The Seen and the Unseen

In the world of Feng Shui, Feng Shui itself mainly exists at two levels. One level is what you can see (which I will call the 'seen') and the other 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 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 life are invisible or unseen. Human emotions are unseen. Ninety percent of our communication is unseen and yet.we still understand it!

Life consists of both the seen and the unseen.

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. Even so, 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'. Feng Shui traces and enhances the positive energies in a building and reduces the negative. Feng Shui corrects the meridians of a building.

Discussion
For thousands of years the ancient Chinese have known about the unseen aspects. 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 and for how long it will have this influence on 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 (ie each 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.