It’s almost a cliché in the Feng Shui world, to speak about “balancing one’s environment,” in order to achieve good Feng Shui. And from that, people are more likely to prosper, experience good health and more satisfying relationships. But could the word “environment” be confusing in this context?
One definition of “environmentalism” revolves around concerns and actions to literally protect the environment. Whether it is “ecology” or climate change awareness, we can only loosely associate the practice of Feng Shui with being in harmony with nature, shunning pollution and preserving the physical environment. That would be a Taoist perspective, which can surely spill into the mechanics of Feng Shui.
For example, it would be insanely hypocritical to discover that a feng shui master in your town owned a business that was dumping chemicals into the local river. And yet, an “environmentalist” is not a feng shui practitioner. Rather, an environmentalist is someone who lives by principles which support a pristine, healthy environment and that can include protecting wildlife and the ability to thrive in their natural habitat.
Another definition of environmentalism is a theory that our natural surroundings have just as much of an impact on us, as features like heredity. This rings true to the philosophy of Feng Shui, where five major aspects determine a lot about who we are as human beings. Destiny, luck, education and spiritual efforts play a role in how well or how poorly we function in each incarnation. But 20% of the influences also come from the environment.
Still, we need to drill down further because we are not just alluding to the obvious and palpable features to our environment, be they degraded or preserved. We can say generally that if someone lives in a polluted area, their health and mind-set will suffer. We can also say that an environment may look and feel good initially, but there can still be subtle aspects which undermine a person or even a whole community over longer periods of time.
We can also consider the interior environment. That has been the focus of many modern-day feng shui consultants. Most of us live in a built city, where we have little to no control over our exterior surroundings. We then have to counter-balance the environment, prioritize what we can change or manage within interior spaces.
In a feng shui context, “balancing one’s environment” refers to many things, and much of it on a more esoteric level. We strive to balance yin and yang energy and sometimes there is an overlap between what is part of a metaphysical practice versus common sense. For instance, if you have diseased trees dying on your property: that is not in harmony with “environmentalism,” nor is it good feng shui. That can have an impact on the neighboring landscape and eco-system, but also influence you directly in a personal way.
In contrast, you may need to balance your most immediate personal living space, which might not have any consequences at all on the larger environment. To give an example: if your home is excessively dark inside, making you depressed, that will not harm the immediate outside space.
One type of environmentalism can encourage and support another type. But for the most conventional domain of feng shui, we introduce elements and features to our living spaces which are not directly associated with the most frequently understood definitions of environmentalism. If your bedroom needs the “fire element” to be balanced, that has nothing to do with the aerosol geoengineering going on in the sky overhead. If nothing else, we could distinguish those comparisons and categorize feng shui into its own sub-section of “micro” environmentalism (personal energy reduction and recycling) versus large scale environmental projects.
Author: Kartar Diamond
Company: Feng Shui Solutions ®
From the Feng Shui Theory Blog Series
