geomancy. The Journal of Asian Studies, 27.2. (1968): 253–267. Print.
Montenegro, Marcia. “Feng Shui” New Dimensions in Design.” Christian Research Journal. 26.1 (2003): 26-29. Print.