A Feng Shui Mind

By Victoria Pendragon

           Feng Shui has arrived in America.  Commercials made fun of it; sitcoms employ it for it’s joke potential; and the popular press reports on which movie stars, rock stars and billionaires do and don’t feng shui.  So many D.I.Y. books on Feng Shui have been published that the market may well be said to have peaked.

            Most of the books on feng shui that have been written for the American market came out of the psychological school which was codified by Professor Thomas Lin Yun who introduced it to America in 1986.  Then called Black Hat Sect and now called Tibetan Tantric Feng Shui, (Black Hat Sect was difficult to market to the American public as it sounded like some sort of cult), the psychological school is founded upon the premise that space can be “mapped,” divided into a discrete arrangement of areas each of which affects a different aspect of life.

            The Psychological school might be considered by traditional practitioners of the art to be feng shui lite.  It involves no complex computations.  It does not even necessitate the use of a compass, the system of traditional feng shui.  The Psychological school is well suited to the typical American mind because it can be easily and effectively reduced to an easy-to-digest formula that actually works.  It suits our multi-vitamin mentality.

            To extend that multi-vitamin metaphor just a bit…stop and think why it is that one might need a multi-vitamin in the first place.  An inadequate diet, right?  So why might we, as Americans, crave psychological school feng shui?  My theory is that most Americans suffer not only from inadequate nutrition for their bodies, but also for their souls.  I think that Professor Lin Yun’s attempt to “pre-digest” traditional feng shui has allowed us to open the door to the possibility that we are, at a soul level, nourished by what surrounds us.  It was a great idea but, like many good ideas and special people, that becomes a part of our popular culture, psychological school feng shui has lost some of its own soul in trying to restore us to our souls.

            Balance, harmony and order are the true goals of feng shui.  Needless to say, those tenets will not sell as many books as, say, enhancing your love life or making a million dollars. It was never the quest for a peaceful, balanced life that popularized feng shui in the United States.  It is, rather, the idea that the manipulation of feng shui could turn your love life, finances or health around on a dime that brought feng shui into the dubious limelight of the American media.

            Like a young movie star whose early adulation by the press leaves him jaded, and often behaving badly, leading to criticism from the very press whose prodigious praise pushed him over the edge, feng shui was misunderstood and over-exalted and is now paying the price for it.  Although hundreds of satisfied feng shui compliant consumers exist there are just as many, if not more, not so satisfied feng shui compliant types who were mistakenly led to believe that the application of so called good feng shui to their house would make them rich and happy.

            The fact is that you and they were meant to feel rich, happy and healthy whatever that looks like to you.  The fact is that the proper manipulation of feng shui is meant to provide you with a space where that can happen, where you can feel rich, happy and healthy.  Notice the subtle phrasing in the previous sentence: feng shui provides “a space where that can happen”.  It doesn’t make it happen.  There’s a difference and the difference lies in your mind.  The difference is wisdom.

            There is an old adage advising that God helps those who help themselves.  The judicious manipulation of feng shui can create your space as a place that will allow your mind to grow centered and peaceful.  From that place, with an orderly and peaceful mind, you can begin to have the clarity that is necessary to make your life happen in a way that will be both satisfying and in harmony with the world around you.

            If you are a controlling rage-aholic with a tendency towards sarcasm no amount of Feng Shui, however judiciously assessed and applied, is going to land you a lasting and loving relationship. You’ll need a world of counseling or some sort of life-altering experience before that can happen. But balancing the Feng Shui of your space can provide you with a space where the good, the calm and the peaceful in you can rise to the surface providing you with the clarity you’ll need to see that a relationship with a good therapist is what you really need..

            Feng Shui cannot fix everything. There is an old Chinese adage that states that Feng Shui is third on the list of things that affect your life, but it is the only one you have any control over. The first item on the list is called ‘God Luck..’ What that means, essentially, is that either you are blessed or you are not. This can change over a lifetime but, according to the ancient wisdom, you have nothing to do with that possibility. The second item on the mythical list is called ‘Man Luck..’ This refers to the gifts you receive both genetically and otherwise from the family that gave you birth and raised you. Either you have a strong body or you do not. Either you were ‘born on the right side of the tracks’ or you were not. You can overcome these things but you cannot change them. They are what they are. Feng Shui, however, you can chose and you can manipulate. It’s a little like your mind. You chose how you respond to life and then life responds to you accordingly.

            Feng Shui cannot fix everything; but it can help you fix yourself.

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