Feng shui: Creating the right environment for your medical office

Feng shui

Chinese traditional practice

For other uses, see Feng shui (disambiguation).

Feng shui (/ˈfʌŋˌʃuːi/ ^[2] or /ˌfʌŋˈʃweɪ/^[3]), sometimes called Chinese geomancy, is a traditional practice that originated in Ancient China and claims to use energy forces to harmonize individuals with their surrounding environment. The term feng shui means, literally, "wind-water" (i.e., fluid). From ancient times, landscapes and bodies of water were thought to direct the flow of the universal Qi – "cosmic current" or energy – through places and structures. More broadly, feng shui includes astronomical, astrological, architectural, cosmological, geographical, and topographical dimensions.^[4][5]

Historically, as well as in many parts of the contemporary Chinese world, feng shui was used to choose the orientation of buildings, dwellings, and spiritually significant structures such as tombs. One scholar writes that in contemporary Western societies, however, "feng shui tends to be reduced to interior design for health and wealth. It has become increasingly visible through 'feng shui consultants' and corporate architects who charge large sums of money for their analysis, advice and design."^[5]

Feng shui has been identified as both non-scientific and pseudoscientific by scientists and philosophers,^[6] and it has been described as a paradigmatic example of pseudoscience.^[7] It exhibits a number of classic pseudoscientific aspects, such as making claims about the functioning of the world that are not amenable to testing with the scientific method.^[8]

1. ^ Bennett 1978.
2. ^ "feng shui". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/OED/1095858841. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
3. ^ Wells, John C. (2000). Longman Pronunciation Dictionary (2nd ed.). Longman. p. 288. ISBN 0-582-36467-1.
4. ^ Bruun, Ole (2011). Fengshui in China : Geomantic Divination between State, Orthodoxy and Popular Religion (2nd ed.). NIAS Press. ISBN 978-87-91114-79-3.
5. ^ ^{a b} Komjathy (2012), p. 395.
6. ^ Cite error: The named reference Fernandez-Beanato pp. 1333–1351 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
7. ^ Cite error: The named reference McCain Kampourakis 2019 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
8. ^ Matthews 2018.

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