Feng Shui - The Seen and the Unseen Layers...

One of the most important things to know about Feng Shui is that it exists at two levels:
The first level is what you can see (which I will call the 'seen') and the second level is what you can't see - but it's still there. (I will call this the 'unseen').

The Seen
The seen level deals with the most obvious of problems: the front door being opposite the back door; a sloping block of land where the Chi slips away; the stairs that are located opposite the front door.

These types of Feng Shui problems are generally easy to remedy using substitute interior design features or creative objects - unless there are outstanding problems within the environment.

Then there is the unseen...

The Unseen
The unseen deals with what you cannot see but is still there. For instance, we cannot see the rays of the sun, yet we can still get sunburnt; we cannot necessarily see if someone's leg is broken, but they cannot walk; we cannot see if someone has cancer or a tumour, but they are very sick and could be dying...

We live in what we think is a very visible, seen world, and yet so many aspects of our lives are invisible or unseen.

Human emotions are unseen. The experts say that ninety percent of our communication is unseen and yet... we still understand it! Life consists of both the Seen and the Unseen. Often its the Unseen that affects human emotions, communication, health, relationships, etc, the most. The Unseen is most powerful.

The Unseen in a Building
When the unseen begins to translate out into a building it means that the building is attracting all types of powerful energies that we cannot see. Often these types of energies are sensed by people: "there is something wrong with this office or room..." are the usual comments.

Unseen problems can be the reason why a room or part of a room may 'feel bad' and yet when you look at it aesthetically - it is seen to be fine. A good indication of this is when no-one wants to occupy it...

Unseen energies can be positive or negative.

This follows the same concepts used in acupuncture. Acupuncture traces the invisible energy of meridians and rebalances any imbalance. The use of Feng Shui is the same. In fact, Feng Shui is often considered to be 'acupuncture in space'. In a Feng Shui Consultation, the Feng Shui Master traces the negative energies and enhances the positive energies in a building. Essentially, a good consultation does both. This way Feng Shui has the power to correct the meridians of a building...

The Discussion
For thousands of years the ancient Chinese have known about the unseen aspects of Feng Shui. In fact, thousands of years ago they developed intricate mathematical systems and methods of detecting it, reading it, understanding it and predicting it.

So accurate are their predictions that they can often tell with pin-point accuracy what a building means for any one person at any given time period. They can even predict how long the building will have this influence upon them...

In Western countries, the unseen Feng Shui practices are not as well known - for the simple reason that it's intricate, complex, there are so many variables in an environment, and it's not easy to translate this information into generalisations. At this level of Feng Shui each and every building is "hand done."

The environment is unique and the people, who occupy the space, are also unique. It is a combination of interpreting both the seen and the unseen levels that creates a successful outcome in Feng Shui.

The unseen cannot be remedied without the seen, and the seen needs a relationship to the unseen to have more meaning - particularly when selecting remedies to restore balance.

© Copyright Gayle Atherton 1995. All rights Reserved.