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divine powers of nature. Design methodology and fung shui lore for buildings, much of which has been handed down from generation to generation, although not entirely rigid, can be as stringent as any building ordinance. Much is, however, intended as a guide. Some sociologists will tell you that fung shui can provide lessons even for present day western planners.
Order, logic and intuition have helped shape picturesque Chinese villages. Moreover, fung shui has sometimes restrained villagers from taking unwise ecological decisions. It has led to nurturing reasonably sound environmental practices and the establishing of well-planned settlements years ahead of their time,
When choosing a site of a dwelling, using fung shui principles, the whole process of selection is ritualised and certain symbols are conventionally recognised. Nevertheless, owing to cultural or other differences, a Chinese may visualise something different in a tree or a boulder, such as the head of a dragon or the form of a phoenix, compared to an Englishman.
A woman once retorted to the author
“All cultures have their customs and beliefs. In Germany we dislike the number 13, breaking a mirror and so on. Customs have to be respected.”
In spite of such accepted differences Westerners sometimes make decisions, unknowingly, which may resemble to a degree Chinese fung shui. These decisions (later translated into acts such as placing certain objects in specific places) may be formulated by Caucasians either in a logical or intuitive way. The difference is, however, that, among the Chinese, such needs and instincts concerning fung shui have been identified and codified to form, over centuries, a properly documented system. Much is based on self-evident propositions.
The principles which regulate the cosmos, like the lunar calendar, are well understood. Some events are subjected to exact treatment in set ways. Experts sometimes, however, combine elaborate content and imagery with ingenious thought and intense feeling. These can result in geomantic hypochondria with a client going from one master to another to find in fung shui what he or she wishes to find. Fung shui can also act