Some initial thoughts on the importance of critical thinking and feng shui: One frequently hears of the concept of Critical Thinking when looking at ways of addressing social and scientific issues (think global warming and the contentious arguments for and against as to whether or not manmade carbon emissions are a significant contributor towards it). Political and moral questions, e.g. abortion and the death penalty are two hot potatoes in which opposing factions frequently each lay claim to the use of critical thinking as the means by which they have reached their respective and supposedly scientifically and/or morally correct conclusions. Critical thinking is often cited as an effective antidote to conspiracy theories and is for the most part deemed to be a fairly modern construct. Here are three widely accepted definitions: …… the ability to analyse facts, generate and organise ideas, defend opinions, make comparisons, draw inferences, evaluate arguments and…

With my recent trip to Rarotonga, many people have asked me to comment on the feng shui of that beautiful island. Naturally, for someone like me, the first thing I always want to do whenever I go somewhere new is to check out the feng shui and see what influences it is most likely having on the local inhabitants. Indeed a factor which frequently surprises people when first learning about classical feng shui, is that it is based in very large part, on the surrounding geography of any given location. When assessing the feng shui therefore, of a whole country or a major city or town, it is the landscape within the surrounding vicinity that tells us more than anything about what is likely to be happening within it, economically, socially and politically. Rarotonga for example, is an island; part of a chain linked to the Austral Islands, with its…

PUTTING CLASSICAL CHINESE FENG SHUI INTO PERSPECTIVE By tradition Chinese cosmology has always been predicated on the premise of Heaven above, Earth beneath and Man in between. This is reflected in every aspect of the culture and is the basis from which all of the explorations of the natural world were made by the proto-scientists of even the very earliest east-Asian cultures, right through to the scholars of the late imperial period. This led to the generally accepted perspective on life of the Three Lucks informing the basis for human interaction with this matrix: Heaven’s luck or Tien Chai infers that if an individual is fated to be rich they most likely will be, but if not, then all the resistance against Heaven’s mandate still will not make one materially wealthy. Man’s luck or Ren Chai is that luck which we create for ourselves and is best explained by the…

Early Chinese scholars were keen observers of their surroundings. A major focus of their studies was not only life here on the globe, the earth’ energies but also on the micro/macro dynamics of the cosmos and how the planet interconnects with the cosmic as a whole. They were the first to discover magnetism and invent a magnetic compass. The first compasses recorded in the known Chinese histories were used as divination boards and had ladle shaped lodestones for pointers. Similar shaped spoons may still be found in Chinese restaurants today. The shape of these ladles refers to the Big Dipper’s circling around the Pole star. The timing of this cycle was an essential aspect of early Chinese time keeping, particularly as applied in feng shui. Essentially, feng shui considers three broad aspects of the natural environment Certain phenomena within the immediate environment: There are certain, specific factors which early Chinese…