Sunday, October 26, 2008

Feng Shui History " Separating the Fact From the Fiction

By Kyle Richey

When you're learning about the ancient art of feng shui, you might be interested in the real story behind feng shui itself. What you want to know, likely, is the real story behind it, and not just the legend or hearsay. It's not only interesting to investigate this, but it's a good idea as well. Why is this so? Unfortunately, when feng shui tradition began to be introduced to the Western world, a lot of misconceptions and even untruths began to be confused with the original and real practice.

Feng Shui's Real History in Ancient China

Various Asian cultures have always placed a lot of importance on peace, harmony and balance. Zen masters in Japan taught that hard work and simplicity were the keys. The Chinese believed that one needed to respect and feel happy with one's surroundings to feel at peace.

In its history, feng shui has stories that illustrate how Chinese experts thought that the earth gave off a strong energy that one should welcome into his or her home. Similarly, by contrast, certain practices also discouraged this energy, and brought disruption and chaos into the home.

Therefore, the Chinese believed that they could arrange their buildings and even furniture and other accessories so as to best respect this energy, thus bringing harmony and balance into one's life.

Feng Shui Comes to the West

Once feng shui began to be introduced to Western cultures, its history became muddled. This may have been in part because there were doubtless at least some unscrupulous people who thought that they could make a quick buck by swaying unsuspecting prey unfamiliar with feng shui as an art.

Also, there were a lot of new age elements that were introduced and mistakenly thought to be part of feng shui history whereas the truth is that they had nothing to do with it. Red front doors, crystals, star shaped mirrors and the like are included in this confusion.

Some people claim that feng shui can attract vast wealth, cure any physical ailment and several other similar claims but in reality these things are nothing to do with real feng shui. Feng shui history does not include any of these claims and feng shui practitioners do not claim such statements as being true.

They do believe that feng shui, when used correctly, can add positive energy to your life. This energy can result in good things coming your way but feng shui was never meant to be a magic bullet to make health, wealth and luck yours instantly. If it could, everyone would be using it!

Understanding Real Feng Shui History

If you really are interested in learning more about the art and science of feng shui, one of the first things you'll need to do is to understand its true history. If you don't, you could become a victim of one of these so-called "experts" who might tell you falsehoods or half-truths about its use and true applications.

Feng shui history is all about order, harmony, positive energy and balance. Stories you might hear which don't include these elements are probably just folklore and you should ignore them. When you know and understand the truth behind this fascinating science, you will be better equipped to appreciate and use feng shui in your life and in your home. - 15437

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